This topic has been on my mind for quite a long time. Recently with the Halsey album reviews I was thinking about this even more.
I see people say how certain songs and artists have brought comfort to millions and cheered them up, that to say that these songs and albums are devoid of any “artistic value” is disrespectful. I don’t agree with this. There are multiple ways to engage with music. For someone “artistic value” is in the emotional connection they feel with the songs, for another person it’s in the way music sounds or how transgressive the music is from a cultural standpoint of view. For another person, the technical aspects are what constitute as artistic value. These conversations can move in a cycle with no resolution. It’s essentially a fruitless conversation.
Therefore I think it’s fruitless to argue with someone about the definitions of artistic value. Just because a piece of art brought comfort to you on a personal level doesn’t mean it has to be universally acclaimed.
For example: I don’t seek relatability in music. I seek storytelling and varied perspectives. I love Laura Nyro’s New York Tendaberry. The album is a 1969 singer-songwriter piece taking on a darker approach to love in the New York city. Now I live in an asian country. What do I know about New York? I shouldn’t be liking this kind of music at all but I love the way she portrays her stories and characters in the music. I love the way she sings, that her songs lack structure and that she is not afraid of silence in music. I don’t feel emotional when listening to her but I feel hypnotized nonetheless. Take kpop itself. I don’t even understand the lyrics without reading them but I can enjoy the music and its presentation.
Similarly I can easily dislike a song that millions love. I am not a fan of Coldplay for example. Lyrically they are earnest but they don’t do much for me with their soundscapes. The said earnest lyrics come off as incredibly cheesy. Doesn’t mean I am disrespecting Coldplay when I say I don’t like them. Words like cheesy are descriptors. They could have a snarky, ironic tone to them but they are not inherently disrespectful.
Recently I came across an instagram reel of a woman talking about how she loved a kpop artist but doesn’t feel excited for their newer releases because the new songs are “artistically subpar”. A battle ensued in her comment sections. People act offended, calling her take “edgy”, “harmful”, “disrespectful”, “racist”, when it was none of those things. The point of contention is about what people consider as artistically subpar. The counter argument to her point was, how can a song be artistically subpar when it has brought comfort to millions of people? That she does like the song but is lying to come off as edgy and cool. I don’t understand these arguments. Your subjective feelings on music is not a universal phenomenon. Now a tweet is going semi-viral about her reel and the fans of said artist are going on her page and dogpiling her.
We are already seeing the effects of this kind of tribalistic fandom behaviour on music criticism in general. On one hand layoffs and paycuts are already breaking the backs of music journalism industry, on the other hand you have online fandoms going haywire over writers for not loving their favourite artists. People pretend it’s about battling disrespect when it’s about them wanting ACCLAIM for their artists.
People want one thought, their thought, to be *the* thought. If you disagree you aren’t just someone who holds a difference of opinion, you’re somebody to be harassed and destroyed. It’s like fan culture’s baseline is entitled anger both on the members of THEIR OWN FANDOM and its critics. There’s emotional investment and that’s FINE but it’s accompanied by entitlement. That’s wrong.
submitted by /u/creampistascchio
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