It’s been a minute since I did a requested blog, apparently since 2023, at least in the formal sense. I did one a few months ago that wasn’t a branded “requested blog,” but was still one that had been requested of me. That being the “Geek Out” blog with actually kicked off a new series. I just haven’t gotten that many requests to write on specific topics until today when I received one from the passenger seat.
Ev & I had wrapped up a Saturday morning work out & were out & about running a few errands when he turns to me & says “I know what your blog today is going to be about.” I said “oh do you?” He said “yes. It’s going to be about the need for people to see things for themselves in this day & age & not just go off of the opinions of random people on the internet who often have no actual credentials to be nagging on the things they’re nagging on.” He didn’t say that exactly, but I want to spare his example because I plan to use it later in this body to illustrate the point he is having me make & that I agree greatly on. I’m going to talk about a few things here within, & naturally most of them will consist of recent pop culture. I don’t expect all of you to agree on everything I am going to say here but I hope to have you all walking away from this evening’s blog entry with a newfound desire to check your sources & maybe try things out for yourself before you join the vocally negative in miligning something that is genuinely good or at the very least has potential. I’m going to use Evan’s example first, because it is fresh on the brain & I apparently can’t keep up & build anticipation.
Earlier this week Katy Perry’s Lifetimes Tour came through Nashville, Tennessee. I honestly would have had no idea it was in town had I not seen a couple of friends talking about the show that evening. Out of curiosity I popped onto the dread Ticketmaster & went to see 1. if there were still tickets & 2. how much they were. There were a lot & they were relatively cheap, so Evan & I opted into getting a couple in the lower bowl. If you are unfamiliar, or not chronically online like Ev & I, you may have missed the poor reception that the early shows on the tour received. People were posting videos of her, making fun of the dancing, claiming all of the instruments weren’t actually being played, claiming that Katy was lip-synching the whole show, etc., etc. So that’s what Evan & I were expecting going into the show. Boy were we wrong. The show was incredible! She clearly sang the entire time, the instrumentalists were ripping solos left & right, she had literal feats of acrobatics & athleticism throughout, & the production design was amazing. At one point in the show she held a side plank while singing, alternating through to another core braced position. She sang while tumbling through the air. She sang while spinning upside down suspended in a cage. The segment that people had posted mocking her “tired dancing” came after her literally running two laps around the figure eight stage & going straight into the dance. The only gripe that I had with the show that most people also were complaining about beforehand was the extensive use of AI in the on screen visuals.
Literally everyone that I know, who went to the show, whether it was here or in other parts of the world had the best time at it & were completely confused as to why the internet had panned the tour so aggressively. In all honesty it made me really sad, especially as a fellow artist. Here Katy had put together an incredible show, a setlist that flowed & changed aesthetics frequently, just to have it dead in the water upon arrival because a few people on the internet decided that they didn’t vibe with it. Were these people concert critics? No. Did they themselves work in the music industry? No. Were they themselves artists? No. Just some influencers that got offered free tickets or bought tickets to sit & laugh at the ‘cringe’ with their friends & it breaks my heart. I just think of all the people who didn’t go to the show because someone on the internet told them it was bad or how many people who may have been fans of hers may have opted out of the show because they didn’t want to be disappointed by it. And again, as an artist, having your work prejudged by loud voices with zero constructive input, healthy criticism, or even a desire to give the show a chance, kills me.
This isn’t the only example of this recently. I’m a fan of two very popular, very commercial franchises: Marvel & Star Wars. Both of which have seen their fair share of this exact negativity over the last couple of years. The show The Acolyte on Disney+ was maligned for being ‘woke’ before it ever came out because it featured a cast made primarily of actors of color & featured a same sex couple. People never even gave it a chance despite it having some of the coolest fight choreography & concepts of Star Wars in recent history. Was the writing perfect? No, but there was definitely a lot there that did work & had potential for growth. The same thing happened with the Marvel film The Eternals, which I would argue is actually one of the better MCU films out there, & The Marvels, which was just all around a fun time at the movies.
So the list goes on & on. People form opinions on art or content without even taking the time to view it themselves. They shirk it off & what ends up happening is that studios & artists end up playing it safe out of fear of never being able to succeed monetarily from their exploits which then creates the same ‘copy & paste’ installments over and over & over again. It makes it so people don’t even want to try out of fear that they’ll be ripped apart before anyone even gives them a chance. Worse still, in the case of the Star Wars & Marvel films above, it tells executives that stories featuring non-white, non-male, non-straight protagonists or stories aren’t worth the investment. It sucks, truly & it creates this air of “everything is bad” around concerts, music, film, & television. Is there always room for genuine criticism? Absolutely, but that’s not what we’re talking about here, we’re talking about unqualified individuals with large outreach plastering their out of context opinions all over the internet & the general public taking it as bible.
So what’s the solution? What’s the point of me making this blog or Evan’s suggestion that I write it? My point is to go & see things for yourself. If you have even the slightest interest in something, go & see it! Then if you yourself like it, tell everyone! The only way to fight misinformation is by presenting an alternative. You are allowed to like the things you like whether or not someone thinks that’s cringy. You’re allowed to go & have fun even if that’s the only thing you get out of the moment. That’s still experiencing something that fills your life with meaning. & if at the end of it all you don’t like it, at least now you know for certain. At least now you gave someone’s project an honest shot which is more than most people out there are willing to do these days it seems! Go see it yourself! Go to the movie, watch the show, go to the concert, listen to the album, but do so before you ever form any sort of opinion about the merit of the work itself.
As Always, Much Love To You All,
-C