Excessive Adulation is Killing Music

In the past I’ve taken streaming playlists to task as one of the big reasons for the lack of groundbreaking new music, as each playlist has a pre-defined box, not allowing for any creativity outside of that box. That said, they aren’t the only perpetrator that’s having a negative affect on the current state of music. There’s another group that’s unwittingly doing a great deal of harm, and to see who’s in that group one need only to look in the mirror, because we are the ones to blame.

We are to blame because we’ve fallen into a routine of doling out over the top adulation for anything that comes along that we like.

Social media, and a lust for being thought of as some sort of tastemaker, has created a world where we laud excessive praise. It’s always love at first play. Every album is a classic. Then a week later we move on to the next artist, and do it all over again. 

All the adulation isn’t a sign that we have a plethora of great new artists. It’s a sign that we’re desperate.

We haven’t had anything truly new, or revolutionary come along in music in well over a decade, and because of this we’re in a rush to call someone iconic, or an important voice, rather than letting things happen naturally.

Think about it, artists like Britney, Madonna, Janet, and Mariah weren’t considered icons overnight. They worked their butts off over the course of many years, survived, and even thrived, through multiple waves of music trends, and ultimately made it to a place where we can look back on their careers, and say they were truly special.

We need to remind ourselves of this when it comes to new artists, and let things develop naturally over time. Right now we’re trying to force the matter. Two perfect examples of this are Olivia Rodrigo, and The Linda Lindas.

A couple weeks ago, on the strength of her mega-hit debut single, “Driver’s License,” Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album, Sour. It’s a good teen breakup album, but if you read the reaction from media outlets, and people on social media, you’d think she’d just released Nevermind, Purple Rain, or Abbey Road.

The album is not an earth-shattering, this-changes-everything, release … and it doesn’t have to be. It can be a solid debut album from a teen artist, and something for her to build on. That, however, is somehow considered an offensive take, because in 2021 everything must be 100% pure praise. If you dare to present any kind of nuance, and do anything but worship at the altar of the latest hot new thing, you are considered the most awful of people.

Celebs quickly joined in with the praise mob, showing Rodrigo love, but celebs are quick to latch onto anything that will keep them in the public eye. Showing support for a young, newly popular artist is an easy way to gain social points. Anyone else remember when Taylor Swift was “best friends” with Lorde?

A few weeks ago the spotlight shone brightly on a band named The Linda Lindas. The foursome of young girls set social media on fire with a punk rock song titled “Racist, Sexist Boy,” and became internet darlings in mere hours. Grown folks were acting like groupies.

The inspiration for the song was something that resonated with people, and it’s great to see young girls stand up for themselves, but once again, can we pump the breaks on making them icons before we’ve heard a second song? Can we allow them to grow, both as artists, and as people?

The Linda Lindas were quickly signed by Epitaph. The age range of the members of the band is 10 to 16, with a 14 year old reportedly being given full creative control by the label. This seems a bit extreme being that most 14 year olds don’t even get full creative control of their bedrooms.

Will The Linda Lindas become a huge success? There’s always a chance, but the best way for that to happen is to leave them alone for a while. Are we capable of doing that without also completely forgetting about them and moving on to the next band, or artist, that starts trending on Twitter? As of now, we haven’t shown ourselves to have that ability, and until we do we’ll continue to cycle through new artists at a record pace, and be stuck in a stasis with no musical revolutions, or developing legends, for years to come.