Kanye West Heal Thyself: What Would Taylor Swift Do?

Filed under: Celebrity News

Is there a more lazy and insipid industry than the music industry? No seriously. Instead of coming up with an effective business model to adapt to the ways in which technology has changed the way we listen to and purchase music, the industry keeps looking for some magic bullet instead of doing the hard work required to evolve. First they thought that suing their own consumers was an effective strategy, now every time an artist has a blockbuster album they anoint the artist the savior of the industry. This time in an obnoxious twist, the platinum selling artist isn't the savior -- it's the person who publicly embarrassed them.

Yes, I'm speaking of Taylor Swift and her unwanted sidekick Kanye West. Ever since he stormed the stage to declare that she didn't deserve a crappy MTV Music Video Award in 2009, the media can't seem to let the two separate. In an article entitled 'How Kanye's Attack on Taylor Swift Saved the Recording Industry,' Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider is declaring that Swift's third album, the fastest selling new record in five years, owes its sales to Kanye West's obnoxious behavior of over a year ago.

I read a lot of ridiculous things, but the notion that somehow Kanye West's self indulgent petulant rant at the MTV Music Video Awards "saved" the music industry by causing Taylor Swift's record sales to go up is a topper. The music industry doesn't need a "savior," it needs good music. We dont' buy albums anymore because the albums your industry produces are derivative crap. Everybody's Auto-Tuned, remixed and sampled to death and most of your artists couldn't put together a high quality live performance if your industry's life depended on it. We're not paying $10 for a CD when only one song is worth listening to. We're tired of hearing about your houses and your cars and how many women you could have how many ways. We're tired to your self indulgent, marginally talented, overly processed "artists."

Taylor Swift sells because she's not like anyone else out there right now. She's not great, but she's also not not as avant-garde as Lady Gaga walking around in a dress made out of raw meat. She's not constantly talking about her sex life and body parts like Katy Perry. Thank goodness she's not chattering about nonsensical things and walking around like a human blow up doll like Nicki Minaj. She's about the only normal, relatable pop star on the scene. She basically has a monopoly. Who knew that being normal with no apparent dysfunction was a selling point?

But back to Kanye. Fresh off of his penance for breaking the script at the MTV Music Video Awards, he's been on a self-pity tour de force. Whining on Twitter because his tacky album cover of a naked woman mounting him in bed was "banned." Now he's whining because he didn't like the questions Matt Lauer asked him on NBC's Today Show related to comments he made about then President George W. Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In yet another lengthy and nonsensical rant, Kanye acted like a mal-adjusted two year old:

I get the whole tortured artist thingy. As a writer, suffering is treasure trove of material. I also understand how constant adoration and being surrounded by sycophants can warp your brain cells and make you think you are far more important than you are. There is a fine line between creative self-expression and self indulgence. As long as we can recognize ourselves in your work, that's fine, but once everything you do becomes about you and who is trying to get you, then we can no longer see ourselves because you're taking up too much room.

Kanye, I'm so sorry that bad things happened in your life. You survived a horrific car accident. You've embarrassed yourself on an international stage. And yes, your mom died suddenly. I can't imagine the pain that caused you. Since she's not here to tell you, I'll say it for her. GET A GRIP AND GET OVER YOURSELF.

If the world is against you, write and produce a song about it and then shut up. A real artist will let his work speak for him. If you are as awesome as you think you are, your records don't need foot notes or annotations or phony controversies about album covers. Your life has become a cartoon with every utterance more delusional than the last. You are one flopped album and an IRS audit away from irrelevance no matter how talented you are.

I know you want to think that people are criticizing you because you're a genius, but the truth is, you're getting repeatedly roasted because you are a jerk. Grow up and write a song about it. That's what Taylor Swift would do.

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