Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

or score a love prayer

what's the matter with peace love and understanding

sayin

https://kaitlynaureliasmith.bandcamp.com/album/the-mosaic-of-transformation

Enjoying the new album

It's a bit more chill and vocal focus. Feels like a return to the direction she took on Euclid.

I am very into this, so dreamy

So, apparently she’s an anti-vaxxer too? Bummed to find out that facet. I don’t mind the crystal vibe zone aspect of her personality, but this puts her work in a whole new, unfortunately, less charitable view for me.

lj warned us back in 2017.

Ah fuck, really? Where did she air these views?

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith did an AMA yesterday and didn't answer a question about her apparently being an anti-vaxxer. This all sucks, obviously, but something I didn't expect is that I'd now begin to view her musical endeavors as some sort of grift. pic.twitter.com/0GqQ3Bbnl2

— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) May 20, 2020

the new age movement has always involved a lot of grift, didn't help that the skeptical community turned out to be raging jackasses

Zappa to thread.

She makes vaguely new age music? Its going to come with the territory

Wholly unsurprising, but yeah I think it's ok to enjoy the music that comes out of being a crystal-brain yogahead

"I'd now begin to view her musical endeavours as some sort of a grift"

Hassling an established micro-celebrity about a viewpoint that they've expressed via a single Instagram story is full-tilt narcissistic abuse. I read that AMA yesterday and I hope that everybody's next favourite band is a cliff and they all dive right in

Not saying anti-vaxxers aren't the worst, they are, but ffs when is this shit gonna abate

I agree - and good for her getting paid for selling music to that app she isn’t complicit in some terrible sin bc she wants to make a living from her music

thirded

I think it's ok to enjoy the music that comes out of being a crystal-brain yogahead

Of course it is! And, if you think about it, accusations of grift don't make sense. It would be more suspicious if she wasn't an anti-vaxxer

FWIW being a “crystal brain yogahead” is totally fine and also a far cry from pushing dangerous anti-science bullshit. The AMA dodge doesn’t bother me, it’s the straight up anti-vaxx propaganda she posted on IG that rubs me the wrong way. Conflating being into yoga and crystals with being dangerously anti-science is also fucking stupid.

For the record, I’m not co-signing the “grifter” accusation, that’s weird to single her out for getting paid through teaming up with an app. She’s hardly the first musician to do so.

Thats also fine!

People are going to have different levels about what they cancel artists over. This one is hardly a surprise though

The grifter argument is probably more about expectation that an artist be a certain sort of person and when it turns out they might not be quite that, the gap between expectation and reality can't be resolved for some

Who are the people who what they really responded to in her music was responsible medical advice and promises to never sell out

The people upset in the AMA?!

i mean obviously not but somehow learning that she isn't those things is still spoiling the joy i guess

Exactly. I mean I was pretty much in love with her (as much as an adult can fawn over an artist these days) until the anti-vaxx news. I still love her music, but my feelings for her the person have been shattered.

People are disappointed that KAS is anti-science, which is a valid criticism of ANYONE these days, let alone your favorite Buchla jamming artist. It's like finding out Neil Gaiman and Beck were Scientologists.

Regardless of whether we "love" her music or not, she has revolutionized the use of modular synth in popular music, developed an entirely unique songwriting style, literally doesn't drink and is as straight as they come, and the only thing that is getting cancelled in 2020 is toxic fandom and patterns of abusive control. Go harass a real celebrity if you want to pretend to be an activist

(That last statement isn't directed at anyone here obv I'm just super-pissed that I log into an AMA and top post is people dragging KAS over a fucking Instagram story reblogging somebody else's dumb belief.)

anti-anti-vaxxers are almost worse than anti-vaxxers imo

my feelings for her the person have been shattered.

also come on dude this is truly pathetic, are you like a grown man? get a life

She's one of the few artists I kinda fell for in a dopey fanboy over the last few years. Nothing wrong with that, other than some embarrassment when confessing here haha. I just vibed with her sound and persona, creating an emotional connection. I was one of those "overpraise" comments in one of those Whiney polls for the Ears album.

Go harass a real celebrity if you want to pretend to be an activist

It was an AMA, the third A being "anything", and clarifying someone's beliefs that they publicly expressed via social media (even if it was a lazy reblogging of some BS) is a totally valid fan question to ask an artist in a public forum! That's not harassment. She's publicly evangelizing beliefs that cause people harm. It gives her an opportunity to further clarify her already public views

Looking at the thread, most of the comments are merely disappointed. A feeling I share.

anti-anti-vaxxers are almost worse than anti-vaxxers imo

Nah.

Anyway, I have no strong feelings about her stuff one way or another but insofar as some of my favourite music of all time was made by bona fide murderers, I don't think being a gullible neo-hippie or whatever is sufficient grounds for socioprofessional erasure.

"Oh my feelings are so hurt my illusions of this person are shattered I feel grifted" I literally wish to grift your sorry ass across a gravel road. The woman owns a Buchla and is from the Pacific NW at least make this about agency and class, "the Music Easel suggests wealth", be at least a little more artful with your toxicity. I don't feel outraged so much as insulted

Might also be hitting a personal nerve id guess

anti-anti-vaxxers are almost worse than anti-vaxxers imo

Hard disagree here, I'm a resolute anti-anti-vaxxer, I'm just wondering when people are going to shake their heads and be like "oh wow hassling this person signed to Western Vinyl over a random IG story reblog did not increase my personal wealth or social capital, and the sweet tang of abuse is so fleeting, maybe I should attempt to improve the world in some other way"

i keep reading that tweet and thinking i no longer know the meaning of the word "grift"

agree with cfcf who said in the twitter thread that new age stuff is inherently a grift and it's quite disappointing she's an anti-vaxxer but i don't know why anyone cares that she got paid to premiere her album on some new age grift app

fgti if your point is that both sides should stop fucking posting, i heartily agree

...I mean it's a good album.

It is. Her best since Ears imho.

i mean if you think about it music is kind of a grift, it's just some assholes playing bullshit

fgti if your point is that both sides should stop fucking posting, i heartily agree

Same goes for me, frankly! I don't know why this touched a nerve, I barely know the woman.

if your point is that both sides should stop fucking posting, i heartily agree

board description

This news doesn't surprise me at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty of anti-vaxers in the music biz. Music weirdos gonna believe some oddball stuff sometimes. It sucks, but it's pretty predictable.

<i>I'm just wondering when people are going to shake their heads and be like "oh wow hassling this person signed to Western Vinyl over a random IG story reblog did not increase my personal wealth or social capital, and the sweet tang of abuse is so fleeting, maybe I should attempt to improve the world in some other way"

― it’s been one week since you pissed on me (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:16 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink</i>

^^^^^^^^

I'm just wondering when people are going to shake their heads and be like "oh wow hassling this person signed to Western Vinyl over a random IG story reblog did not increase my personal wealth or social capital, and the sweet tang of abuse is so fleeting, maybe I should attempt to improve the world in some other way"

― it’s been one week since you pissed on me (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:16 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^^^^^^^

― winters (josh), Wednesday, May 20, 2020 8:25 PM (0 seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

(hope the silliness of my stoned formatting capabilities can offer a break from this particular conversation tbqh)

if only people had any control over what IG stories they reblogged

this is killing me

i mean if you think about it music is kind of a grift, it's just some assholes playing bullshit

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, May 20, 2020 9:30 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink