By Jordan Bickham
Staff Writer
Chris Brown waltzes on stage as fans below go wild, ready for his Grammy performance. But instead of his typical impressive break dancing and a trickle of lip-syncing, his show consisted of jumping on giant blocks while he attempted to lip sync, but failed miserably.
A half an hour later or so, a quiet country duo called The Civil Wars stand on a small stage, ready for its first performance at the Grammy’s. Starting off slowly and quietly, but quickly building, the duo proved it was perfect for the show, with powerful vocals and seamless harmonizing. But as their performance wraps up, the camera quickly switches to teen superstar, Taylor Swift, who steals the spotlight with a mediocre performance.
As a devoted music fan, the live performances of my favorite artists are just as important as their studio sound on their album. However, with the most popular artists of today, their concerts usually do not even resemble the perfect sound they have obtained in the studio. For me, I consider this as having little genuine talent. So why are they so popular?
In entertainment today, the goal is to be simply entertaining. While this may fulfill what the name implies, the field used to maintain a focus on artistic value. Entertainment has been sacrificing quality and talent and replacing the goal with entertaining the masses. Entertainment has become strictly business; it is not an art form anymore.
Not only is this obviously seen in the music industry when artists who have bestseller albums take the stage and cannot even resemble the sound that is so loved on their record, but this can also be seen in the film industry. With films like Bridesmaids and Superbad that rely on the raunchy humor that teenagers love, the films have no artistic worth.
On the other hand, films like The Art of Getting By and 50/50 do not receive equal credit. These raunchy comedies are created specifically to rake in money, not to impress audiences with a unique story line and artistic filming techniques. Even though there are many films that do not receive the credit they deserve this industry has not sold out as much as the music industry has. But even some mentions of the film industry’s downfall were visible at the recent 84th Academy Awards that took place Feb. 26.
While phenomenal actors such as Sandra Bullock and Natalie Portman got the honor of taking the stage to award equally incredible winners involved in the film industry, leading actresses of the atrociously raunchy film, Bridesmaids, got to give out three great awards as they attempted to entertain the crowd with inappropriate jokes. Although they did not receive any awards for the film, thankfully, they still were one of the largest attractions at the awards ceremony.
These presenters could definitely be funny without having to be inappropriate, just like great comedians and surprisingly good actors Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis were easily the most entertaining as they took the stage with cymbals and white band suits.
Although the awards were given out to those who truly deserved it at the Academy Awards, not judged by the public and what they think, but by experts in the subject of entertainment, the Grammys did not fare as well. Adele got the awards she deserved at the Grammys and British music awards, but singers such as Rihanna received high awards that many other singers deserved more.
Many can argue Rihanna is a great singer, but as seen on the Grammy’s she could barely sing live without going off pitch, when many other singers could easily make it through a song on live TV. But they are not the ones getting the chance to and they are not the ones getting credit.
These things beg the question, what is the true purpose of entertainment in society today? Is it to display an entertainer’s true talents or is it just to entertain the masses? As an avid music lover and viewer of movies, I find that entertainment today lacks talent in many cases, especially in music.
Many singers do not possess the true talent it takes to be an award-winning singer, but because of what most people enjoy today, singers do not have to have talent to be an award winner. Singers such as Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and even Britney Spears take the stage as some of the most influential people in entertainment.
But do they really deserve that title? Most of them are a terrible, inappropriate influence, do not write their own lyrics or are able to sing live on stage without assistance. Even sweet, popular country artist Taylor Swift has trouble staying on pitch during performances.
On the other hand, there are plenty of artists with incredible talent who do not get the credit or fame they deserve, bands such as City & Colour, or The Black Keys. Hearing them in comparison to the popular artists of today, you wonder what makes them popular. But popularity depends on what the people are interested in, not the true talent, which should actually be the ultimate deciding factor.
Even though most of the popular artists today do not have what it takes to be talented artists who can actually sing live without any help, who can write their own lyrics and who can entertain the masses without profanity, do not be discouraged. While these true artists seem difficult to find, they are actually everywhere, if you only open your ears and eyes to true talent.
