Reading Pitchfork’s article, “The Imagination of Lana Del Rey”, as well as random blog bickering about her since her track “Video Games” hit, I’ve been quietly annoyed as to why anyone in this day and age would spend any amount of time bitching about the authenticity of a musician’s “persona” or “packaging”? We live in a world where you can sell yourself as anything you want. It’s all imagination these days, especially in blog-buzz-music-land. Does it really matter if she made up this persona and changed the way she looked? Does it really matter if you believe the constant stream of bullshit that Dom spouts out whenever you put a microphone anywhere near his face? Or what about Christopher Owens? Or The White Stripes? Or any other artist who’s used an aura of mystery and or pre-hype mythology to build awareness around themselves?
None of it matters. What matters is if the music moves you. If it doesn’t, then move along to the next artist who deserves your support. It shouldn’t matter if the girl has three artificial heads and giant fake tits that shoot flames as she claims to be a real life fire breathing three headed dragon. If her music is worth a shit, then talk about that - leave the package out of it. People want to bitch about how creating this persona or that persona is akin to being a Spice Girl or a Katy Perry, when fine, stop talking about it, and it won’t be the case. The only thing that really annoys me is that any reputable news or music source spends any amount of time decoding the mystery of “Lana Del Rey” or whoever was before or comes next, instead of trying to offer up some well needed support of up and coming bands that are having a hard time being heard.
There is no lack of talent in the world. In fact, there are countless brilliant, amazingly talented bands and individuals (just spend an hour on Bandcamp) who are not getting the attention that they deserve because people would rather fight about the authenticity of a musician with a better PR camp. I just wish that instead of seeing these major publications waste time debating what qualifies as “hipster”, or if this musician is real or fake, that they offered a better forum for seeking out and breaking bands that are in need of a little extra attention. Or perhaps they should all just create a made up identity and get a new face and stuff their bras or crotches and claim to be an escaped cult leaders daughter/son who rode the rails on old freight trains learning to play instruments from hobos and the spirits of old Hollywood or Nashville or whatever fucking mythology they choose to obsess over. Maybe that’ll get them the 1200 words from Pitchfork or Stereogum or Rolling Stone that will help them sell those extra tickets to that dive bar they’re playing in Brooklyn next week. Or maybe we could just ignore the bullshit and be less cynical and enjoy something because it makes us feel good as opposed to making our dicks hard because their PR backstory is too good to be true. Spoiler Alert: It is.
Thanks and sorry to let that out here. I just got a little annoyed. I’ll shut up now and get back to my corner with my dunce cap. Just pretend I’m not really here.
