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The realities of being a pop star

itscharlibb.substack.com

121–130 of 249 posts

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#121

It is correct to be skeptical of people who parlay their fame in one domain into another. The most powerful man in the US right now is just a reality TV star. At best, it allows "celebrities" to hop into any domain of their choosing without any real qualification or having earned their way in that particular field.

what qualification does one need to be US President (besides being born in the US and of certain age)? celebrities certainly won’t be doing any open heart surgeries anytime soon :) so there are things you absolutely do not need any qualitications for (Actor/Actress, US President) and there those you do (Surgeon, Attorney…)

You need to be rich and well connected.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#122
post #6

I thought this was a really good piece of writing. It’s rare to do something like this because the job discourages it by putting PR filters on everything you say. My uncle was a pretty big pop star in the 1960s. His group at one point had a big fanzine, they were household names across the country, over time they had stalkers and weird fans and all that, made movies and albums, had big parties and knew other famous p…

That's the fate of many acts from that period. So so so many artists who were stratospherically popular but are still touring for cash playing to nobody younger than them. It's sad.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#123
post #6

I thought this was a really good piece of writing. It’s rare to do something like this because the job discourages it by putting PR filters on everything you say. My uncle was a pretty big pop star in the 1960s. His group at one point had a big fanzine, they were household names across the country, over time they had stalkers and weird fans and all that, made movies and albums, had big parties and knew other famous p…

It was interesting and a fun read, but not a “good piece of writing” in my opinion. Apart from some spelling mistakes, the sentences droned on and it read more like a semi-coherent rant than a thoughtful piece on “being a pop star”.

I thought it was excellent for something that appears mostly off the cuff. This is what lots of good writing looks like before the editors get to it, btw

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#124
post #40

I had to go on Youtube to listen to some of the music mentioned here, as I'm pretty out of the loop on it. Given what I heard I honestly think we're basically at the point where AI can generate equivalent or even better music. It's just very simple and doesn't feel particularly innovative or noteworthy. Point being, I think it's likely this person is one of the last pop stars. Actually, as I'm writing this, I realize…

It makes me sad to think you have formed this opinion on her more than decade long career that spans a variety of genres and many collaborations based on a few brat songs you may have listened to

I'm open to changing my view! Please give some recommendations.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your average NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL athletes are broke 5 years after they are out of the league. Fame, is mostly a curse. I'm not familiar with the financials of music / media production (I didn't read the linked article yet, sorry). But I feel this over-pitying attitude towards professional sports players is misplaced. They do often go broke after their career. That is sad. It is also completely avoidable with _very_…

>They do often go broke after their career. That is sad. It is also completely avoidable with _very_ basic financial planning. I think feeling sorry for them is a disservice, because it makes it seem that this outcome is hard to avoid. It's not hard when they're making 500k+/year: this is a good point and also I believe obviously wrong. What are the stats on people making 500k a year on losing that going broke? Do th…

as it the case with most analogies, the pyramid analogy is severely flawed, but I do think it makes the one point clearly which is that when you loose a 500k programming job there are more lower paying jobs in the same industry you can fall into, when you lose a 500k sports job you might not have a lower paying job you can fall into because there just aren't that many in the sports industry.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#126
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most powerful man in the US right now is just a reality TV star. That's a strange characterization; he was famous across the country before there was even a concept of "reality TV".

He was known by an order of magnitude more people after he became a reality tv star.

Right. He parlayed his fame into reality stardom.

I added it’s a word way to put it. He became more famous generally but he was already known to NY and powerful people.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#127

> I find that this is often where the stupidity narrative can be born. I’ve always wondered why someone else’s success triggers such rage and anger in certain people and I think it probably all boils down to the fact that the patriarchal society we unfortunately live in has successfully brainwashed us all. We are still trained to hate women, to hate ourselves and to be angry at women if they step out of the neat litt…

I thought the same thing. As for Musk... tbh I think as the vast majority of us want things from other people we temper our behaviour. But when you have enough fame and money to do what you want the filters can come off and we can be the selfish nasty people we really are. And some people obviously like to play on that too to get air time or just prove a point.

Yeah it seems like rich people lose some of the feedback from society that helps keep people relatively "normal" - you can see it in the names of their children for example (not just Musk).

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#128
post #74
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aussies speak something that sounds vaguely like English but it ain’t.

You know how it's said that eskimos have 50 words for "snow"? Aussies have 50 meanings for the word "cunt". It can simultaneously be both the worst and the best thing you can call someone. And aussies know exactly which meaning is intended from context.

It's easier than that, the meaning is defined by the previous word. Although you do have to be an Aussie to know that being called a "sick cunt" is high praise, while being a "dog cunt" is a mortal insult.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#129
post #122
post #6

I thought this was a really good piece of writing. It’s rare to do something like this because the job discourages it by putting PR filters on everything you say. My uncle was a pretty big pop star in the 1960s. His group at one point had a big fanzine, they were household names across the country, over time they had stalkers and weird fans and all that, made movies and albums, had big parties and knew other famous p…

That's the fate of many acts from that period. So so so many artists who were stratospherically popular but are still touring for cash playing to nobody younger than them. It's sad.

This is a staple of French TV music prime time shows. You get the stars of the 80s and 90s and it is often simply sad to watch.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#130

> especially when your old friends mock and ridicule you for caring about something absolutely pointless. My dad flew 32 missions over Germany. He watched men die. 80% of his cohort did not return. He expected to die and made his peace with it. He told me once that when he returned home, he was struck by the trivial problems people had and obsessed over. After all, they weren't flying a mission tomorrow with near cer…

I sometimes wonder what my widower grandfather thought, sending his only son off to war.

I wondered about that as well. I would do whatever I can to avoid my sons going to war because these wars are fought for interests that are completely remote.

I can imagine resistance when you are invaded (and still, you need to weigh your real chances). Sending someone to Africa from France to protect some interests there, well not that much.

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