no adele thread yet?

It's like the Janelle Monae backlash. "Why is everyone interested in this interesting person? Won't somebody think of the generic R&B hotties?" Musicians shouldn't be punished for the prejudices of their dumbest proponents.

And might not Adele be an interesting alternative to the general showbusiness body-image psychosis that caused Nicole Richie so much trouble as opposed to being Richie's plus-sized persecutor?

as far as "authentic" goes, the u.k. has already set the standard to beat.

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/apr2009/1/2/susan-boyle-pic-pa-106501596.jpg

lex i rememer reading yr blogpost about this, and how you thought it was rockist that she wanted to be on the cover of a music magazine rather than vogue, which, she's in music? is this really that bad/unusual?

that's not what i wrote

I should hope that's not what you wrote because that makes no sense whatsoever

Boneheaded rockism (like being on the cover of Q is a higher aspiration than being on the cover of Vogue) <- am i misreading this?

It's not quite like the Janelle backlash - for better or worse she was still operating within the same milieu as the rest of R&B. I don't think there are many popstars who are being deprived of press because of Adele, or that they're being dismissed as generic because of her music or anything. I mean, Adele's about as straight-down-the-line and mainstream as they come, musically.

I think there's also a UK/US split - the UK has always preferred more everyman/everywoman pop stars that you don't really get in the States. And then there's a residual UK suspicion of perfectly-formed pantheon of gods and goddesses type pop stars, even when they're really popular here, that Lex has often dismissed as "tall poppy syndrome". In reality I think it's a matter of accessibility vs exclusivity - you also hear it in the differing way British and American pop music approaches the idea of "the club".

(Or maybe the US's everymen and everywomen are elsewhere - hip-hop, country, rather than sort of pop music I'm talking about)

US everymen/everywomen are in record stores or logging on to iTunes/Amazon buying pop music rather than making it

Boneheaded rockism (like being on the cover of Q is a higher aspiration than being on the cover of Vogue) <- am i misreading this?

― just sayin, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 3:38 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

do me a favour and at least post the full fucking link rather than randomly c/ping one sentence. i really don't have the time right now to be dealing with ilx's crew of nitpickers

Adele is surely trying a bit too hard by going "I'd rather play a whole year at the Barfly". No one wants to play even ONE night at the Barfly.

Rolling Stone's treatment of its female cover stars is pretty appalling.

I would also like a link to Lex's blog post but since no one on either side of that argument can be bothered to provide any context I'll just make snap judgments on what's been presented on this thread.

haha sorry heres a link - http://alexmacpherson.tumblr.com/post/5216888381/adele-smokes-and-says-positive-stuff

(great url btw)

okay even in context I don't see how you can fault a musician for saying she would rather be featured by a music magazine than a fashion magazine, or IOW be recognized for her profession rather than her looks

that was an off-the-cuff post in response to that jpg being endlessly blogged and reblogged by the right-on idiots of tumblr all going "fuck yeah adele" as is their wont

i think the more interesting pertinent thing about the scale of Adele's success now isn't to do with a 'triumph in the face of body fascism' or whatever (hardly a problem in the era Adele's songs/ideals supposedly hark back to after all) but the sense that there can be only one person doing this kind of thing so supposedly well (considering Duffy's somewhat surprising nosedive, Rumer being apparently too niche, dormant Winehouse...different as they all are they're all retro tagged in the same way). doesn't seem like anyone is interested in Adele doing anything other than these sorrowful hearbreak anthems (no more than how thematically pigeon-holed many other big bands are perhaps - Coldplay spring to mind as ever, but it's almost always feels wrong).

feels like the industry required a multi million-seller for an older audience (funny given Adele's youth and inexperience) rather than a selection of different singers all covering similar territory all having similar success.

Yeah from a commercial standpoint Adele was a no-brainer, it's still annoying that you see headlines like the one above going 'Adele refuses to sell out', as if she had anything to sell out in the first place.

Adele refuses to sell out by playing slightly-more middle-of-the-road retro soul!

attitude to taxation is quite repellent:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/may/25/adele-tax-grievances

Okay she should stfu now. Suspect she's not alone among million-selling popstars in that regard though.

lol Adele, let me help you with your tax woes by not buying your music

back in the day peeps could protest by building a massive funeral pyre and throwing the records on it, like they did when the Beatles said they were bigger than Jesus and with disco records coz, well, I never really figured that one out, but it happened. Doesn't quite work with the MP3 generation, even millions of punters tapping the detele key simultaneously doesn't generate much noise now does it?

If they all time is juuuuuust right.

"it" dammit

One thing she's already given up: commercial tie-ins. To Adele, having your music in commercials in paramount to selling out.

"I think it's shameful when you sell out," she told the magazine. "It depends what kind of artist you wanna be but I don't want my name anywhere near another brand. I don't wanna be tainted or haunted."

interesting stance for someone whose current hot 100 #1 single had its initial boost up the sales charts fueled in no small part by film trailers and ads for tv shows

also i really fail to understand why it seems like so many people like her for not having a "typical popstar look" or whatever when it seems to me that, apart from being somewhat heavier but not notably so, in appearance she doesn't seem that atypical at all: she's extremely photogenic (i mean, the 21 album cover might be better than much of the music on the album), identifiable, easy to look at, etc. why is she painted as an anti-hero for her looks?

... Because she isn't skinny?

I mean, it's not really rocket science.

is not being skinny that uncommon though

Among pop stars???????? Is that a serious question?

Also, she's not that photogenic either.

sorry if this has already been said, but lex, the quote is ""My aim in life is never to be skinny," not ""My aim in life is to never be skinny"

uh...think her cherubic babyface is def a factor in her popularity and success tbh. note that her Q cover is a headshot (seem to recall the 'Chasing Pavements' video being particularly facially focussed also). she has a nice face but it can feel a bit (un-necessarily) heavy-handed/overcompensating at times.

I notice the preferred pose for her good photos is hiding her chin by looking over her shoulder or with a popped collar. She looks like shit on the cover or Rolling Stone.

In the Q cover she's looking over her shoulder with a high collar AND there's a weird little sprig of hair that hides her chin.

really? i don't think i've seen a photo of her (including the rs cover shot) and not been all "wow her face is stunningly striking"

and ok fine i guess my skinny question was very silly, sry bout that, i guess i asked because the whole "big-voiced slightly-large female" thing is not uncommon at all and for the majority of them we don't seem to bring up how unusual their weight is in terms of the entire pop landscap

e

and ok fine i guess my skinny question was very silly, sry bout that, i guess i asked because the whole "big-voiced slightly-large female" thing is not uncommon at all and for the majority of them we don't seem to bring up how unusual their weight is in terms of the entire pop landscap

― teledyldonix, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 3:39 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark

well, there are oldsters like Susan Boyle moving units on albums, and plenty of niche R&B stars with larger figures, but as far as young women with #1 pop singles, Adele is basically in the company of a bunch of skinny bitches

to split the difference a little, it is a known (i won't say 'accepted') archetype for a singer tho, kind of an eternal return kind of a thing.

Well yes, but it's not an archetype that usually rushes up the pop charts unless it's as an anonymous singer in the background while a skinnier, prettier woman lip-syncs in the video.

speaking of album covers, i'm glad she remembers herself cuz i didn't even know she had a new album out:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/IRememberMe.jpg

J Hud's been all over the media the last few months (more for touting her weight loss on talk shows and Weight Watchers ads than for her album having any big hits)

i was just trying to think of non-skinny american pop people and i didn't even know about the new diet thing!

An unhealthy lifestyle cast as a virtue (also, note the cigarette)

Lex, that is one of the most bizarre criticisms of a pop star I have ever read.

lex is just being ornery/contrary

again

its not always about rockism, sometimes ppl just get tired of fun vacuity

Love how that implies Adele is like Tolstoy or something.

love how you inferred that

shit getting real in the adele thread.

Love how shit's getting real in the adele thread