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#elvis didn't think he'd be remembered and saved critical reviews many of which are crueler than you'd ever expect
septembersghost · 1 year
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Do you think harry is scared(its not the right word but it's the closest) of loosing his 'shine' like taylor? In 2019 Taylor said that lover could be her last main stream success(how wrong she was). Music for sushi restaurant mv really shows his paranoia. Does he think his fanbase only like him for being 'hot' and 'entertaining' and not music?
Totally unrelated but I saw on reddit about how harry won't have much longevity because of his teen fanbase and is unoriginal or not creative enough. He will also face into obscurity post 30s because he is another popstar filling 'hot boy' shoes. What do you think abt his longevity ?
i think everyone in the entertainment industry naturally worries about that because it's so brutal and fickle, and "popularity" can turn so quickly. the video for sushi restaurant is legitimately so disturbing that it took me a couple of weeks to even be able to listen to the song again (that should've had a warning of some kind in front of it lmao i'm serious, it made me slightly ill), and it speaks for sure to that concern and to the ever-present feeling of being a commodity, and the business not caring at all about an artist's humanity to the point where they'll destroy and consume that themselves if it benefits them, even using people's own qualities and uniqueness against them to strip them for parts. it's not quite the same as taylor addressing the inherent misogyny where women are expected to be shiny and new and beautiful and interesting (but never too much), and to reinvent themselves at every turn (but never too much!), but it's definitely related. i'm not sure he worries about it as much with fans themselves - whenever he thanks fans for staying with him, changing his life, sharing that space with him, he really radiates and embraces that energy - but feeling pressure and paranoia in regards to the industry and even thinking about a legacy and how much time they'll let him have is understandable. that's what's so scary about reaching a height - there is inevitable comedown, and you just have to try your best to make that a gentle fall and not a fiery crash.
reddit hates him for no discernible reason, this is not new, they are so unbearably annoying (i blame reddit for some of the beyond inane queerbaiting discourse), but...not to say this yet again when i literally made this post last night - anyone who dismisses an artist's success because teenage girls like them is at best a boring fool and at worst a pretentious sexist. teen girls were the first fans of sinatra and elvis and the beatles (among countless other iconic acts). teen girls drove record and single sales. when men decided to lay claim on those artists and suddenly deem them "cool," they pretended like they'd never dismissed them as anything less than genius, but the record shows that all of them were embraced by teen girls first, made big and successful by them, and that those girls, as they grew into women, often remained the most loyal audience and would pass that music down. (we've seen this with taylor too.) fuck everyone who diminishes teenage girls, imagine how tired we are of this rhetoric!!!!!! teenage girls are the most enthusiastic audiences, they are the tastemakers and they are the future!
moreover, i in my thirties (cries) and my mom at seventy (cries again) both love harry's music, so age is no metric! you are never too old to enjoy and love things! the people who think that are not to be trusted.
the "not creative enough" criticism is wild to me because he's just out there being himself and doing his thing? what more do they want from him? and if they're not saying he's uncreative, they're saying he's trying too hard. it can't be both! (some of this is an insidious bias showing itself but i'm going to avoid saying it). limiting this to current white male soloists only, he's distinguished himself critically for a reason. his success, at least, is indisputable, he's been making music for over a decade, has released three solo albums that all went to #1 and lasted on the charts for a considerable time, and on his third he had the biggest song in the world last year. longevity is impossible to predict, and quite often can only really be measured in hindsight, but we've seen that taylor has learned if she keeps passionately creating, people will show up to listen. if harry keeps growing and showing that authenticity, people are going to engage with that and his music, and that will keep expanding his base and artistry and foundation.
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