Emo Con: The Sophomore Album
Call for Papers
At Washington University in St. Louis, MO—April 16 - 17, 2027
Since first appearing as a stylistic outgrowth of the D.C. hardcore scene, emo has made palpable impacts on popular culture and the modern music industry. Between nostalgic mass-marketed festivals such as When We Were Young and Warped Tour selling out massive venues, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift proudly flaunting their emo bonafides, and the genre’s fourth and fifth waves keeping its DIY traditions afloat, emo has (perhaps retroactively) become the defining sound of rock music in the 2000s. On the internet and throughout DIY scenes across the country and globe, fans continue to evaluate and reevaluate a body of music that has come to define generations of fans. In this vein, interest in “emo studies” has shown significant growth. This scholarship challenges us to think about how emo fans and artists navigate complex performances of identity, affectivity, and conformity against the backdrop of 40 years of social change. Furthermore, emo comments on, challenges, and conforms to a number of social, cultural, and musical discourses that require a detailed engagement with theoretical frameworks, emo cultures, and the music itself.
After the success of the first Emo Con, we are proud to announce, “Emo Con: The Sophomore Album” in an ongoing effort to expand this body of literature and maintain this network of scholars interested in emo studies. We invite scholars of all fields and disciplines to submit proposals of up to 500 words that contend with any aspect of emo music, emo cultures, as well as emo-adjacent genres such as screamo, post-hardcore, pop-punk, etc.,. Non-academics are encouraged to apply. While there will be options for virtual spectatorship, we expect all presentations to be in person. Proposals are due on January 15th. Proposals should be sent to emostudiesorganization@gmail.com. Those who submit abstracts will be notified of the decision on February 1st. The conference will be hosted by Washington University in Saint Louis on April 16-17th, 2027. Please follow @emostudiesorganization on Instagram or emostudiesorganization.com for more conference updates.
In addition to the academic talks, this conference will feature a keynote from critic director, producer, and author Jessica Hopper. Hopper’s influential essay “Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t” (2003) served as an early prognosis of the scene’s misogynistic predispositions and has served as a foundational piece of emo literature. She is the author of The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic (2015), Night Moves (2018), and the forthcoming No God But Herself: How Women Changed Music in 1975 (2027). Hoper was formerly the Editorial Director at MTV News, Senior Editor at Pitchfork, and the founding music editor at Rookie. Her essays have appeared in Best Music Writing for 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, and 2011.
Contact Us
Email proposal submissions and questions to emostudiesorganization@gmail.com
Past Conference
Emo Con 2026 Papers
Friday, April 10th (all times U.S. CST)
Steve Lamos Keynote - 3 PM
“Writing With Emo Nostalgia: Navigating Pasts, Presents, and Futures” -
Music Classroom Building 102
Zoom Link - Password: music102
This talk explores how researchers, teachers, and students can “write with” the unfolding embodied experience of nostalgic music, especially emo music, as a means to navigate past experience, present feeling, and future challenge. It combines insights from musicology (e.g., Robinson; Brett) with insights from rhetoric and composition (e.g., Adams; Ceraso) to analyze two case studies of such writing: first, a personal example exploring how writing with a live drumming performance can generate a particular kind of presence and mindfulness; second, an example from a student writer highlighting how writing with a studio recording can help to navigate both past trauma and present-day healing. Finally, the talk explores the potential benefits of writing with emo in a world critical of the value of a college education in general and of education in humanistic endeavors in particular.
Bio: Steve Lamos is an Associate Professor in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric and English Department at the University of Colorado-Boulder. His publications include the book Interest and Opportunities: Race, Racism, and University Writing Instruction in the Post-Civil Rights Era (Pitt UP), winner of a 2013 “Special Commendation” from the Conference on College Composition and Communication; the essay “Toward Job Security for Teaching-Track Composition Faculty: Recognizing and Rewarding Affective-Labor-in-Space,” winner of the 2016 Richard C. Ohmann prize from College English; and work in College Composition and Communication, College English, Journal of Basic Writing, Writing Program Administration, Composition Studies, The CEA Critic, and elsewhere. Lamos’ current book project is tentatively titled Resonant Rhythms: Drumming, Writing, and Professing a Literate Life. It explores intersections between his academic work and his work as the drummer and trumpet player for the indie / emo band American Football.
American Football has been lauded as a particularly influential “Midwest Emo” artist by Rolling Stone, Spin, New Music Express, The Guardian, Alternative Press, Pitchfork, NPR, and many others.
Saturday, April 11th (all times U.S. CST)
Opening Remarks - 10:30AM-10:45AM
Music Classroom Building 102
Session 1- 11AM-12:30PM
Panel 1 - Emo and Place - Music Classroom Building 102
Zoom Link - Password: music102
Chair: Varun Chandrasekhar
Global Aspirations and Local Persistence: Czech Emo and PostHardcore Scenes during the late 1990s and early 2000 - Ondřej Daniel - (11AM-11:30AM)
What’s Midwest about Midwest Emo? - Marc Blanc - (11:30AM-12PM)
Headin’ East on the Freeway: Dis/continuities in Rilo Kiley’s Encounter with Omaha’s Booming Music Scene - Michele Yamamoto (12PM-12:30PM)
Panel 2 - Emo Ethnographies and Pedagogies - Music Classroom Building 103
Zoom Link - Password: Music103
Chair: Philip White
Using Emo to Explore Masculinity in the Classroom: Approaches and Lessons Learned - Ian Zapcic (11AM-11:30AM)
Fabulous Killjoys: Queerness and Mental Health - Apollo Johnson (11:30AM-12:00PM)
“This sounds like something my Dad listens to!” Exploring Cultural Transmission of Emo Music - Philip White (12PM-12:30PM)
Panel 3 - Emo and Gatekeeping - Tietjens 4
Zoom Link - Password: tietjens4
Chair: Jenessa Williams
“A Little Chicken Noodle Soup for the Emo Soul": When We Were Young, Nostalgia, and Emo Authenticity -Charlotte Hanrahan (11AM-11:30AM)
“Everything is Emo: Intimacy, Inclusivity, and (Re)Definition in Hayley Williams’ Podcast - Jenessa Williams and Francesca Sobande (11:30AM-12PM)
Dissection of The 21st Century “Poser”: A Comparative Analysis of Aesthetic Identity and Subcultural Identity in Contemporary, Digital-age Emo - Sarita A. Deleon-Garza (12PM-12:30PM)
Panel 4 - Musical Analyses of Emo -Blewett Hall Conference Room
Zoom Link - Password: blewett!
Chair: Lauren Shepherd
Teaching the Church Modes through Original Math-Rock / Midwest Emo Inspired Compositions - Evan LeBouef (11AM-11:30AM)
Texture, Energetics, and the Bait-and-Switch Prechorus in Pop-Punk - Lilly Korkontzelos (11:30AM-12:00PM)
Alternate Guitar Tunings in Fretboard Space - Tyler Howie and Matt Chiu (12PM-12:30PM)
Lunch 12:30PM-1:30PM
(please note, lunch will only be provided for presenters/volunteers)
Session 2 - 1:30PM-3PM
Panel 5 - Emo and the Communal “I” - Music Classroom Building 102
Zoom Link - Password: music102
Chair: Alex Valin
“There’s No ‘I’ in Team: Agency and Individualism over Three Decades of Emo Music.” - Zac Djamoos (1:30PM-2PM)
Seeing Is Believing: Graphical Representations of Emo Music in the US - Braden Allmond (2PM-2:30PM)
“The Foundations of Decay: My Chemical Romance, 9/11, and Screaming on the Radio” - Alex Valin (2:30PM-3PM)
Panel 6 - Emo and Queerness - Music Classroom Building 103
Zoom Link - Password: Music103
Chair: I.F. Gonzales
Welcome to the Black (Woman) Parade: Exploring Queer Black (1:30PM-2PM) - Victoria Smith
Everything I Learned About Gender, I Learned From My Chemical Romance: Illegibility, Opacity, and Trans/Queer Worldmaking Through the Permacrisis - I.F. Gonzales (2PM-2:30PM)
“I am the girl that I thought I outgrew”: Constructing Midwest Emo (trans)Womanhood through the works of Modern Baseball and Slaughter Beach, Dog - Luna Maldonado-Vélez (2:30PM-3PM)
Panel 7 - Emo and Hip-Hop - Tietjens 4
Zoom Link - Password: tietjens4
Chair: Varun Chandrasekhar
Rico Nasty Screams Against Hip-Hop/Emo Masculinities - Kabelo Chirwa (1:30PM-2PM)
“Emo” and the Symbolic Exclusion of Rap - John DeBouter (2PM-2:30PM)
“CAN I STILL GET INTO HEAVEN IF I KILL MYSELF”: La Dispute and Emo’s Suburban Whiteness- Varun Chandrasekhar (2:30PM-3PM)
Panel 8 - Musical-Theoretical Approaches to Emo and Genre - Blewett Hall Conference Room
Zoom Link - Password: blewett!
Chair: Stephen Hudson
Once, Twice—Unfortunately it was Thrice: Metrical Dissonance and Musical Narrative in the Music of Thrice - Harry Ward (1:30PM-2PM)
Emo, Core, and the Not-So-Cool Metalcore: Recontextualized Timbral Invariance and Schizophrenic Formal Structures in "Schizophrenia Legacy” - Avinoam Foonberg (2PM-2:30PM)
Defining Emo Vocality: The Marginal Case of “Emo” Metal - Stephen Hudson (2:30PM-3PM)
Session 3 - 3:30PM-5PM
Panel 9- The Black Parade - Music Classroom Building 102
Zoom Link - Password: music102
Chair: Patrick Mitchell
Sterile Affect: The Hospital as a Site of Authority, Expression, and Subversion in The Black Parade - Heather Glenny (3:30PM-4PM)
Concepts of Sweet Revenge: My Chemical Romance and the power of worldbuilding - Lauren Posklensky (4PM-4:30PM)
I’m Not Okay-fabe: The Complex Position of Audience in My Chemical Romance’s ‘Long Live’ Tour - Sam Hark (4:30PM-5PM)
Panel 10 - Emo and Visual Cultures - Music Classroom Building 103
Zoom Link - Password: Music103
Chair: Francesca Sobande
Catastrophe: Car Crashes, Oceans, and the Aesthetics of Emo Subculture - Kristen Martinez (3:30PM-4PM)
Latex, Whips, and Minivans: How Be Your Own Pet’s Mommy (2023) Confronts Youth through Punk’s History of BDSM Aesthetics - Abigail Ryan and Jerika Hayes (4PM-4:30PM)
Girl Genes: Androgyny, Feminine Performance, and the Problem of Authenticity in Third Wave Emo - Ella Martini (4:30PM-5PM)
Panel 11- Emo and the Archive - Tietjens 4
Zoom Link - Password: tietjens4
Chair: Marc Blanc
You Can't Miss What You Forget: Practical Challenges in Archiving Emo and Preserving Cultural Memory - Alexandra Plante (3:30PM-4PM)
Preservation, Discovery, and Production: Perspectives on Emo and DIY Music from an Academic Librarian in the 21st century - Keno Catabay and Kristi Ford (4PM-4:30PM)
Some Double-Dipped Meaning: The Evolution of the Words “Meme” and “Emo” (2000s–2020s) - Amanda Brennan (4:30PM-5PM)
Panel 12 - Emo and Deterritorialization - Blewett Hall Conference Room
Zoom Link
Chair: Tyler Howie
Queering Emo Time with Say Anything - Peter Trigg (3:30PM-4PM)
The Logic of Time in Emo Music - w perillat (4PM-4:30PM)
Our Home as Our Cage: How The Hotelier Responds to the Loss of a Concrete Home - James Milstead (4:30PM-5PM)
Dinner Break (not provided) - 5PM-7PM
Dan Ozzi Keynote- 7PM-8PM - Platypus
Emo Sells Out: The Key Moments That Pushed the Genre from the Basements to the Mainstream
Over the last three decades, emo has swelled from an underground subgenre of music to a worldwide cultural phenomenon, and an extremely profitable one at that. What was once a scrappy offshoot of the late 90s hardcore scene is now a multi-million-dollar business, with DJ nights, package cruises, and nostalgia festivals organized by Live Nation that rival the size of Coachella. Even the term “emo” has become marketable to a certain demographic. As music fans, we tend to romanticize this growth as organic and assume that the strength of the music alone was enough to fuel this rise in popularity. In reality, however, there were watershed moments that helped emo rise from the basements into a saleable enterprise. By examining the key artists, releases, and events that moved the genre forward into mainstream territory, we can better understand how our modern understanding of emo was shaped. While by no means comprehensive, this talk will focus on a few of the important releases from the mid-90s and early 2000s that were influential in developing the emo genre. Some were significant in their stylistic contributions and pioneered the genre’s sonic identity, while others helped push the genre to greater commercial heights with Gold and Platinum status.
Bio: Dan Ozzi is the author of the bestselling book SELLOUT: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007), published in 2021 by Dey Street Books at HarperCollins.
He has co-authored two books: the #1 New York Times bestseller FAHRENHEIT-182: A Memoir (Dey Street Books, 2025) with blink-182's Mark Hoppus, and TRANNY: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout (Hachette, 2016) with Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace.
For over five years, he served as a staff writer and editor at VICE’s music site, Noisey, and has contributed to Billboard, SPIN, The Fader, The Guardian, The AV Club, and others. He has also been a host on SiriusXM.