Accountability in Music • Page 564

As the saying goes, they only have one joke

 

When Ronald McDonald called the latest Julien Baker record (a super personal record that deals with depression, religious doubt, substance abuse, and more) targetcore (aka music you would hear played at Target) and trashed the entire record without discussing the lyrics at all that was the last straw, but he's always done dumb shit like the above Twitter thing and it's annoying.

 

dude sucks, the end.

 

If I am misinterpreting his use of those phrases, my apologies. It just seemed bad based on the reaction I was seeing from some on Twitter.

 

I'd definitely say it's an accountability in music issue. Dude's the biggest music critic on Youtube for better or worse. His takes carry a lot of weight to his audience.

Regardless of whether his intent when making jokes like that or taking cracks at conservative rhetoric, it's still far from the best look especially when those types of jokes are made at the expense of marginalized groups. He's supposedly a leftist so he should at least be able to read the room.

 

I’m struggling with a good way to word this post, and the user deleted their posts so it’s probably a moot point. But generally I think his style of meme-ing and most of the content on his channel is delivered in a way that is similar to that of alt-right bloggers. Whether that’s intentional or not is up for debate, but that’s what I mean when I say he caters to an alt-right audience.

 

I don't get how he can be so supportive of Dorian, Black Dresses, etc and come out with shit like that. Its odd.

 

It's for sure mocking trans and nb people

 

It’s the same logic people use to say racist shit because they have black friends. He thinks he’s being fun & satirical be he’s In On The Joke

 

Yeah like he claims to be a leftist and then engages in the same kind of alt-right edgelord shitposting that the 4chan crowd engages in. Like sorry bro you don't get to talk out of both sides of your mouth like that.

 

What makes you think you may have been misinterpreting? I think you were right.

 

Someone posted this for context, and I think deleted it because they didn’t want to be seen as defending this guy. The tweet shows that yeah, he might have done this as a joke or as a way of making fun of the right. But it’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about, using those tactics in a way that’s just as shitty and insensitive as those he’s “making fun of”.

 

Deleted posts from a user I was responding to

 

This is very out of left field but has Emanuel ever apologized for writing The Willing

 

Didn’t they break up like 15 years ago? Haha

 

i'm not sure a record being personal or dealing with important issues can absolve it from criticism (i love the album, btw). if we're going down that route then i think music/art criticism in general becomes inherently problematic and worthless.

 

I know we talk a lot in here about the bad things people in music are doing, but I feel like we rarely spotlight when someone who has previously done something bad actually does the work and makes progress, maybe because we rarely see it actually happen.

Anyway, I think Camila Cabello is doing exactly what you want to see others do. Since her previous issues came back to light a year or so ago, she made her initial apology and has consistently been doing the work since then. She's worked a ton with Healing Justice Foundation to talk about injustice and inequality issues, constantly using her platform to spotlight voices that don't get heard. She consistently posts about current events related to race issues, lifts up Black Lives Matter, spoke up about voting, and spoke out against Trump and hate.

And through it all, she rarely has posted anything at all about her music, it's always about making the world a better place.

Anyway, maybe others don't agree and think she is forever going to carry the burden of her past, but I truly think she is doing the work, in a very public way, and I believe she is a better person who is trying her hardest to make the world a better place

 

I honestly wasn’t aware of all of that so thanks Steve!

 

I also had kinda written her off

 

I follow her on social media, and saw her posting a lot yesterday remembering George Floyd, and it just made me think about all she's done over the last year or so. A ton of charity work, a lot of covid-related help as well.

 

Swizz Beatz Confirms Soulja Boy-Bow Wow Verzuz Battle

All the rappers in the world and Verzuz is giving these two abusive clowns the spotlight.

 

True, but that specific callout (the “Targetcore” thing) is also not an example of good criticism.

 

saying shit like this is 10x less productive than anything else youre referencing happening in this thread