A Challenge: Why is the Celebrity you HATE so popular?

[Blackclaw]

*Originally posted by RickJay *
**Sarah McLachlan.

Oh, anyone can pick on Keanu and Tom. She’s popular, though, because she A) is expertly marketed, and B) was expertly marketed as a “singer/songwriter” right at the beginning of that particular wave. That gave her the momentum to put out two albums that were almost exact copies of her previous album and even create an entire music tour made up of “singer/songwriters,” making her in effect Queen Of The Singer/Songwriter. Her music, repetitive though it is, is a perfectly composed combination of standard pop riffs and beats with the mixes, arrangements and vocal stylings of Kate Bushesque alt-pop, giving it both mass appeal and the pseudo-gravitas of more inventive music. The combination of sound and her status as “singer/songwriter” creates a sort of Emperor’s New Music feel - it MUST be incredible music, because well, she’s… artsy! She’s a singer/songwriter, doncha know? Look at that poster, she’s wearing artsy clothes!

The appeal to the 20’s-30’s yuppie demographic is obvious; it’s harmless fluff but pretends to be momentous and artistic. You can be part of the crowd without listening to something that is transparently vanilla, like Hootie or Britney. It’s sort of the same idea as Riverdance, a pile of steamping claptrap that pretends to be some spiritually ethnic celebration. Granted, Sarah McLachlan’s music is better than Riverdance and not quite as obviously kitschy, but it’s the same species of product.

It fills a demand, but most importatly, it helped create the demand, because she was one of the first of this wave. **

I must admit that it was brave of you to jump outside the obvious targets. But I was unaware of any expert marketing campaign surronding her. Perhaps I missed it because I’m in the States and she being Canadian had a bigger push up in your area. Or equally likely, I wasn’t the target audience for the campaign. My favorite band right now is Disturbed. Suffice to say, I don’t hear Sarah on any of the radio stations I tune into. But I cannot help but love her voice. It’s not even my style of music. I did skip out on her last album as it didn’t sound as strong as her earlier work, but if I pick up her new one (Carefully matched with a Perfect Circle CD so I don’t seem too uncool) I’ll think of you as I buy it.