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Can you separate the art from the artist?

Can you separate the art from the artist?  

22 members have voted

  1. 1. Can you separate the art from the artist?

    • Yes, I only care about the music
      8
    • No, I can't support someone I don't like
      1
    • Maybe, depends what they did/said
      13


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Is it possible for you to enjoy an artist/singer's work but not like them as a person?

Over the years, I've heard some people say that they don't care much about an artist's personal life and that they only care about how good the music is.

However, others may feel different. If they don't like the artist because of something they did or said, then they won't listen to their music either.

 

When I was younger, I used to care a LOT about whether I liked the artist as a person. I guess it was because social media was really taking off and many singers were interested in presenting a good image of themselves to the fans. Occasionally some negative rumour might spread about someone I didn't like and it would affect how I viewed them as an artist overall. However, now that I'm older I find myself caring less about the person behind the music, particularly their private life. All of these artists are human and therefore imperfect. It is unrealistic to expect them to be perfect all the time and chances are they are playing in character for the camera, at least some of the time. So if they are 'mean' or whatever behind the scenes, it doesn't always affect how I feel about their work.

 

That being said, in some situations I may find it difficult to get past the person making the music. If they've done/said something really awful then it can taint the music, but I guess it depends how bad it is.

 

What do you think? Does it matter that you to like the person making the music or is it impossible for you to separate their actions/personality from the music? Does it depend on the artist or situation? bey4

 

Discuss jj2

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The older I get the less invested I feel in artists and their personality. The concept of stanning is more of a jokey situation to me now, so I don't really care at this point to be honest. If I like a song, I'll listen to it. If I enjoy an album, I'll buy it.

However, if I do like an artist for whatever reason - could be personality, political engagement, message they try to convey, ... - I'll pretty much support the output no matter what (in form of a physical purchase or a concert ticket for example).

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20 minutes ago, Max said:

The older I get the less invested I feel in artists and their personality. The concept of stanning is more of a jokey situation to me now, so I don't really care at this point to be honest. If I like a song, I'll listen to it. If I enjoy an album, I'll buy it.

However, if I do like an artist for whatever reason - could be personality, political engagement, message they try to convey, ... - I'll pretty much support the output no matter what (in form of a physical purchase or a concert ticket for example).

I understand what you mean. I suppose if someone has both good music and a good personality, it makes it easier to kind of 'stan' them or at least show as much support as possible.

That being said, it definitely makes sense to focus on the music more than the personality. If someone had terrible music but was a nice person, that doesn't mean I'll automatically stan them.

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If the artist is a 100% confirmed rapist, racist, transphobe, abusive person or whatever, then no, I can not stream them. Streaming them is giving them money (no matter how little) and giving them money is supporting the person. whit2

I'm a bit more loose when it comes to writers/producers/managers/whatever though. Like I won't stream Taylor's old albums for obvious reasons but if I wanna listen to an Ariana song, I'll do it. I may still slightly resent her for continuing to support Scooter, but it feels like different circumstances to me.

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1 hour ago, Venom said:

If the artist is a 100% confirmed rapist, racist, transphobe, abusive person or whatever, then no, I can not stream them. Streaming them is giving them money (no matter how little) and giving them money is supporting the person. whit2

I'm a bit more loose when it comes to writers/producers/managers/whatever though. Like I won't stream Taylor's old albums for obvious reasons but if I wanna listen to an Ariana song, I'll do it. I may still slightly resent her for continuing to support Scooter, but it feels like different circumstances to me.

Maybe you could either pirate their music or buy a used physical copy online. Either way, they're not getting coins directly from you. whit2

When it comes to producers and writers, a singer may not always have complete control over who they work with, especially if they are a pop singer. So that's different to how the singer themselves act.

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It honestly depends on what the person in question has done to make me dislike them. If it’s something genuinely terrible like rape, homophobia, racism, transphobia, xenophobia, etc. then no I can’t really look beyond that. 

But if it’s just down to a bad personality, cocky attitude, or something that doesn’t really hurt anyone then that doesn’t stop me from listening if I like something from them. 

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For me it's really simple.

How does the art reflect the artist?

A perfect example of this is R Kelly. I really don't see how people could sit there and be surprised at any of shit he's done when it's pretty obvious what type of person he is. I also can't see how people can look PAST it or even defend it because of this.

Meanwhile someone like Michael Jackson? Erasing his entire legacy because of some awful accusations (truthful or not) feels wrong to me. I'm not even a fan of his like that.

Maybe I'm stupid but it should always be case by case.

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10 hours ago, Max said:

The older I get the less invested I feel in artists and their personality. The concept of stanning is more of a jokey situation to me now, so I don't really care at this point to be honest. If I like a song, I'll listen to it. If I enjoy an album, I'll buy it.

However, if I do like an artist for whatever reason - could be personality, political engagement, message they try to convey, ... - I'll pretty much support the output no matter what (in form of a physical purchase or a concert ticket for example).

You hit it so well on the dot for me. As I get older, I'm getting much less invested in stanning to where I don't even consider myself a stan of artists anymore, just a fan. I don't have the energy nor patience to argue with people over chart positions or flops anymore.

 

If I like you and what you put out, I'll support it. If you're someone like Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, etc. then even then I wouldn't touch that with a 100 ft. pole. Those people cannot be redeemed.

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7 hours ago, Princess Aurora said:

Sometimes 

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Yes, sometimes. I agree with @Princess Aurora because I was one of the peasants who was there when the Queen birthed her. I actually delivered the Princess as the King, her father, eyed me with his seductive gaze. I still remember the beating of my heart as it trembled under his hot stare. I knew that he wanted to do it with me again; I knew it then and I know it still. When he died, my heart was shattered to pieces. Then, just like that...I was gone. Gone with his loving arms spiritually enclosed me tightly oh so right, and we were levitating.mp3 together into the edge of the universe. I was his and he was mine. I knew it then and I know it still. I love him... forever.

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14 hours ago, Bionic-AHHH! said:

Yes, sometimes. I agree with @Princess Aurora because I was one of the peasants who was there when the Queen birthed her. I actually delivered the Princess as the King, her father, eyed me with his seductive gaze. I still remember the beating of my heart as it trembled under his hot stare. I knew that he wanted to do it with me again; I knew it then and I know it still. When he died, my heart was shattered to pieces. Then, just like that...I was gone. Gone with his loving arms spiritually enclosed me tightly oh so right, and we were levitating.mp3 together into the edge of the universe. I was his and he was mine. I knew it then and I know it still. I love him... forever.

This is radiating Once Upon A Dream energy dead2 

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19 hours ago, Strobo said:

For me it's really simple.

How does the art reflect the artist?

A perfect example of this is R Kelly. I really don't see how people could sit there and be surprised at any of shit he's done when it's pretty obvious what type of person he is. I also can't see how people can look PAST it or even defend it because of this.

Meanwhile someone like Michael Jackson? Erasing his entire legacy because of some awful accusations (truthful or not) feels wrong to me. I'm not even a fan of his like that.

Maybe I'm stupid but it should always be case by case.

Regarding the MJ situation, whether or not he was actually guilty, I don't think his entire legacy should be erased even if he were proven to be guilty. That would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, you can't erase someone's legacy so completely if they've made such a huge impact on people over multiple generations. Recognising a person's achievements does not mean the same thing as "stanning" them as a person.

That being said I feel that some people pick and choose who to "cancel" over stuff like this. On social media (especially twitter) I saw many people defend MJ who would normally be the first to "cancel" someone else if they were accused of the same thing. I guess it's because MJ is so important to so many people, but it shows that a lot of the time when people "cancel" someone, they're usually only doing that to people they already dislike. It feels very selective and inconsistent. The R. Kelly situation feels like that at times too.

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