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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

#51

Post by WalterBright »

TechnicolorByte wrote: post #29
IshKebab wrote: post #22

> 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…

How’s that 2016 promise of LA to NYC autonomous driving goal going for Musk? Or his Cybercab venture going? And the decision to not use LIDAR in his vehicles? Or the Cybertruck’s dismal engineering and sales?

Elon promises 10 revolutionary things and only delivers 9. Sheesh, what a loser!

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#52

Post by WJW »

andrewinardeer wrote: post #9

I couldn't think of anything worse than to be known world wide. You couldn't go out in public without being hounded or swamped by people. The parasocial relationships people form with you can put your life in danger. Even worse is being a politician - particularly at a global leader level. Surely there has been an average Joe who has shithoused their way into being a leader of a significant country. Once you do that,…

Tim Ferris once made the point that at an incidence rate of psychotic episodes (~26 per 100.000 people) compared to expected influencer reach (several million if you're doing well), statistically you are expected to have a few dozen severely mentally ill people in your audience. Several of those may project you to be the cause of all their problems, even if you are literally the most wholesome person in the world just because they are not experiencing reality in a sensible way at the moment.

Link: https://tim.blog/2020/02/02/reasons-to-not-become-famous/

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#53

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

bahmboo wrote: post #47
polalavik wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>young prodigies in artistic pursuits have similar choices as young tech prodigies.

How so?

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#54

Post by WalterBright »

> 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 certain death.

He said whenever he felt down, he'd recall the men that never had a chance to grow old, and his problems would melt away.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#55

Post by WalterBright »

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

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#56

Post by bombcar »

windowshopping wrote: post #32
andrewinardeer wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the bogan nomenclature. I mean "fell upwards". Gave it a shot for shits and giggles and made it.

I didn't know what bogan meant either so I looked it up and I have to infer we are speaking with an Australian or New Zealander, hence the small vocabulary differential in our English.

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

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#57

Post by justsomehnguy »

IshKebab wrote: post #22

> 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…

> Nah it's nothing to do with women, it's simple jealousy.

On the same note here. It's quite interesting what women are quick to attribute any negative behaviour or feeling against them as a sexism and maybe this is a result of some popular culture behaviour.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42057441

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#58

Post by specialist »

pinkmuffinere wrote: post #38
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. 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_…

Your ideas are intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#59

Post by ilamont »

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…

> after his 40s was trapped in a sad cycle of reunion tours because the band still needed the money.

Celebrity memoirs are often written for the same reasons, or to promote other ventures. For instance Peter Wolf seemingly reluctantly shared vignettes about Dylan, The Stones, Faye Dunaway, and rock 'n' roll life in the 1970s to promote his newer stuff:

"I was putting out solo CDs. Not to sound self-congratulatory, but I thought each one got better and better— but they weren’t finding an audience. I thought a book might encourage people to check out the other stuff. So basically, the intent of the book was to find a wider audience."

https://www.boston.com/culture/books/2025/03/10/peter-wolf-m...

Re: The realities of being a pop star

#60

Post by joshcsimmons »

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.

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