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The realities of being a pop star

itscharlibb.substack.com

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Re: The realities of being a pop star

#131

Post by decimalenough »

anal_reactor wrote: post #113

> You’re in transit, you’re going somewhere but the journey itself takes up the majority of the experience. That's how most people function. People work their asses off so that they can do something fun two weeks a year. > Another thing about being a pop star is that you cannot avoid the fact that some people are simply determined to prove that you are stupid. Because even though people clearly have different levels…

No, she means literally being in transit from point A to point B. On a tour bus, in an airline lounge, on a plane, in a cab, in some random hotel, backstage waiting to go on stage.

I did 100% business travel for a couple of a years, and it was pretty grueling despite mostly being stationed with the same customer for a couple of months. At the Charli XCX level, you may be doing 4 gigs in 4 different cities in 3 days:

https://toursetlist.com/charli-xcx-tour-setlist/

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#132

Post by bigmealbigmeal »

ivraatiems wrote: post #21

There is a weird assumption people make that somebody as successful as Charli XCX isn't smart because her persona is "I like cocaine and partying," and then are surprised when she can express herself like this. Like she says: "Another thing about being a pop star is that you cannot avoid the fact that some people are simply determined to prove that you are stupid." Making music at any professional level is extremely…

What you're saying is a very common "poptimist" trope of the last decade or two. To say that, actually, these vocalists are highly intelligent and largely responsible for their own success.

Charli XCX, like nearly all popstars, was propped up by the producers and writers who shaped her sound and composed large parts of the music. Producers have been there the whole way. In particular, her blowing up was highly influenced by the stylistic direction, composition, production and sound engineering of people associated with the PC Music record label. The statement that she had good enough taste to have been around these people is rather unfair -- she was around artistic innovators like Sophie, yes, but THEY are the ones that pioneered the sound.

The most common refrain is that popstars often write their music. This is misleading: they write the lyrics, suggest a general vibe, and some rough melodies or chords. And even this is a stretch many times. They are not composing or producing the music in any larger sense, and this is the pivotal part of actually making music.

One famous exception that comes to mind is Grimes, who largely actually /makes/ her own music. She rarely seems to get credit for this.

This is not to say that vocalist popstars don't bring a lot to the table. They do. But what they bring to the table is incredible performance skill and charisma. I think poptimism has gone too far, to the point that we think the product was responsible for creating itself.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#133

Post by jameslk »

sfblah wrote: post #124
jameslk wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Music is a subjective thing, but what I like about Charli XCX is her albums have completely different sound from album to album, but are consistently fun to listen to. As if it puts you in a certain energetic mood. Listening to albums in full you can tell many tracks experiment with the genre. For example, she brought a niche thing like hyperpop to mainstream listeners in her prior 2 albums before brat.

These are some that I like from various albums:

https://youtu.be/CRYYBDG1b4Y

https://youtu.be/f-NS9hnmWN4

https://youtu.be/JsYJYUQgT7k

https://youtu.be/chSZCtLrgz8

https://youtu.be/5f5A4DnGtis

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#134

Post by walletdrainer »

astrange wrote: post #82
XorNot wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my rules for travel is don't go to places where the laws are basically selectively not enforced for the convenience of tourists.

Bali and Singapore will execute tourists for having drugs, so you can go there I guess.

I’m not sure many tourists are traveling with quantities sufficient to qualify for that treatment.

More likely you’ll face a fine or a strong talking to if you get caught at the airport with some small quantity of pot.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#135

Post by dwroberts »

sandspar wrote: post #103

Her essay makes it seem like she's mostly powerless. She gets shuttled around from place to place because other people make money by using her as a prop. She gets paid lots of money and is given freedom, in a sense, but it's freedom to gorge herself on basic pleasures like attention, drugs, and wealth. Overall it seems like a childlike existence.

This is what makes the ‘successful’ parts slightly off to me. I get that she is successful, she is well known, presumably made good money etc - but in some sense it’s the machinery behind her that has been successful in using her. Everything she is, is just a brand created and owned by someone else.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#136

Post by thaumasiotes »

jppope wrote: post #18

Courtney Love wrote a fabulous article explaining the realities of a million-dollar album (2000 - https://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/ ) and it explains so much of whats actually going on that the public doesn't fully comprehend. Its a great read if you've never read it. The realities are similar to what we are reading in this article. Most of what gets talked about is gross numbers not net. Most of the benefits…

> Your average NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL athletes are broke 5 years after they are out of the league. Fame, is mostly a curse.

They would also have been broke if they hadn't been athletes. The career doesn't damage their finances. It's excellent for their finances while it lasts, and then they revert to normal. Why would you call that a curse?

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#137

Post by sandblast »

decasia wrote: 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…

Sorry, I'm curious: why it "was", not "is", a really good piece of writing?

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#138

Post by thaumasiotes »

bigiain wrote: post #66
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #38

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_…

You're right, of course. But often there are obvious and "easy" answers that are anything but easy for the person who needs those answers. "Just cheer up, depressed person!" "Just eat less and exercise more, fat person!" "Just stop shooting up, heroin addict!" "Don't accept generic lifestyle creep, pro athlete who's teammates are all living it up like they live in a gangsta rap music video!" I'm sure there are lots o…

> "Don't accept generic lifestyle creep, pro athlete who's teammates are all living it up like they live in a gangsta rap music video!"

I'm not sure lifestyle creep is actually the main problem that celebrities going broke suffer from. Stereotypically the lifestyle is something they can afford, but they make bad investments.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#139

Post by abc123abc123 »

WalterBright wrote: post #54

> 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 always feel like this is elitist (oh, look at your silly little problem, I risked death, and you are complaining about rent.

And I always respond with, yes, not everyone risked death, and they do have a right to complain about rent. You did it because of your own free choice.

Another aspect of this silly stance is that if we always compare with death, nothing ever gets done. It is perfectly reasonable to have everything, and still aim towards other goals. If one is not risking life, you are well justified in complaining about the traffic jam.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#140

Post by ad_hockey »

bigmealbigmeal wrote: post #132
ivraatiems wrote: post #21

There is a weird assumption people make that somebody as successful as Charli XCX isn't smart because her persona is "I like cocaine and partying," and then are surprised when she can express herself like this. Like she says: "Another thing about being a pop star is that you cannot avoid the fact that some people are simply determined to prove that you are stupid." Making music at any professional level is extremely…

What you're saying is a very common "poptimist" trope of the last decade or two. To say that, actually, these vocalists are highly intelligent and largely responsible for their own success. Charli XCX, like nearly all popstars, was propped up by the producers and writers who shaped her sound and composed large parts of the music. Producers have been there the whole way. In particular, her blowing up was highly influe…

> The most common refrain is that popstars often write their music. This is misleading: they write the lyrics, suggest a general vibe, and some rough melodies or chords. And even this is a stretch many times. They are not composing or producing the music in any larger sense, and this is the pivotal part of actually making music.

To be fair, if they write the lyrics, define the vibe/feel of the song, and compose the melody and chord progression, then that does sound like the vast majority of the song. What's left - I guess some additional instrumentation, the percussion, production? To me it does sound fair to credit the popstar with having composed the music in this case.

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