I think Sadie's talking about Stan culture has completely overtaken pop and how criticism is discouraged
Maybe I am just too old. I don't even know what stan culture is or in what world pop isn't criticized anymore. I feel like almost literally every single pop song that comes out from any larger artist gets pummeled. Katy's recent singles? Me and You Need To Calm Down? Or are we talking about like, mid-level fame? If anything I feel like people are waaay too harsh on music these days, it's why I almost never read reviews, I just don't like the constant negativity
I think pop stans have always existed which has always come with extreme opinions of love and hate, but there's def more of a platform for fans to speak up and interact with their faves now which makes their voices seem louder. I think celebs can also be more choosy about which media and publications they work with. Previously they needed entities like rolling Stone and mtv for exposure and press. Now celebs can generate their own press and give fans basically unlimited access. They don't need to make a big impression at the VMAs now. A magazine or site gives them a middling or negative review? They don't really need to give that publication an interview anyway. I've def heard of reviewers talking about how sometimes they criticize an artists album and that artist won't work with them anymore. I can def see how that could generate some padded positive reviews since now it seems like the publications need the celebs more than the celebs need them. Idk I'm not a music insider so I could be totally wrong lmao. I do wish popstars were criticized more for their obscene displays of wealth, being sponsored by large credit card companies and harmful beauty products, and being extremely wasteful flying private jets and using tons of resources to water their ridic amount of land in their giant mcmansion compounds. I mean all the wealthy should be criticized for that tho.
I met Joey and Chris from NSYNC lastnight. I talked to both of them a little bit about Max Martin, and learned a couple interesting things. I asked them if Max would show NSYNC songs like "I Want It That Way" and see if they wanted to record it or pass on it, and if so which songs did they pass on that later became hugely successful in that era. They said that after Max did "I Want You Back" and "Tearin' Up My Heart" he realized what the band sounded like and then from then on he'd write songs specifically for NSYNC. Joey also mentioned that there's some old demos of those songs where Max Martin is singing them, which I can only assume would be hilarious to hear. Joey also said that during the NSYNC days, he believes only JC ever got a chance to actually sit and watch Max work on writing music. He seems a little jealous of that because he's also super intrigued by Max Martin. Joey also said that he hadn't seen Max in a very very long time up until Coachella when they performed with Ariana Grande. Max was there and they all got to say hi. Chris said that Max's LA studio is unreal. Justin invited Chris to come to the studio when he and Max were working on "Can't Stop This Feeling" from the Trolls movie and Chris said that the studio is massive and insanely cool. Anyway, it was a lot of fun gushing about Max Martin with people who've actually worked with him. The man's a legend, and both Chris and Joey seemed genuinely and equally fascinated by his work.
Yeah you are exempt you brought this beautiful piece of information and don’t yet know that I’m the resident *NSYNC fangirl But now you know so don’t let it happen again, buster! Also, how did you meet the two of them? Why were they together? Were they working on something?
They were together at Salt Lake City’s version of Comic Con, which is called FanX. Here is their whole panel interview they did there:
They’re hilarious together. I was surprised how funny they were. On one of the 3 days, Joey was a guest during an improv comedy panel and he was so funny.
Has she ever addressed any of this? That’s the main reason I feel she is still problematic/racist. I can excuse a lot of shit said at 17, but if you don’t make any attempt to apologize/do better....
I really enjoyed the Slayyyter project, but there were definitely moments when her performative hypersexuality got to be too over the top for me. It works in a live context or nightclub setting, but not really as headphone music.