What ASIB & Bohemian Rhapsody get wrong about pop music

[WorstBehavior 1,141]

These days, Gaga is widely respected as the author of her own work. “Shallow,” the yearning power ballad that won the Golden Globe, will extend its awards-season run at next month’s Grammys, where it’s nominated for both record and song of the year — prizes that honor her singing as well as her behind-the-scenes effort as a writer and producer.

But for years after she broke out in 2008 with “Just Dance,” Gaga was written off, like countless female artists before her, as little more than a manufactured product, one whose talent lay in her outrageous outfits, not her meticulous songcraft. So I just have to say, as a pop critic who loves a lot about “A Star Is Born,” it’s really disappointing to find how much old-fashioned thinking persists in this movie.

In “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the Freddie Mercury biopic unexpectedly named best dramatic picture at the Globes, the Queen frontman (played by Rami Malek) keeps coming up against a cartoonish record executive who scoffs at his ambition. And Mercury’s struggles as a gay brown man in a straight white world? Glossed over as a narrative inconvenience rather than presented as part of what propelled him to the stage.

But what’s vexing about them, at least to those of us who interact with music as more than a thrill ride, is their contention that the industrialized pop process can’t lead to great art — that beauty or profundity is accessible only to an artist sitting around with an acoustic guitar or in a grimy parking lot with less than that.

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2019/01/14/Bohemian-Rhapsody-A-Star-Is-Born-pop-music/stories/201901150010

[Borislshere 53,044]

I understand where they're coming from. Ally talking about not wanting to "lose her talent" when she goes the more pop route and Jackson being kind of condescending with WDYDT. It doesn't really bother me but I do get what the author of that article is trying to say. 

[JazzGa 14,621]

Ah yes, Americans especially LOVE to buy into the myth that great musicians solely exist plunking an accoustic guitar in a plain tshirt. That's why we think certain musicians who look exactly like that are "soooo talented" when really all they do is rip off TLC songs

[Mbc95 1]

I get what youre saying. But in my opinion, both movies got right what Pop music has become. Now, im not saying that pop music nowadays is 'embarassing' as Jackson said in the movie. But in my opinion, what IS embarassing, is going from writing lyrics like "Im of the deep end, watch as i dive in. Ill never meet the ground" to "why do you look so good in those jeans? Why do you come on at me with an ass like that?" 

Which I think is a correct example of what Pop music is today. So many talented artists that begin their carreer writing amazing, deep, and meaningfull lyrics. And the more they dive into pop music, and end up writing **** lyrics with no deepness to them

[AJRocketMan 2,684]

14 minutes ago, Satans Ex Wife said:

Ah yes, Americans especially LOVE to buy into the myth that great musicians solely exist plunking an accoustic guitar in a plain tshirt. That's why we think certain musicians who look exactly like that are "soooo talented" when really all they do is rip off TLC songs

Are you talking about Ed Sheeran?

[AlexanderMagno 10,746]

It's true. And what really "grinds my gears" is that this is exactly the thing Gaga fought so hard against for most of her career. Pop music in its most opulent form can be as deep and meaningful as any other form of art. Gaga can wear the most extravagant outfit, she can give us a dance-pop bop and still it can be as creative and significant as Da Vinci. But people will never learn. Gaga herself fell into that trap, mostly because she was so eager to show she had a powerhouse voice, and specially now that she acknowledges Lady Gaga as a persona, rather than a true self. Truthfully, you don't need the pipes to be highly acclaimed (look at Bjork, Madonna).

The movie's transition from raw Ally to pop product Ally was kind of rushed and probably not well handed, but I feel like the movie tried not to focus too much on "she became a fabricated pop product". You easily get the idea, but at the same time it's not the real problem and it's not directly discussed, considering Jackson's alcoholism becomes the centre of attention. I feel like there was an attempt to not look too much into it, and you can see that Ally is quite comfortable with it.

[Didymus 34,379]

Hmm. Very interesting. This might have just changed my views about those films. Thanks for sharing, buddy

[JazzGa 14,621]

52 minutes ago, AJRocketMan said:

Are you talking about Ed Sheeran?

Shading Edward? Moi? Why, I would never do that, never have, and never will! 

[Yuuri 21,636]

1 hour ago, AJRocketMan said:

Are you talking about Ed Sheeran?

I think @Satans Ex Wife is talking about Shawn Mendes

[giskardsb 12,565]

Compare pop music from the 70s to now. Great songwriters like carol king, billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac etc would have no place. 

And for a vocalist like Ally, today’s auto tuned mess can literally be “losing your talent” as Gaga’s own vocal abilities were minimized in her early career. 

[AJRocketMan 2,684]

4 minutes ago, Sharyu said:

I think @Satans Ex Wife is talking about Shawn Mendes

He, too, is very bland and uninteresting (although I really enjoy “Life of the Party”, “Something Big”, “Nothing Holding Me Back”, and “Youth”) and the only reason I feel he’s made it as far as he has is because of his appearance. He has other people write his songs for him and he has no stage presence.

[Poissonche 12,365]

1 hour ago, Satans Ex Wife said:

Ah yes, Americans especially LOVE to buy into the myth that great musicians solely exist plunking an accoustic guitar in a plain tshirt. That's why we think certain musicians who look exactly like that are "soooo talented" when really all they do is rip off TLC songs

Woman wearing an extravagant and slightly revealing outfit, dancing her ass off in a spectacular show but still having breath to expose her wide vocal range, on a upbeat instrumental track: Roses are red / Violets are blue / I just wanna make / Love to you

People: Ugh, this again? Another music industry product selling us sex? With such unoriginal lyrics? I don't understand how anyone could like her. Thank u, next.

Man wearing a white shirt and a pair of jeans, sitting around a campfire, with his guitar out. This is a music video. We've never seen him perform live. Repeated shots of the same damn white t-shirt and the same damn guitar and the same damn campfire and the same damn woman looking at main man in awe: Roses are red / Violets are blue / I just wanna make / Love to you

People: OH MY GOSH WHY can't artists nowadays be more like him? This is REAL MUSIC. HE has ACTUAL talent, so he doesn't need to hide his lack of it behind props and props and props and costumes. If he sang those lyrics to me, GOD I'd let him f*ck the sh!t outta me! Such a poet!