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aruanTwo weeks ago in California I'm all, I've been through hurricanes and snowstorms and droughts and fire, but what I'd really like to experience is a good earthquake. And last night I was like, wow, a week in fandom without a kerfuffle?
*smacks forehead* Sorry about the imminent rain of blood and toads, everyone.
Someone said that Justin's comments in Rolling Stone were catering to what that magazine's audience wanted to hear, that they don't like pop music and his own dismissiveness of it being so much less than what he's done on his own (which, as many have pointed out, with the exception of Cry Me A River was not the heartbreaking work of staggering genius he thinks) was meant more to up his credibility than possessing any actual truth.
Now, I don't know much about the state of said magazine in recent years, but I'm to understand it's far from the kind of vanguard music journalism it was at its inception. Perpetuating generalizations and catering to people's prejudices doesn't sound like solid journalism in the least - it sounds like marketing. Which, hey, omnipresent as bottom lines are, is not even worth rolling one's eyes at.
Someone on my friendslist encouraged him to own his past - indeed, why does their previous success, quite a lot of it in fact and not nearly limited to the teen population, have to be cheapened by something that did just what they did when they came out - capitalized on the trend of the moment? Yeah, they may have mortgaged their credibility quite a bit to get the first album made, but you can't say they hadn't repaid it in full by the Celebrity tour.
Justified did not start a revolution, and to say that anything on it was more innovative than Pop or Up Against the Wall, that Rock Your Body isn't comparable to It's Gonna Be Me or Bye Bye Bye, that Gone doesn't hold a candle to Cry Me A River, that you're out of this world except you're not green is any more profound than if I wasn't a celebrity, would you be so nice to me is silly.
In economics, what Justin is doing - creating false confidence by pumping unbacked money into the market - is what causes inflation. In marketing, it's a gimmick that temporarily increases a brand's sales at the expense of possibly irreparably cheapening its image. Do I need to mention that it was fourteen-year-old girls who liked Justin's music initially, too? How he was widely panned after the VMA performance, how some of the first reviews were grudgingly admitting mediocrity at best? And how everything besides the enduring Michael parallels (that as opposed to mocking now lend Justin his kind of legitimacy and status) and the buying voice of those same teenagers have been retracted or dispelled? Justin, honey, it's doubtful they bought your record for any other reason than they bought *NSYNC's - they liked the music. Otherwise they would've just bought posters and spent the concert screaming about how you should take off whatever you were wearing. And they were the ones who bought it first, made the singles an MTV and radio staple, got their parents and older siblings listen to it, etc. (Sidebar: Not that I didn't like the album - I did, but not nearly as much as *NSYNC's stuff - I really wonder how much of a record's success can be attributed to the mere exposure effect.) Why is the satisfaction they found in your record any more legitimate than what they got from No Strings Attached, or even the eponymous debut? If he'd said he found Justified more personally satisfying rather than this eminently meaningless "ten times better" phrase, that would've been one thing. There's nothing honorable about disparaging the people who made you what you are.
This is my pet issue right now, so allow me a personal rant.
Sadly, pop(ular music, not as in akin to soda, as people tend to forget) is the industry's illegitimate redheaded stepchild and damned be anything that deigns to aspire to it. Why is music that makes me feel good, that makes me want to dance or smile less in any way to music that is somehow (though who knows how that's determined) deemed worthy of merit? What is good music? Is there some system of objective standards out there I'm not aware of? And if there isn't, who is anyone to judge? What do people do with boring or tedious movies and books, no matter how innovative or intelligent or profound? They walk out or put them down, or at best just never touch them again. Whereas something that delights you go back to again and again. Which is going to have more influence on your life? Why can't something be good for whatever reasons I like it?
Anyway.
If I really did have any power over the course of events, we all know what the priority list would be. But I'm not angry at Justin (annoyed with for still feeling like he needs to do/be exactly what people want/expect, but not angry) for any of the myriad things people have cited, and a second solo album this soon would not only be entirely in character but also a smart business decision for him. As far as I'm concerned, so long as he's being honest with the guys, that decisions on the part of Jive regarding him don't affect JC's album, and he continues to not buy what the press loves to insinuate, he can do whatever he wants (not that he can't otherwise, obviously.) However, I'm also in my own disgustingly optimistic idealist minority here. and the world hasn't yet disappointed me in its tendency to break my heart more often than not. I licked the wounds left by The X-Files for a long time. But fandom remains my happy place, for better or worse, and right now the boys are happy, healthy, and thriving in their own endeavours. It's all one can ask - the rest is wishful thinking.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see them together again more than anything, but what we've got is one wildly successful solo artist with another one slowly but surely making a name for himself, another ostensibly working on a record label and perhaps his own album, one who's getting his own talk show because he's done nothing but appear on or host others' for months now, and a fifth who, you may have heard, has been carving out his own niche on the musical theater circuit. They're keeping up a public profile, they've all spoken sincerely about getting back together (and not having broken up in the first place). The status quo is just not such that I want to run for cover at the first intimation of a raincloud.
*hugs her fandom* I love it dearly, I do. The fantastic people, the smart writers, the pretty boys and happy music and the accessibility of it all. I mean, where else do the main characters deal you Blackjack, host radio concerts in your state, perform at your local theater, attend your political conventions, and be seen hanging out at your club on Saturday night? It's fun for me, in any event.
*smacks forehead* Sorry about the imminent rain of blood and toads, everyone.
Someone said that Justin's comments in Rolling Stone were catering to what that magazine's audience wanted to hear, that they don't like pop music and his own dismissiveness of it being so much less than what he's done on his own (which, as many have pointed out, with the exception of Cry Me A River was not the heartbreaking work of staggering genius he thinks) was meant more to up his credibility than possessing any actual truth.
Now, I don't know much about the state of said magazine in recent years, but I'm to understand it's far from the kind of vanguard music journalism it was at its inception. Perpetuating generalizations and catering to people's prejudices doesn't sound like solid journalism in the least - it sounds like marketing. Which, hey, omnipresent as bottom lines are, is not even worth rolling one's eyes at.
Someone on my friendslist encouraged him to own his past - indeed, why does their previous success, quite a lot of it in fact and not nearly limited to the teen population, have to be cheapened by something that did just what they did when they came out - capitalized on the trend of the moment? Yeah, they may have mortgaged their credibility quite a bit to get the first album made, but you can't say they hadn't repaid it in full by the Celebrity tour.
Justified did not start a revolution, and to say that anything on it was more innovative than Pop or Up Against the Wall, that Rock Your Body isn't comparable to It's Gonna Be Me or Bye Bye Bye, that Gone doesn't hold a candle to Cry Me A River, that you're out of this world except you're not green is any more profound than if I wasn't a celebrity, would you be so nice to me is silly.
In economics, what Justin is doing - creating false confidence by pumping unbacked money into the market - is what causes inflation. In marketing, it's a gimmick that temporarily increases a brand's sales at the expense of possibly irreparably cheapening its image. Do I need to mention that it was fourteen-year-old girls who liked Justin's music initially, too? How he was widely panned after the VMA performance, how some of the first reviews were grudgingly admitting mediocrity at best? And how everything besides the enduring Michael parallels (that as opposed to mocking now lend Justin his kind of legitimacy and status) and the buying voice of those same teenagers have been retracted or dispelled? Justin, honey, it's doubtful they bought your record for any other reason than they bought *NSYNC's - they liked the music. Otherwise they would've just bought posters and spent the concert screaming about how you should take off whatever you were wearing. And they were the ones who bought it first, made the singles an MTV and radio staple, got their parents and older siblings listen to it, etc. (Sidebar: Not that I didn't like the album - I did, but not nearly as much as *NSYNC's stuff - I really wonder how much of a record's success can be attributed to the mere exposure effect.) Why is the satisfaction they found in your record any more legitimate than what they got from No Strings Attached, or even the eponymous debut? If he'd said he found Justified more personally satisfying rather than this eminently meaningless "ten times better" phrase, that would've been one thing. There's nothing honorable about disparaging the people who made you what you are.
This is my pet issue right now, so allow me a personal rant.
Sadly, pop(ular music, not as in akin to soda, as people tend to forget) is the industry's illegitimate redheaded stepchild and damned be anything that deigns to aspire to it. Why is music that makes me feel good, that makes me want to dance or smile less in any way to music that is somehow (though who knows how that's determined) deemed worthy of merit? What is good music? Is there some system of objective standards out there I'm not aware of? And if there isn't, who is anyone to judge? What do people do with boring or tedious movies and books, no matter how innovative or intelligent or profound? They walk out or put them down, or at best just never touch them again. Whereas something that delights you go back to again and again. Which is going to have more influence on your life? Why can't something be good for whatever reasons I like it?
Anyway.
If I really did have any power over the course of events, we all know what the priority list would be. But I'm not angry at Justin (annoyed with for still feeling like he needs to do/be exactly what people want/expect, but not angry) for any of the myriad things people have cited, and a second solo album this soon would not only be entirely in character but also a smart business decision for him. As far as I'm concerned, so long as he's being honest with the guys, that decisions on the part of Jive regarding him don't affect JC's album, and he continues to not buy what the press loves to insinuate, he can do whatever he wants (not that he can't otherwise, obviously.) However, I'm also in my own disgustingly optimistic idealist minority here. and the world hasn't yet disappointed me in its tendency to break my heart more often than not. I licked the wounds left by The X-Files for a long time. But fandom remains my happy place, for better or worse, and right now the boys are happy, healthy, and thriving in their own endeavours. It's all one can ask - the rest is wishful thinking.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see them together again more than anything, but what we've got is one wildly successful solo artist with another one slowly but surely making a name for himself, another ostensibly working on a record label and perhaps his own album, one who's getting his own talk show because he's done nothing but appear on or host others' for months now, and a fifth who, you may have heard, has been carving out his own niche on the musical theater circuit. They're keeping up a public profile, they've all spoken sincerely about getting back together (and not having broken up in the first place). The status quo is just not such that I want to run for cover at the first intimation of a raincloud.
*hugs her fandom* I love it dearly, I do. The fantastic people, the smart writers, the pretty boys and happy music and the accessibility of it all. I mean, where else do the main characters deal you Blackjack, host radio concerts in your state, perform at your local theater, attend your political conventions, and be seen hanging out at your club on Saturday night? It's fun for me, in any event.
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Date: December 22nd, 2003 10:02 pm (UTC)I've also been trying to figure out *why* Jive has assigned so many resources to Justin. Justified is down in the 70s on the album chart, Senorita is sliding off the hot 100 and I'm Lovin' It never was there; they can't expect to get much more money out of this album. Why the big push of tv appearances, music specials, award show performances, et al?
That was an eerie bit of prescience. Why just Justin indeed. I don't like your interpretation, but that doesn't mean it possesses any less truth. *sigh* I adore what we've heard of JC's record more than I've taken to anyone else's body of work in forever, and just want this record to be as big as it deserves and I don't know what's been behind the delays, but JC performed full songs at the July showcase (including at least Everything You Want which was entirely new) and the promotional stuff that kind of happened and then didn't, then the constant date changes and all the Justin-related rumormongering, some of it from people who allegedly know - it's all just terribly frustrating.