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Alicia Keys and the Sad State Popular Music Is In |
Ever since the release of Alicia Keys’ “Songs in A Minor”, she has been hyped up to a ridiculous degree. This hype is justified by some because she “writes her own music and plays her own instruments.” Although we do respect that, this should not be the sole reason for an artist’s success.
Her CD is quite frankly… crap. We have attempted to listen to it all the way through several times, but any such attempt is futile. Listening to “Songs in A Minor” yields anger and frustration, and by the seventh song (average) we usually end up lying on the floor writhing in a pool of our own urine and vomit. Congratulations to the J records for successfully marketing such a putrid and unpalatable compilation of “songs.” For what it is, we must give the song ‘fallin’ a miniscule amount of credit. This song is slightly tolerable and the lyrics are respectable.
R&B isn’t really our bag, so not liking Alicia Keys doesn’t really say anything too bad about her. We feel that the acclaim an artist gets should be based on musical talent and how well their music is written and performed. Just because an “artist” writes his or her own songs doesn’t mean they are talented. Look at the Christian rock band Creed for example, they write all of their songs, and they are possibly the worst band of all time.
Unfortunately, there is more than one way for an artist to become popular without really having any musical talent. Due to MTV, the way an artist looks can make or break his or her career and level of success. Do you think Mandy Moore would be popular in today’s popular music scene if she weighed a deuce and a half and had a acne marred face that only a blind mother could love? What about Britany Spears? If not for her silicon bosom and extremely attractive face would she be in the spot light? The answer my friends… is no. She could kiss the dream of her music career goodbye if she looked like Rosy O’Donnell. Her music alone is not good enough to gain her success. We feel that Alicia Keys also falls into this category. Even though she writes her own songs, they aren’t good enough to get her into the spot light. It wasn’t long ago that looks weren’t quite as important. Until MTV it was possible for an artist to become popular strictly based on musical talent. Janice Joplin, Johnny Cash, Leonard Skinard, Mama Cass, James Taylor and Christopher Cross are all artists of the past that were not necessarily good looking and attained huge amounts of acclaim.
Not all hopes are lost of course. Bands and musical groups who are extremely talented can still become popular with teens today. Weezer, Radiohead, Bad Religion, Coldplay, U2 Rage against the Machine and Outkast are all artists of recent times that are extremely musically talented and probably could have made popular music regardless of how they looked.
To make a short story longer, we will now regurgitate the aforementioned. It is easy to see that music today is on dangerous grounds when most artists don’t even write their own music and owe their career to the size of their bra and waist. Will we live to see fat, ugly artists take the place or Jennifer Lopez? No.