Dr. Noriko Manabe, associate professor of music theory in the Department of Music Studies, was named a 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Publications Award by the Society for Music Theory. The award honors a distinguished article in music theory published in the last three years.

Manabe's article, "We Gon' Be Alright? The Ambiguities of Kendrick Lamar's Protest Album," was published in Music Theory Online in 2019. Her interdisciplinary article examines the ambiguity inherent in Lamar's song "Alright," now considered a canonical protest song, by analyzing its meter and intonation against the video, performance and social context.