No for me. There are 5 presets on the Sirius XM radio. I’ve got Symphony Hall and Alt Nation, my wife has Classic Vinyl and BBC World Service, and we share NPR Now. If one of her songs was ever used as background in some movie or TV show I might have heard it, but not knowingly.
This thread is making me feel like a young 44 year old because I’m outside the Grande or Swift demographic but I can still name at least one song by most of who you listed (except for Sheeran).
I’ve never really understood the smug “I don’t even know what a [person] is” thing. I mean, it’s totally okay to not know of someone but the weird pride in that ignorance seems strange to me. I mean, hey, umpteen millions of people love their work so maybe you would too! Maybe you’d find something really neat or worthwhile in what they’re doing. They sell out stadiums so it’s not like enjoying their music is statistically the same as enjoying bear shit sandwiches or necrophilia. If nothing else, you’ll be slightly better educated which can’t be a terrible thing at the cost of ten minutes and a trip to YouTube.
It’s basically a way of saying “I’m above this sort of thing enjoyed by the plebians. I’m far too busy doing important, cultured interesting things to even know who this person is.”
OP here: I did go to YouTube.
I’m not claiming any sort of moral superiority for not knowing any songs by her. I was wondering how popular she was, and yes mainly in the demographics of this board, which may have some 14 year old girls as members, but we know by now the median age is around 50. I know some Justin Bieber songs. I know lots of Taylor Swift songs. I have heard music by Ed Sheeran and One Direction although I couldn’t name any songs specifically.
As I said in the OP, I knew the name but until the events of last week had never heard her music. What’s so difficult to explain about that?
It would be like me asking my dad, 40 years ago, if he had heard an Alice Cooper song, or something.
ETA: He would have said “Who is she?”
Well, I answered no, but I just went you-tubing after reading replies, and it turns out that I’m in the same boat some of you are in - I’ve heard quite a few of her songs, didn’t know who it was. The radio is constantly on in the factory I work at, so there’s a lot I hear but don’t know who it is. Guess I should have checked first!
Up until a few days ago, I would have thought “Ariana Grande” was part of a new special deal at Taco Bell. Given that the mean release date of the rock/pop songs on my iPod is somewhere around 1979, that’s not surprising.
Since extra-strength Tylenol was capable of overcoming a link to tragedy, maybe she’ll manage it too.
Her music isn’t my general cup of tea and so a few weeks/months after a hit song I’ll forget the title. Except for that ensemble piece “bang bang” which was quite amusing and sexy. Right now “side to side” is the only one still residing near the front of my brain.
But I must say I appreciate her talent and she is such a goddamn sweetie pie when I see her on talk shows.
I had no idea she existed until the bombing.
**Do any of you here know an Ariana Grande song?
**
Until the bombing incident, I had never heard of her.
Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalia, Demi Lovato, Charli XCX, they all sound like drinks I’d kick my own ass for ordering at Starbucks.
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I’m not saying you did. I’m saying that it’s very common in threads about popular culture for people to not only say “I’m unaware of that person” but to do so in a way that makes it some badge of honor. The difference between just not knowing and prideful ignorance.
I never heard of her until this thread.
I went and checked her out, I barely made into the first two notes of her screech and I was done.
I know some people like her style, I’m not one of them.
I don’t like pop music, and I’m not fond of high notes.
Never even heard OF her before the attack.
Nope. I couldn’t even pick her picture out of a line up. Never heard of her before the other day.
I’m a 37 year-old guy but I have 2 kids and I’m involved in their daily lives. She starred on 2 kids’ tv series over a several years, though she was more of a supporting actress and her co-star from the first show was expected to be a much bigger star. Those shows were on Nick. My son watched those before he became a full blown teenage hoodlum. Later my daughter would sing one of her songs that was played frequently on the Disney Channel. So I know that one. I also ran a Big Brother website that I sold a few years ago. She was considered enough of a celeb then that it was a big deal her brother was on the show.
In the eyes of this board I might be a bad parent for letting my kids watch tv or being an entrepreneur, though.
Didn’t know any of her songs, or what she looked like, until I did some research just now. She is tiny! Great, liquidy voice…but the four songs I heard were so very meh. No memorable melodies, not even much in the way of “hooks.” Apparently she wants to avoid hook-y pop, in favor of something supposedly more serious and hard-edged, but come on – they still oughtta be songs.
I give her credit for those vocal impressions! Her Shakira is dead-on – the others, too.
It would be interesting to see her try, say, Michael Stipe, or Diamanda Galas, or Brian Wilson. I bet she could pull any of those off.
Thing is, I don’t listen to commercial music radio, don’t watch live TV other than the news or sport, don’t visit news pages or magazines that deal with those genres of music or celebrities in general.
I have music, video and book subscriptions through various suppliers that recommend new stuff me so it isn’t like I’m stuck in the past but things like Ms. Grande don’t get suggested for me and there is no other medium through which she’d come to my attention. Plus I already have far more recommended than I can ever get through so I don’t feel I’m missing out. Nor, I hasten to add, do I look down on those who do know her. My wife and I have both overlapping and divergent tastes in films, music and TV and I don’t judge her for knowing about people more on the Grande end of the spectrum.
See, I don’t know who Shakira or Diamanda Galas are at all. I’ve never even heard those names before. You could have just made up a couple of names as far as I’m concerned.
Oh come on; Shakira has been around since the early 2000s. Even I’ve heard of her and can name one or two of her songs.
In the other hand, I’m not familiar with Diamanda Galas either, but a Wiki search tells me she’s “avant-garde soprano, composer, pianist, organist, performance artist, and painter” - so I agree it’s quite reasonable for someone not to have heard of her, IMHO.