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Hipster Glasses, Facebook, and a Kiki: A Skeptic's Guide to Pop in 2012

By Rohin Guha on
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Best appropriation of niche slang in a pop song: It’s no secret that Scissor Sisters’ co-opting of black queer NYC culture with “Let’s Have a Kiki” — including a video that features no performers of color — has ruffled a few feathers. But as critical as we might be of its politics, it’s still one of the year’s best pop songs, which had the added benefit of teaching America that having a kiki is a part of everybody’s life.

Scissor Sisters – “Let’s Have A Kiki”

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Calvin HarrisKylie MinogueLana Del ReyMarina and the DiamondsPaloma FaithPop for SkepticsRye RyeScissor SistersSky FerreiraTori Amostaylor swift
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BunnytheCreator 5 pts

This is complete and utter donkey shite. Not so much the choices, but the ideological standpoint on which the entire article rests. 1) Of COURSE writing about music affects how music is made - it's part of the whole discursive force of art. Creators read this shit, and then they discuss it with their creator friends and art is all about IDEAS and the exchange and mutation of said ideas. Dismissing writing in culture is kinda a copout for writers to shirk their responsibilities, and if anything shows ignorance towards creatives.2) Fetishising pop music as "other" is such an outmoded concept in a 3rd wave internet culture. Indie is no longer some bizarre outlier to the mainstream and the mainstream is no longer self-absorbed to the point of ignorance of the independent market. To quote Warren Ellis' "Crooked Little Vein", thanks to the internet "the underground is mainstream now" - pop music is in the underground and the our tiny little underground scenes are emerging and merging with the mainstream. Dubstep wobbles - the preserve of the indie in 2007 is now commonplace in pop music. Acts like AlunaGeorge are emerging from an indie label into top-ten hits of providing pop with garage and slow r'n'b beats. The internet has created a clusterfuck. A beautiful, mutant jumble of a sonic clusterfuck, where you'll find 6 of last summers' genres crystallised into one perfect song. There's misgivings here and there, but the main point is that this article comes from such a backwards view of culture that it's actively doing damage to people's conceptions of the glorious musical zeitgeist.3) Demeaning pop music by calling it "fun superlative" does both pop music AND what it means to people a disservice. To a great number of people, pop represents the great joys of life - the dancefloor is a place as sacred now as it was at raves in the 90s to the people listening to this music. It MEANS something. Not to mention the sheer amount of semantic baggage it holds.  

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ohrohin 5 pts

 BunnytheCreator I agree with you: Pop is the best and beats all the rest; that said, it still gets a fair amount of shade from music critics who can't appreciate girlbands or obscure Europop divas.

 

Basically, YOLO, dear reader; YOLO.

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