It’s cool that Lady Gaga thinks gay people should be able to get married, can play the piano, and can tie her hair into seemingly impossible ornamental feats of space and times. But do any of these things make her special? Do they make her worth her celebrity?
It used to be that most musicians could play instruments—no one was ever surprised that Bob Dylan knew some guitar chords.
And since when is believing in social equality something special? Of course rallying for civil rights is worth praising, but elevating it to some level of celebrity makes it unattainable and unusual—that is, not the norm. When supporting gay people is something unique, it’s no wonder more people don’t do it—they necessarily can’t, according to the definition that supports Gaga. That’s like praising science teachers for teaching evolution. Evolution, like civil rights, isn’t based on beliefs but instead on knowledge and intellect. There’s no harm in supporting teaching evolution and legitimizing social equality, but when those actions make someone special, the actions become elite and exclusive.
The hair, the hair. Ok, it’s fun to look at. But still.
Performativity
Some argue that Gaga’s artistic achievement comes from her performance of celebrity. She performs her role as a famous person, they say; her fame comes from within, not from without. It is imposed on society, they say, not the other way around. By performing celebrity—and gender, others argue—she is intellectualizing fame.
Last night, Beyoncé won best video of the year at MTV’s annual Video Music Awards for her hit, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” It’s a great song and a fun video, but is it the best music video? The choreography is what makes the video so addicting—it’s not the cinematography, the framing, or the video techniques. And yes, there are separate categories for cinematography and choreography, but it seems that the best video should, necessarily, draw at least a bit from these categories.
Of course there are no rules for what makes a music video great, just as there are no rules for a great song. But a video must go beyond its song, and it must go beyond a well-choreographed live performance. There must be something that makes it specifically a music video and not just a video of music.
And it’s not just Beyoncé’s video. Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” may be shitty song, but even its video boasted better technique than “Single Ladies.” It’s a catchy song though, and many critics praise its pop success. So, already, even on the surface, it deserves the award more than Beyoncé’s single.
Music videos have come a long way since Bob Dylan first threw placards of lyrics on the ground. We can’t expect Allen Ginsberg to meander through the frame, and we can’t burden every artist with coming up with a Spike Jonze-directed masterpiece (see below). But music videos are videos. They must keep the audience watching for more than sexy dance moves and a great beat.
Never has the decimal-point rating system on Pitchfork been so obviously ridiculous as in its recently-released reviews of the Beatles reissues. Sure, it must be difficult to pick apart the best pop albums ever released, and it must be hard to avoid contrived reviews. The writing is weird and forced, but at least they’re trying (I guess). But is “A Hard Day’s Night” really half a point better than “Help!“? And is “Help” actually three-tenths of a point worse than “Please Please Me“? A website that gets its kicks from a song about nails (a damn good song, in fact) should admit defeat and let the albums stand on their own.
The analysis of differences in sound quality between this re-release and others is nice and surprisingly informative. Will lay-listeners be able to tell the difference? And is it worth it? Will Beatles fanatics be able to tell the difference? And will they appreciate it? Or would they rather listen to the sound as they learned it in the first place? (Even further: Will hearing damaged by age, music, and world-weariness render Baby Boomers’ abilities of sonic distinction useless?)
Too bad they didn’t put this kind of creativity into their Fab Four reviews.
