Seven novels that celebrate pop music

Elvin James Mensah was born and raised in South East London.

He graduated from Bournemouth University, where he began writing his first novel, Small Joys.

At Electric Lit Mensah tagged "seven novels [that] unashamedly celebrate the joys of contemporary pop music. Quite a few of them also inspired me in my own writing, and creating a world scored with music that felt authentically me." One title on the list:

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

I read this novel in the early stages of writing Small Joys. At the time, I was still struggling to find my voice and was desperate to see what kind of fiction other Black male writers were producing. Rainbow Milk came along at just the right time. The novel is a bold meditation on religion, class and sexuality, following a young Black gay man, Jesse, as he makes a new life for himself in London. I was utterly entranced by how deeply contemporary pop and R&B music was infused into the story—from cocaine being done off Mary J. Blige’s My Life album, to a Sugababes single being bought in the hopes that it might be number one on the charts.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue