Sydney Nicole Sweeney is an essayist, journalist, and fledgling organizer who writes about music, pop culture, and the working populace. Her journalism has appeared online in publications including Cosmopolitan, PEOPLE, HelloGiggles, and elsewhere. She was previously a staff writer at Bustle Digital Group’s Elite Daily, reporting on music and celebrity news. Her independently published debut essay collection, Vibe Cheque: Contemplations on Class, Creativity & Power in Music (This Is Why All Music Lovers Should Be Anti-Capitalists) was released in June 2023.
Prior to Sweeney concentrating her writing practice on the relationship between music and capitalism, she wrote about youth culture, social issues, media, and identity through an intersectional feminist lens — a seven-year-long pursuit that primed the author to ground her recent investigations in Marxist philosophy and leftist thought. Her newsletter, Unsolicited, is a Marxist-feminist plunge into pop-music-adjacent current events, history, and social phenomena. Sweeney has a baccalaureate in Journalism and Creative Editing and Publishing from San Diego State University. Living in Los Angeles, she works in the corporate world by day, writes for change by night, and is a member of the Communications Workers of America.
![[IMAGE DESCRIPTION] On the left: a black and white film portrait of Sweeney, a Black feminine-presenting person with buzz-cut curly hair, wearing hoop earrings and a menswear outfit. She is looking directly at the camera. On the right: Sweeney is shown in color, with purple hair wearing a purple and green outfit that matches the color scheme of her book, Vibe Cheque. She's looking down, reading.](https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/135559/images/a39efdfe-6a1d-42c9-b57c-2079d3dc7e16.jpeg "[IMAGE DESCRIPTION] On the left: a black and white film portrait of Sweeney, a Black feminine-presenting person with buzz-cut curly hair, wearing hoop earrings and a menswear outfit. She is looking directly at the camera. On the right: Sweeney is shown in color, with purple hair wearing a purple and green outfit that matches the color scheme of her book, Vibe Cheque. She's looking down, reading.")
