Think of a pop star you hate.
Mmmkay, now: what do you hate about them?
Their music? Or the fact that they piss in cleaning bucket?
(To be fair, I think he really, really had to go – seeing as he clearly is shitting his pants simultaneously)
This Sourcefed quick n dirty experiment I just watched aimed to find out exactly that – by playing a bit o’ Bieber for people without telling them who it was – and then asking them to review it purely on a musical quality basis. The analyses were interesting, as you might guess. I’d add that the most interesting point was how nobody recognized him from his voice – but he does sound like he’s going for a Mayer vibe here or something, so it’s not totally surprising they couldn’t ID him off the vocals. Thus, they instead dubbed him “colleg-y” sounding, “Starbucks-y”,and some even conceded they’d listen to it to get a “lady friend” in the mood. Only one person outright hated it, while the rest were half and half on it. “It’s not awful – it’s just not my thing” was the general consensus, it seemed.
Then, the singer’s identity was revealed.
And something interesting happened.
A couple of people were mildly upset (but trying not to show it because no one wants to admit they’ve been had and a big emotional display is tantamount to admitting you got fccking fooled). Then more than a couple of them did the whole “I believe it – that’s why I said it was so bad” approach. This phenomena is always interesting to me – the historical conversational revision approach where people’s need to be right leads them to immediately say, “Yeah. That’s the same thing I just told you.”
Like you’re convincing anyone that you didn’t just say you don’t hate it.
Especially when it’s just been recorded.
The fun takeaway from this is that we don’t hate pop music by itself, most of us. We hate the iconized mediums delivering them. Especially when they make embarrassing skivvy commercials and pee in inappropriate places. It’s kinda like that thing I always reference about with religion – if the person delivering a message is cold, cruel, or won’t stop using their gospel as my door knocker– then I’mma get as far away from that whole shiz as I can. Likewise, if your mad antics are filling up my side-feed on facebook all week, then I don’t even want to give your music a try. I hear enough of you on the radio anywhere I go, as it is.
I’d love to wax holier than thou and say I appreciate the music despite the singers’ personalities – but a lot of times I won’t even give it a chance until I hear it somewhere by accident and fall in love. Gaga has an amazing voice (I don’t listen to her much though ’cause she seems fake-ish). Taylor Swift has some catchy tunes (but someone said she was racist or something, so I didn’t bother listening to the new ones). And I wish John Mayer was my musical lullaby slave (but he seems like a dick, so I don’t check out his stuff either). The quasi-surprising exception to this? That I don’t hate Katy Perry’s music. With the amount they effing rape my ear canal with her little ditties (commercials, radio, even some news show intros), you’d think I would. I’m never free from her torturous tunes. Yet… I still start belting out to “eye of the tiger” anytime it comes on.
But I do hate the video – especially where she’s V for victory-ing, presenting the world her tiger’s eye.
(Protip: man spreading is selfish and inconsiderate to whoever’s in front of you. No matter your gender.)
I wondered for a while why I like her – out of all the pop stars I kinda detest.
And now, thanks to this experiment, I get it:
When was the last time you saw Katy Perry make news for being annoying or an asshole?