It’s interesting, perhaps it’s worth exploring more how people relate and respond to ‘lore’ and personal references, etc. in decades past vs today. While it’s not wrong to say JT, rappers, and others imbued their music with similar hints and personal drama, I don’t think as adolescents we (millennials and before) were as obsessed about the details as we see today. Of course we talked about it and got excited, but I don’t think we craved it. It was more like a bonus when it happened.
I think in our day and age we had a certain craving for other elements of our superstars’ lives and found that more addictive in our consumption: riches, success, image, fame, etc. ultimately, I think it’s just that younger generations today are far more emotionally closed and underdeveloped (without meaning to put them down) in their own relationships and so crave these details to live vicariously through their favourite pop stars. In the same way that as millennials we wanted to live vicariously through their fame and success — you could argue that social media in a way has given Gen Zs a platform to experience some degree of fame and ‘success’, which we did not grow up with from a young age. And it does seem that they don’t crave to live vicariously through them for their riches, fame, and success like we did. Idk, just some thoughts.
But yeah, regarding critical acclaim, I’d agree with you: you shouldn’t need lore to be appreciated and you shouldn’t need it for critical acclaim. It’s just becoming more popular and accepted as the norm, especially because of the level of engagement and obsession it generates. Hence, some critics will level that against perfectly good pieces of work because they felt the need to be critical about something. That’s just what critics do. But it’s good to point this out so we don’t allow it to become a universal standard.
It’s interesting, perhaps it’s worth exploring more how people relate and respond to ‘lore’ and personal references, etc. in decades past vs today. While it’s not wrong to say JT, rappers, and others imbued their music with similar hints and personal drama, I don’t think as adolescents we (millennials and before) were as obsessed about the details as we see today. Of course we talked about it and got excited, but I don’t think we craved it. It was more like a bonus when it happened.
I think in our day and age we had a certain craving for other elements of our superstars’ lives and found that more addictive in our consumption: riches, success, image, fame, etc. ultimately, I think it’s just that younger generations today are far more emotionally closed and underdeveloped (without meaning to put them down) in their own relationships and so crave these details to live vicariously through their favourite pop stars. In the same way that as millennials we wanted to live vicariously through their fame and success — you could argue that social media in a way has given Gen Zs a platform to experience some degree of fame and ‘success’, which we did not grow up with from a young age. And it does seem that they don’t crave to live vicariously through them for their riches, fame, and success like we did. Idk, just some thoughts.
But yeah, regarding critical acclaim, I’d agree with you: you shouldn’t need lore to be appreciated and you shouldn’t need it for critical acclaim. It’s just becoming more popular and accepted as the norm, especially because of the level of engagement and obsession it generates. Hence, some critics will level that against perfectly good pieces of work because they felt the need to be critical about something. That’s just what critics do. But it’s good to point this out so we don’t allow it to become a universal standard.
Great piece.
*socially underdeveloped