Any privilege he may have gotten isn't exactly his fault and being deemed "non threatening" is a double edged sword Also I don't see anyone talking about say ed Sheeran and his white male privilege
I feel like the point of "Bruno's work is largely pastiche of retro leaning sounds" made by Meshell Ndegeocello and other POC music writers is not the same criticism being made as "Bruno's work is largely sounds he has appropriated from black culture" I think @unbornwhiskey and @sophos34 are referring to different groups of critics/criticisms but idk I think it's a perfectly valid critique to level at Bruno, that being the majority of his work is entirely pastiche, while acknowledging that he's not a culture vulture like an Ed Sheeran or any other artist who doesn't pay tribute to the cultures/forefathers/musicians who influence their sound TLDR; Bruno is cool, he's my Pinoy boy but there are legit critiques to throw at him
I don't think his Grammy win is a fair critique is all I'm saying which is what I've seen on twitter today and some discussion about appropriation that I don't think is fair. I think his music can be criticized in several ways I only kind of like 24k and none of his other albums outside of the singles. He's just not the dude to be attacking over this stuff. The institutions sure but the man himself idk it's just not that deep with him he makes fun music he likes there's not much more to read into there and I fail to see the point in trying to
no this is exactly right. sorry, in my desire to distinguish meshell's points from this other argument i think i muddled things more
Totally agree that they’re different conversations, but I think people are drawing the connection too quickly. For example, meshell makes a valid point about the pastiche nature of Bruno’s music, and then someone takes that comment and misconstrues it to think that it means he is culturally appropriating. That one, highly energized and loaded tweet then becomes widely shared, and then the conversation shifts to that topic because it strikes an emotional chord with people, and “validates” someone’s dislike for the music. I just hate hope opinions proliferate on Twitter nowadays
People just want to be validated and recognized on the same platform as others. I believe the awards themselves are silly but it does have mainstream cultural importance for POC
I wish the Grammys weren't significant but they definitely matter in terms of representation, but with the way it's set up it's gonna be a waiting game for it changing. Same with the Oscars. It won't be until the old voters are gone and the people who grew up on culturally diverse music from the day they were born are in charge of voting
I like it. Also this sounds weird given Bruno's huge success, but I think she's really helping his career.
Bruno’s on a song with Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton called “BLOW” dropping tonight that leaked online... VERY unexpected direction from them. I read that Bruno produced the track, played most of the instruments, and directed the music video dropping tonight, which makes it even cooler! I’ve been hooked on this song all day.
Man, I genuinely can’t believe I enjoy an Ed Sheeran song THIS much. Bruno produced it and played most of the instruments, so I think that explains it lol
First off, how has it been FOUR years since this album. Second off: Bruno Mars To Star In, Produce Original Music-Driven Film For Disney – Deadline
Sorry to bump without any actual news, but I was just thinking about how Bruno really has it figured out. He's basically the all killer no filler of the pop world. As long as he has at least 2 HUGE songs per album, he's going to stay relevant. Across his 3 studio albums he's only released 29 songs total, haha. He completely leaves the spotlight between albums too, feels like he doesn't have a ton of paparazzi either and gets to live his life. It was 4 years between his last two albums and has somehow already been 4 years since then.