Feature Article
Packaged Music
by Ismael Manzano
I was skipping through MTV Hits and came across one of Gwen Stefani’s new videos
for Love, Angel, Music, Baby, her solo album. It got me thinking about her
other videos from the same album, which got me thinking about her marketing
image for that album, which got me thinking about other artists and their
images, which led to this little rant. It came to my attention just how
annoying pre-packaged artists are to me nowadays. In the past, when I was
younger, I didn’t really stop to think about what I was hearing or what the
singer I was listening to was purporting to be. I liked a song if I liked a
song and that was that. Age has, unfortunately, imparted upon me some insight
that seems to pop up every now and again with absolutely no use whatsoever save
to rant or to complain about things such as this; so here I go.
Gwen, though I love her music, has fallen victim to the same pitfall as so many other artist out there. She decided to change her image and remarketed herself for the sake of selling a few more records. Why? I have no idea. It’s not like No Doubt was a colossal failure. They were big, they were great, they were different and people loved them. So why the change? I can understand her wanting to break out on her own. No problem there. My problem is why, after over a decade of making great music and having a loyal—and not small—fan base, did Gwen suddenly feel it was necessary to skew her latest album toward the Japanese market? Let me state that I have nothing against any race or culture, but when you see Gwen with four Harajuku girls in every video and every performance and when you listen to her making a mention to them in almost every song in her album, it gets me wondering whether she’s just kissing ass or she owes someone money. I give her points for doing something different and I do like the album, but it feels like she trying to be something she isn’t.
It’s not just her either and it’s not just now. Does anyone remember when M.C. Hammer suddenly went gangster? How many people really think Avril is the hardcore punk she tries to pretend to be? Did anybody ever think Britney was innocent or that the Spice Girls were actually friends in real life? How about Vanilla Ice? How many people bought that he was what he claimed to be? Who can tell anymore if the rap feuds we hear that catch our attention and get us to buy the album are even real?
And can anyone tell me what happened to Destiny’s Child? Weren’t they all about empowerment and women’s rights? Every video from Destiny Fulfilled, with the exception of “Girl”, has been one downward step after another from what they once were. Has anyone actually listened to the lyrics to “Cater 2 U?” I mean, did they lose a bet? Who are they trying to market this music to, women with no self-esteem who want to stay that way?
What really gets me about this unfortunate trend is that it makes people like me, who used to just listen to good songs because they were good, start questioning the authenticity of the artist. I don’t want to question anyone, but I find that I can’t help it. Like Simple Plan, for instance. I love their songs, but I find myself wondering from time to time if they aren’t just playing it up for the angst-ridden teenagers, trying to secure a big chunk of the demographic by making one depressing, ‘You don’t understand me,’ song after another. Maybe it’s just me—and I admit that I don’t know anything about their lives—but I can’t help but think that they’re just posing. It feels fake to me. Maybe I’m wrong, and I apologize to them and their fans if I am, but that’s what runs through my mind. Maybe it’s just the sheer volume of angst-ridden songs that they produce that has me thinking that way or maybe it’s that I’ve become so jaded from all the other pretenders out there that I can’t tell the difference between the masks they wear and the faces they were born with.
I wish we could just go back to a time when music was just that and the singers didn’t have to put on secret identities to get people to buy their albums.
For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at imanzano@g-pop.net
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