https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549421994242 European Journal of Cultural Studies 1–17 © The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1367549421994242 journals.sagepub.com/home/ecs EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ‘This gave me a Mastodong’: A decolonial analysis of the Black twerking dancers in Mastodon’s The Motherload music video Melina Aparecida dos Santos Silva Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Beatriz Medeiros Federal Fluminense University, Brazil Abstract The article presents a decolonial and intersectional approach to production and reception of The Motherload music video (2014) in the context of heavy metal culture and how female Black bodies are displayed in media culture. We discuss the feminist dichotomic approach on the objectification of female bodies and the defence of Black female empowerment in the performances recorded. Our debate focuses on racial and sexual hierarchies in the metal music scene and in The Motherload music video, using the female Black body as a means of gaining visibility and adherence to this scene where women are often sexually objectified in its social dynamics. Keywords intersectionality, mastodon, metal, motherload, race Introduction In 2014, Mastodon released the music video for ‘The Motherload’. In the video, the American heavy metal band appears in some sort of shed, images of the band performing Corresponding authors: Melina Aparecida dos Santos Silva, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ipiranga Avenue, 6681 – Partenon Building 7 – Room, Porto Alegre/RS 90619-900, Brazil. Email: melina.silva@pucrs.br Beatriz Medeiros, Federal Fluminense University, Professor Marcos Waldemar de Freitas Reis Street, Building A, Room 202, Niterói/RJ 24210-201, Brazil. Email: biamedeiros44@gmail.com 994242ECS 0 0 10.1177/1367549421994242European Journal of Cultural StudiesSantos Silva and Medeiros review-article 2021 Review