Is embarrassing yourself the new MTV?

At the time of writing this, I am 25, I have been in to popular music as long as I have been aware of it. My dad had a vast record collection including Queen, Prince and Michael Jackson among his rock albums by Scorpions, Sabbath,etc. My Mum has a varied taste; I have her collection of Specials vinyl but she also loves Pet Shop Boys, Bryan Ferry and at the moment she can’t get enough of Arctic Monkeys.  As a kid I heard about the latest music by artists old and new from the  radio or appearing on TV shows like Live & Kicking, Noel’s House Party or SM:TV. Most acts that appeared on these family shows had a lot of success I vaguely remember The Spice Girls, Oasis and Take That among all of those that faded in to obscurity performing or joining in the fun with Ant and Dec on Saturday morning kids TV.

Before that MTV was the way to get noticed. Launched in the early 80s, everyone wanted a music video on the network. A lot of people would go as far to say Michael Jackson’s solo career wouldn’t have took off if it wasn’t for his video for ‘Billie Jean’, acts like A-ha, Duran Duran and The Human League would have not seen any success without it. Some acts were encouraged to make elaborate videos just to get airtime on TV rather than the radio. The music video is still relevant in the digital age. YouTube and other video sites are great outlets for bands to get exposure. About 10 years ago, MySpace looked like the future of music but slowly drown under newer social networks like Twitter and  Facebook. The video still lives on and still gets used on websites and we have about 50 different channels on Sky+ that just show music videos.

however, it seems YouTube and the internet in general is also being used to share videos that might be funny, through sheer awkwardness or because it is intentionally funny. Everyone has seen ‘Numa Numa’ (below) or ‘Leave Brittany Alone’ before. The internet is world-wide and something posted this lunchtime could be all over the news before tea time.

Think of it this way: would the song on ‘Numa Numa’ (Dragostea Din Tei by O zone, if you were wondering) get as much exposure if he didn’t make that video? Would Britney Spears have gone into a further downfall of depression, instead of getting her life back on track? Well,  Ok, you don’t hear about Brittany as much in 2014 as you did in 2007 but she is still performing in arenas and was once a judge on X Factor US. Not bad for someone who shaved their head after being referred to rehab.

Which brings us to the current day: Radio, although still a part of everyday life, is not the main outlet for new music, neither is TV and it seems anyone who is anyone can get their music on TV or the internet.  If you think about it,  the most talked about pop stars are those doing things which make them look ‘awkward’ or ’embarrassing’ in today’s climate. You know something is being talked about if there’s a meme of it on Tumblr or you see numerous links to it on Twitter.

Last year Miley Cyrus went from being the daughter of Achey-Breaky singer Billy Ray Cyrus, and star of  Hannah Montana, to the skinny white girl who sings about drugs and wears very little clothing. It was the ridiculous ‘twerking’ performance at the MTV Awards which made her a house-hold name. Rewind a little bit to 2011 – an unknown 14-year-old, Rebecca Black, singing about meeting her friends on a Friday was a worldwide smash. Her biggest inspiration, Justin Bieber, can’t stay out for the papers for being arrested constantly.

Fast forward to today:  29-year-old Canadian singer/songwriter, Avril Lavigne has released a news single. You may be thinking ‘What’s the big deal?’ Avril was a bit of a fad in 2003 because of how she dressed and made skater/punky inspired pop songs which were very catchy. The young girls wanted to be her and the boys wanted to be with her (even just as a mate!) since then she has had some minor hits which seemed to be following the trend (‘Girlfriend’ was an outrageous Ke$sha/ Katy Perry ‘girl power’ sort of song, etc) divorced Dereck Whibly (of Sum 41, slightly over looked these days) and married Chad Kroeger (front man of Nickelback…yep) her new single is called ‘Hello Kitty’ inspired by the cartoon and clothing brand. Thing is….its pretty bad. So bad, you can’t browse a social network or news website without a link to it popping up.

It’s not the worst song I have heard, nor is it the worst video I’ve seen. The fact it uses Japanese stereotypes, she only wears one outfit the lyrics are ridiculous (written by Chad Kroeger…yep) and the fact she is acting like a 12-year-old child, rather than a 29-year-old woman that makes it so cringe worthy. In her defense: she has always just performed songs put in front of her, been told what to wear and tried to keep her head above water more than other acts of the early ’00s (where is Ashanti, Ja Rule and Lil Jon these days?) I still have her first album ‘Let Go’ on my CD shelf, can’t bring myself to get rid of it! also she is trying to keep up with the trend: brash ‘EDM’ (Euro pop made outside Europe basically)like LMFAO or Will I Am with a hint of J-pop/K-pop like Psy or 2NE1.

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(above) Avril Lavigne when she was ‘cool’.

Going back to my original point, it seems one has to make a fool of themselves, albeit by accident, to get any attention in mainstream media. The same applies to movies; I think more people will have seen ‘The Room’ or ‘Birdemic’ than something great like ‘Elysium’. all the You Tubers are reviewing bad movies , good stuff doesn’t make good comedy. A good example of this is ‘Foodfight!’ I won’t go in to it but  I am genuinely curious to watch that film because of hilarious reviews by The Nostalgia Critic and JonTron (below)

In the same way, being ridiculed online or being parodied on  sketch show hold the same worth as regular airplay on MTV did in the 1980s. Pretty sad really, Looks like record companies will have to find ways of setting up their new acts to get humiliated in public.