Let's Talk About Love - Quote Summary 2

In chapters 5-8 of Let’s Talk About Love by Carl Wilson, they talked more about Canadian pop artist Celine Dion and why she has received the attention she’s gained. Wilson touches base on the topic of Celine’s sound and why it has captured a mass majority of attention. In chapter six, Wilson lists off various well known artists who adore her music such as R. Kelly, Justin Timberlake and Alice Cooper to name a few. The quote I picked from this chapter briefly explains why these famous people adore an artist who has also received a lot of backlash for her music. “It’s not uncommon for musicians to bypass taste categories when they hear technical achievement, and Celine seems to be such a case.” Page 67, Par 1. What I believe Wilson is saying is, Celine has gained the praise of other famous artists because they are in the same boat; famous musicians respect other famous musicians. If this is what Wilson is saying by this statement, then I would agree with them. Musicians go through a lot of rejection, trial and error and tough times to get to stardom. Artists can relate to the struggles of making it in the music world, so it doesn’t exactly matter what genre of music they make, they can relate to them on a certain level. Musicians have tastes in music and prefer certain music because it shows in their craft. But for a musician like Alice Cooper, who is involved with music the polar opposite of Pop music, it’s interesting to me how they can have an interest in an artist like Celine Dion.

Wilson makes a claim later on in the four chapters about how your social and cultural background has an influence on your taste. A person raised in a neighborhood with a low crime rate, and high income could have a totally different taste in music than a person raised in a neighborhood with a high crime rate and low income. These two people are going to have very different lives and experiences as they grow up. Different artists and record labels have different demographics that they like to target. A hip-hop artist might want to have people from the same background as them to listen to their music, because the targeted audience can relate to the music and have a stronger connection with it. Pop artists like Celine Dion have a wider scope when it comes to who they want listening to their music. The recipe for pop music has been done over so many times. People outside of the Pop music fan base would claim that ‘all pop music is the same.’ I feel that people on the outside make these claims because they notice how consistently Pop artists like to hit on a few bullet points when it comes to making music for the masses. Celine has been able to gain a lot of fans because she’s wanting to make catchy music that a lot of people might enjoy. Easy to digest radio earworms that are memorable and sweet like candy to a listener’s ear.

This idea of how to make music in the 21st century goes along with Capitalism in America. So long as there is a mass majority of people who are interested in the music, artists and record labels are going to keep pumping tunes out for their audience because they know it will sell. Ratings and attention have been the motivation for musicians to keep hitting on these bullet points in the Pop music world. This is an example of Braggadocio in a very popular song by Hip-Hop/Pop artist Kanye West featuring Bon Iver, Jay Z, Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross. All of which are very well known artists. “So let me get this straight, wait, I’m the rookie? But my features and my shows ten times your pay? 50K for a verse, no album out Yeah, my money’s so tall that my Barbies got to climb it.” (Nicki Minaj featuring on Monster by Kanye West) This just goes to show that although that money is another motive for famous musicians to consistently put out catchy radio songs.

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