Jan 12 2010
K to the E to the $
Just a quick note on Ke$ha and her #1 song “Tik Tok” from NPR –
“The lyrics mean nothing, and the song is about nothing, and the song is not a very good song… but it sounds enough like a good song so that you can’t tell the difference.
Perfect description. The song isn’t just empty, but empty in an extremely purposeful and radio-friendly way. It is as designed as an iPhone and as sweet as a pack of sugar.
“… When you channel and put together so many pop and hip hop cultural memes, but you don’t have a real story to tell, you kinda got: nothing.
Is there any real difference between the three photos of pop stars here?
Which one is Ke$ha? Which is Gaga? Who’s the third one? [Answer]
“What you hope for in a movie like Avatar or a song like Tik Tok is that … some genius producer has put together this montage of tropes next to each other like a bunch of movie scripts in a blender to make a larger point. … But if you’re employing a bunch of tired old tropes and you don’t have a smart point to make, then you’re just tired.”
This song is being heard by EVERYONE. You can’t escape it if you want to listen to terrestrial radio. It’s making lots of money through iTunes and through licensing to commercials. If we accept paintings, sculptures, movies and dance as legitimate art forms, why can’t pop music be art too? Isn’t it just as legitmate of a medium as any of the previous listed?
I’m not even arguing that cultural pastiche is a bad thing. It’s just that when you have the opportunity to transcend, there’s no obligation to do so, but it’s a wasted opportunity when you don’t.
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Listen to and read the full story at NPR.com: “‘Avatar’ And Ke$ha: A Denominator In Common?“
