This is how talent are divided amongst the human population:
- <1% are elites
- About 10% are highly skilled
- 90% are mediocre or are simply not outstanding
- <0.01% are world-famous
- <0.1% are famous at the very least locally in their countries
- More than 99% are "nobodies"
That's right, it is probably easier to have only talent than to have any significant fame or infamy. Needless to say I don't have any of the two.
And speaking of fame, it can really come and go. The percentage of people who are famous are much smaller than the percentage of people who found their own talent, which the very-naive would imply that those who are famous are exceptionally talented. They might not be aware that there are people who are famous for being famous, and people who are famous for being infamous. These are average people who somehow captures the audience's attention for months to years, be it actors, performers, singers or politicians. They probably made up the majority of the famous.
Fame through infamy
I probably shouldn't be writing all the below stuff at this point in time as it is old entertainment news, but I couldn't resist after so many news about these "celebrities" showing up.
Rebecca Black
Months ago there is this Rebecca Black whose "Friday" Music Video became a viral hit thanks to a popular website referencing it. The YouTube video had more than 160 millions views, mostly people who came just to make fun of it. Comments left on the video were mostly abusive and was eventually disabled. "Friday" also had the dubious honour of being the most disliked video on YouTube history, scoring more than 3.2 million dislikes before the Music Video was taken down for copyright disputes. A pity. At many times I got my cheap laughs from the comments posted by the trolls and haters, so the disabling of comments and the copyright disputes simply doesn't contribute to further publicity. After all, didn't this video demonstrate that there is no such thing as bad publicity for newbies?
Major new memes inevitably have smart alecks combining them with older memes.
It appears that Rebecca Black and/or her viral hit will always be mentioned and compared to whenever a new song or music video grabs the attention of the media, for the coming months ahead. I always sees words along the lines of "Is this the new Rebecca Black?" Oh well, I guess this teenage girl was really lucky to be assured her place in the history of internet memes.
I will not comment on whether is she a good singer, since 1) I suck at judging, and 2) She only released one song as of this writing, "Friday" itself.
Jenna Rose
Rebecca Black news did not even completely die down before another singer became infamous for yet another music video. I am not very well-versed with the entertainment media... Did Willow Smith began the trend of children singing and turning their music videos into viral hits? Or was that Justin Bieber?
So anyway, Jenna Rose gained infamy for her "My Jeans" Music Video. This often drew comparisons with that of the "Friday" Music video. Let me list out the similarities in their music videos, as so many others have done before.
- Subject matter of the songs are eponymous (One is about Friday, another is about... Jeans)
- Both singers are very young teens
- Both girls woke up at the start of the song
- Underage driving featured
- Seemingly weird scenes (Where's the school bus if she is heading to the bus stop? Why isn't she wearing jeans if she's singing about them?)
- Simple... Lyrics?
- "Yesterday was Thursday, today it is Friday..." vs "ABC, 123, that girl wore her jeans like me..."
- "Which seat can I take" vs "But I don't know what to wear"
- Obligatory black rapper appearance!!! (For "Friday", an adult, somewhat creepy foil to Rebecca Black?)
- Both the rappers are the ones who wrote the songs.
- Kids jumping and partying in the end
This music video had a similar effect on me.
So how did Jenna Rose respond to haters after the abusive responses left on her "My Jeans" video? Through another music video called "O.M.G"... While I find "My Jeans" to be somewhat cute and the black rapper somewhat funny, I cannot say the same for the "O.M.G" music video. Firstly it was ostensibly a response to her haters that she will not give up, but it ruined her image further through her provocative, suggestive poses that doesn't seem appropriate for a child. That is what most people around are saying, I couldn't care less myself. But as much as I do not want to diss music videos meant for little kids, I must admit that I do not enjoy a video of a 12-year-old girl acting like an grown-up. Apparently, hater responses became more abusive than before and so comments and ratings for "O.M.G" are disabled shortly after.
Because of the nature of her songs (Both "My Jeans" and "O.M.G" featured self-centered lyrics) and how she responded to the haters, many perceived her as an annoying, spoilt, ugly brat, perhaps even worse than Rebecca Black. Jenna Rose did sang many other songs and apparently there are people who changed their mind after listening to them as a whole. Unfortunately for her, most people still remembered her for "My Jeans" and "O.M.G" and it seemed unlikely that she will ever come close to the level of fame that Rebecca Black attained. Jenna Rose just demonstrated a negative example of the importance of first impression, and it is going to be difficult for her to become a mainstream music artist and be taken seriously. I myself think she is actually kind of cute. I am also one who finds catfish, flies, and spiders to be cute (I am not joking here), but I digress.
Don't know why juveniles find this funny, perhaps that shows personal attacks are beneath me.
A short analysis for this simple song, here it goes: Firstly, the song may not age well, it makes explicit references to fashion and pop culture, namely "Heelys", "Hannah Montana" and "Ashley Tisdale". By the time these references are forgotten by the masses, so will the song itself. Secondly, "My Jeans" is targeted mainly towards children as opposed to "Friday" which can be enjoyed by people of all ages (I use the word "enjoy" loosely here). This could explain why "My Jeans" did not have the "so bad its good" appeal as compared to "Friday" video, making it a lesser substitute for the trolls. And it makes the haters look so silly for attacking a song which might not be meant for them in the first place.
Tonje Langeteig
I am having trouble writing and pronouncing her name, its in Norwegian? Tonje's music video "I Don't Wanna be a Crappy Housewife" showed up on early June just when Rebecca Black's meme is simmering down, so Tonje did not even reach the heights of Jenna Rose's infamy. Still, the YouTube video received many abusive comments from those who follows entertainment news... Oh, why am I not surprised?
Tonje Langeteig's music video is the first notable one where I find it truly awful. Collegehumor couldn't have summarized it better for us all: "Babes! Talent! Any discernable melody! If you like these, you'll love other songs!"
Again, note the eponymous subject matter, where she repeatedly belts out: "I don't wanna be a crappy housewife!" for half of the song. I'm serious.
But there are now suspicions that "Crappy Housewife" might be an elaborate joke by Tonje Langeteig. "Stalker Management", the supposed Norwegian label that Tonje is under, does not give any official response but there some tell-tale signs that she may be very different from the likes of Rebecca Black and Jenna Rose. We have come to the times where it is difficult to determine whether a piece of work is meant to be serious or not. Parody or not, it is still something for us to laugh at.
Courtney Stodden
I wish this article could end here, but the last person listed here is what made me decide to write this long blog post. Well true, both Courtney Stodden and Tonje Langeteig have received levels of what seems to be short-lived attention and it is possible that they will fade away into obscurity soon enough, but infamy is infamy. The similarity I would like to point out between the four people I listed on this post is that 1) they are female, 2) they put up at least one song on YouTube, 3) their singing ability seems questionable, 4) the media gets an excuse to write something about that and 5) they get extremely negative responses. The first four points now looks like a decent recipe to generate attention.
I paid more attention to her body moving than her singing, sadly.
Took me a few tries to pause at this frame, but check it out. I can't see much myself.
Nice body.
As you can see from the photos right above, some people find it hard to believe that she is only 16 years old, going 17 as of this writing. I myself find it hard to believe. Part of the negative attention is that she is married to a 51 year old actor Doug Hutchison (Probable reason why she get that much attention, but before the news came I never heard of the actor), leading to some wild accusations of her being a gold digger or that marriage being plain inappropriate. Ah well, the drama.
And not to forget her song "Don't Put It On Me". What was that song about... Argh, I can't be bothered to decipher it by now after writing so much. She sounds a bit like Ke$ha. As to whether she is as good as Ke$ha or whether Ke$ha is even good in the first place, sad to say that I'm a rather poor judge in such matters.
Conclusion
Sigh. At many times I wished I could write and act out a parody and post it on YouTube myself, but I lacked the creativity, resources, and efficiency to carry it out.
As a short conclusion you can see that in the world of the internet, just like how flies are attracted to shit, people are attracted to the bad and the degenerate. There's also the "so bad its good" and there's "so bad its comes back as bad", where the former will win out in the end in terms of attention.
See also: Chocolate Rain.
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