So I know that I'm not famous but I am entering the culture industry, as a person who wants to say things publicly I do realise I'm throwing my hat in a ring with people who do want what we call "fame".
Ok i cant say I was a day 1 but I've been an underscores fan for about 2 years now(shoutout Ellie Sullivan, who fucking knows her shit). When U came out I called that it was going to be a big thing, and when I saw that underscores was opening for CharliXCX on tour I had to immediately post poplife to my instagram notes to signal to everyone how niche and forwardthinking and on the pulse I am. But of course it was fucking Charli that puts underscores on arena stages, Charli is like... good at positioning herself in interesting cultural spaces(Martin Scorescese, John Cale and Mr. Fashion dont just *end up* on your album cover).
I recently DMed underscores on my private instagram account to tell her that my work in college was similar to the design of her instagram stories. I'm positive that she did not see this message, and even if she did she probably wrote it off as some annoying fan. I was never going to become the underscores designer off an instagram DM, this is not how that kinda shit happens. It did make me think however; "What if I was?". Idk it seems fun, underscores is an artist I really like, shes currently very cool, I'd love to work with her because I genuinely believe that she is a visionary. But what does it mean to be "a famous designer". Like to be in close proximity socially and creatively with the people you see on the covers of the magazines at the checkout of tesco must be kinda strange as well as being that person, even if not necessarily as damaging to your psyche.
ok guys I needa get famous now can we get a million likes on this(this is important for my mental health).
A few weeks ago I set up an instagram to advertise this blog, because this space was feeling very void-like. It felt like no use to keep talking if nobody was listening, even though I do have faith that April, and Charli would make music if they have no fans, and I still have complicated feelings about the account. The calculation that I made was that I could isolate myself, or I could hang out in the arcade cynically designed to eat all of my money despite my feeling like I know better. Even more recently I was finnicking around in the settings of my account, and I accidentally made my account a "professional account"(whatever that means) and I don't really know how it undo it. I now see even more numbers I don't know what to do with.
This overwhelming amount of data is part of the gamification of fame, we have developed measurements in the form of follow counts, like counts, etc etc. Very often, we use these metrics as milestones, think of the last post you saw celebrating x amount of subscribers, or even more irritating, asking for the number to be bigger(or my least favourite: "dont skip because of low likes"). We should veiw metrics as a means to an end and not lose sight of that end, or else the metric becomes the end itself. Now, this feels like an obvious question, but what is the end the instagram like? The like metric has been its own end for so long that the concept of its end being anything else feels nebulous.
This pairs very well with the idea that to be famous is to be disembodied, you have become an abstraction of yourself, not just because you are easier to sell that way but also because there are so many perceptions of you that the core part of you shrinks as more people get to know less of you. This is the "I wish not to be a person to you, but rather a concept" meme. For some this disembodiment has been violent, think of Britney Spears or princess Dianes relationships with the papparazzi, and their experiences have coloured fame for many to be a sort of being plugged into the culutral consciousness and being left there to rot, but some have understood the terms before signing. This is not to blame Brit or Diane for what happened to them, the undestanding of this contract is built on the destruction of their lives, they couldnt have known in the first place and shouldnt be called stupid or naive because of that.
To continue borrowing a metaphor from "Do It", we have progressed a bit from the pap culture of the 80s, 90s and 00s and many people have responded to this invisible contract one signs when entering stardom, for example David Bowie and Tyler the Creator perform as charcters who arent necessarily "David Bowie" or "Tyler the Creator"(not entirely their real names anyway), underscores does this on wallsocket as well. This appears to be kind of in contrast to what undescores is doing with U, where she appears to be almost feeding a parasociality, down to calling an album packed with love songs "U", but in some indescribeable way, she doesnt feed this relationship in a way thats problematic or destructive.
Underscores' new music is largely about becoming a big popstar, or just being one, which begs the question as to whether April manifested this into existance. Another interesting connection here is that being a pop star is a thing that CharliXCX also talks about alot and its been a bit of a staple in alt(ish) pop spaces since Britney Spears(okokok I know Britney was like super famous and stuff but I think she kinda occupies an interesting space in culture because of her-- idk everything-- u know what I'm saying ok) Central to this theme is parasociality. Rebecca Black for example asks "Do you even think about me", and Slayyyter amends "I think about you". These are in a very different context but they contain the same central essense. Whats interesting here is that, when we usually conceptualise a parasocial relationship its with a famous person, but these songs transplant that concept onto ex-friends, a sort of terrifying reminder that other people are fundamentally unknowable, celebrity or not. This feels very relevant to the "democratisation of celebrity" through social media. Theres alot of people who I sort of half know and it feels like I know them the same way I know, and I cant tell if this is a zeitgeist thing, where we are all so social media brained that we have become micro celebrities to our 100 followers or if we have always interacted with people like this. Like is a parasocial relationship really *that* dissimilar to a normal relationship?? Like a "normal"(u know what i mean) relationship can also ruin someones life. We might be entering a post parasocial relationship society guys buckle up things are going to get so fucking ordinary you wont believe it.
Ok one last note on my wanting to publicly say things, I want to do a fucking press tour. I was talking with someone earlier this week about this and he said that "you get to be a personality" and I like totally agree. Like i wannu say shit but this is where i get really entitled: I also wannu be heard. The personality here is a sort of like a thing that makes you interesting, or unique. You get to stand out, and we live in a world now where thats encouraged. I'm obviously not the first person to point this out, Britney Spears of course has compared being famous to a freak show in her song, "freakshow", and I think that this sort of business that some podcasts engage in. Joe Rogan is the obvious freak show, the strange thing here is that the freaks arent exactly percieved as freaks by the audience, theres a sort of breakdown of their unusualness, even if, taking a step back this comparison holds water. Another example, and a political freakshow I much prefer is Joshua Citarella's Doom Scroll podcast, and idk if i have interesting enough things to say to be on that show, but a part of me just kind wants to, I think its this impulse to prove myself as an interesting person who has thoughts, its like a thing i can point to as "these are the thoughts that I have". Why be boring if you could be interesting amiright?