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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

#41

Post by pinkmuffinere »

astrange wrote: post #30
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…

> 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," Considering cocaine is both illegal and has an obviously unethical supply chain, you'd think someone would try, you know, prosecuting her or something.

I wonder if I'm missing some sarcasm, but I feel I need to clarify that "I like cocaine and partying" is her _persona_, it isn't necessarily true. It's largely marketing. I feel this was the main point of the article, lol.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#42

Post by amanaplanacanal »

astrange wrote: post #30
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…

> 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," Considering cocaine is both illegal and has an obviously unethical supply chain, you'd think someone would try, you know, prosecuting her or something.

In a lot of places drug enforcement is being deprioritized, for good reason. Of course then you run into all the problems with only enforcing against people someone doesn't like.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#43

Post by pinkmuffinere »

carabiner wrote: post #2

Fascinating. Also impressive rawness, and it doesn't even seem like she passed it thru Chatgpt. It's insane that my first inclination is to detect those telltale signs in a blog post, and here I found none.

> and it doesn't even seem like she passed it thru Chatgpt

Oh my god, can we stop with the obsession of whether something has been chatgpt-ified? I like to know when things are true, or when they are good. I couldn't care less if they are chatgpt-y.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#44

Post by canucker2016 »

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…

Pro athletes also have higher divorce rates than the general population - 60-80% vs 50% source NYTimes/Sports Illustrated

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#45

Post by jameslk »

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…

Charli XCX is diverse and experimental enough that my first instinct would be to assume she’s rather intelligent. For example, her collaboration in the PC Music scene comes off rather nerdy and eccentric actually, not exactly pop. And her lyrics usually have more to it than meets the ear, e.g. sometimes intentionally being a commentary on the party persona keeping her distracted from worse things. “I hate the silence (uh oh), that's why the music's always loud”

Of course, that isn’t a shallow opinion so perhaps someone unfamiliar to her would think otherwise

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#46

Post by levocardia »

jspash wrote: post #28
varjag wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah there's a 'delve' there but it almost feels it was put in as a taunt.

I never quite understood this “tell”. I use the word all the time. As do a lot of the people I have know. Written and spoken. Is this maybe an American thing? Ie it’s just not used much there?

"Delve" was one of the words whose usage spiked most dramatically after the launch of ChatGPT, relative to its usage pre-ChatGPT.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#47

Post by bahmboo »

polalavik wrote: post #13
cypherpunks01 wrote: post #4

> "A couple of weeks ago Yung Lean came for dinner at my house .. He is probably one of the wisest people I know." Two sentences I would've not predicted in close proximity to one another! Hah, love it. Guess he's been through a lot over the years.

yung leans interview on nyt popcast is good https://youtu.be/p1FF3r6raSc?si=Yq4kxIuQCUkW8IBr also his doc on Noisey years back was really good https://youtu.be/6wgFliyJ4Bk?si=B1DdlOQZH9NBsve1

It is a great interview, thanks. Never heard of him, he's a smart young person. Goes hand in hand with Charlie's post. Hey it's Saturday night we can talk about culture stuff, right? Edit to add: young prodigies in artistic pursuits have similar choices as young tech prodigies.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#48

Post by XorNot »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #42
astrange wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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," Considering cocaine is both illegal and has an obviously unethical supply chain, you'd think someone would try, you know, prosecuting her or something.

In a lot of places drug enforcement is being deprioritized, for good reason. Of course then you run into all the problems with only enforcing against people someone doesn't like.

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.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#49

Post by saghm »

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…

The "average" player in one of those sports leagues isn't really a celebrity at the level the article is talking about. Charli XCX's last album was nominated for 11 Grammies and won six of them, and it has the 15th highest aggregate rating from Metacritic of all time. If you're comparing to athletes, this is All-Star roster, potential MVP winning-level performance for at least that season. By no means it's every player who hits 50 home runs in a season is going to be set for life financially, but the chances they're going to struggle are a lot lower than some some random utility infielder or middle reliever.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#50

Post by astrange »

ggm wrote: post #34
astrange wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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," Considering cocaine is both illegal and has an obviously unethical supply chain, you'd think someone would try, you know, prosecuting her or something.

If she's prosecuted before a long queue of others, we'd be entitled to suggest the law is not being applied equally. Start a little higher up the food chain with the politicians.

The politicians aren't announcing they use cocaine in public, are they? Even if some of them do sniff a lot on camera.
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