hollywood billionaire

Chapter 329 Stand firm

Unlike "Cold Water," which was well-received upon its release and was called an upgraded version of "Lean On," Madison Beer and Machine Gun Kelly's "Bad Things" can be described as a mixed bag of praise and praise.

If it is an exaggeration, it is not an exaggeration to say that there are a lot of bad reviews.

Since its release on October 2016, 10, on the music review website Rate Your Music, 14 user ratings have been aggregated, and the score is only 162 out of five out of five. In the comment area, you can see countless one- to two-star short reviews - "Mediocre", "Disgusting", "Super stupid song", "So bad that it's a bit funny", "Like an expired 1.34 frozen meat sandwich", “Extremely bad,” “day-old French fries,” “worse than Romania,” “some things in this world would rather not exist,” “refund your money,” and “an abomination created by modern society.” …

It is no exaggeration to say that the work details page of "Bad Things" on Rate Your Music is the pinnacle collection of satirical humorous literature of human civilization.

To be honest, when Han Yi browsed these comments, he was watching them as a comedy talk show.

Excellent decompression effect.

If you want to look at this issue 100% objectively and dialectically, the quality of the songs in "Bad Things" is quite excellent in pop music. The chord progression is done very beautifully. After all, the vocal melody is copied from the song "Out of My Head". If the latter can be considered a classic, then the former will not be much worse. And what about the extra chords The Futuristics added to the song? If you have ever listened to the popular song "Canon in D Major" by Johann Pachelbel, you will find that although the two are not exactly the same, they are very close.

In other words, not only is the vocal melody of "Bad Things" a classic certified by the mainstream music industry, the chord progression and bass line have also been in the collective consciousness of mankind for more than three hundred years. Even if some people may find it objectionable to its clicheness, there's no denying the universality of the musical formula of "Bad Things."

So what went wrong?

The first question is Madison Beal himself.

"Ugh, how long is this bitch going to sing? How soon will Migos come on?"

This was a choked word that a blond guy wearing a T-shirt from the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity of the University of California, Santa Barbara, on the far right side of the dance floor deliberately whispered to his companions. This satisfies his thirst for attention and allows him to show off his unique taste in music to his friends in a way that he feels is critical, thereby establishing a "cool guy" persona.

People often achieve this goal by disparaging high-profile public figures. Ridiculing pop culture is obviously a less difficult and more profitable way to promote yourself than actually sharing practical knowledge or in-depth insights.

Over the past two or three months, Madison Beal has quickly become a new victim of this social tactic.

Since the birth of Popular Culture, the term popular culture, in the 19th century, pure love and strong hate have always been its most basic background. Because the term was coined to describe popular trends among the uneducated, so-called "underclass."

The official culture of the upper classes was reserved, reserved, and showed little emotion. The popular culture of the lower class is enthusiastic, flamboyant, and encourages speaking one's heart. If you like it, you just like it, if you hate it, you hate it, there is no middle ground.

This is the main means for people to use entertainment and sports to release high pressure in an industrialized society dominated by capitalism. Sometimes, it is even the only means.

Therefore, with different pop culture trends, celebrities who enter the public eye are naturally given an aura that is similar to the concept of "Trinity" in Christianity - they are not only their true selves, but also the eyes of people who worship them. The self that is mythologized in them is also the self that is demonized by those who hate them. These three images live in the cultural memory of the entire society at the same time, fulfilling the responsibility of reaching the same goal through different paths.

A self-made global writer and media star in the age of mass culture, Charles Dickens was perhaps the first person in history to feel the intense pressure of being both an artist and the object of constant public attention and admiration. Readers who like him call him the greatest novelist in history, while those who hate him sneer at him and think he is a cheap literary clown who has deceived an era.

Contemporary theater actress Lily Langtry also enjoyed the same treatment. She caused a huge sensation when she debuted at the West End Theater in London in 1881, and a year later she became the first celebrity to receive a commercial endorsement. Fans hail her as a pioneer of the commercial endorsement trend and the most charming British woman of the Victorian era, while conservative critics focus on portraying her affair with the royal family to belittle her character and achievements.

Entering the 20th century, movies were widely distributed around the world. In the first decade, American film production companies would deliberately conceal the real names of movie actors, regardless of the audience's objections, because they were worried that public recognition would prompt actors to demand higher salaries. Salary, but soon the first generation of Hollywood superstars represented by Charlie Chaplin broke through this artificial barrier and became the founder of the American star system. From that time on, the public's fascination with stars went far beyond the offerings they left on the big screen, the small screen, the gramophone or the CD, and their private lives began to make headlines.

Especially the private lives of beautiful female stars.

Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Britney Spears, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway, the so-called private life is not limited to these women Who you slept with, who you married, and who you signed a divorce agreement with - these are just part of the star's narrative. The most obvious and important supporters of popular culture are young women. What they care most about is the appearance, clothing, makeup style and skin care skills of female stars. Anything that allows these celebrities to transform into goddesses in the context of popular culture elements.

And precisely because these concerns are too "feminine" and too "petty", these young female fans who are star-chasing, and the female idols they admire, will become the targets of ridicule and ridicule in traditional mainstream society.

Ridiculing weak women and their social culture is the safest and most relatable pastime. After all, in this post-modern society with infinite class divisions, there are few public figures who can gain such widespread attention and popularity as popular female stars.

Therefore, most, or even all, pop female stars, whether they are famous through movies, music or... small movies, will experience rapid fame, fame all over the world, mixed reputation, and then due to some negative publicity. The incident led to denunciation on the entire Internet. After surviving a few years of dark times, he rebounded from the bottom and finally successfully transformed and began the whole process of being recognized as an artist.

99% of people will fail at one of these stages, such as Britney Spears who has a mental breakdown, Katy Perry who has a weak successor, only Beyoncé now, and Taylor Swift in the future. Only these very few chosen women can overcome all difficulties and stand on the top of the mountain that no one can shake.

Madison Beal's current status has just begun to become popular. Only the first wave of hate speech has reached the coastline. The real stormy waves are yet to come.

But that's scary enough.

Although he is the boss of Madison Bill, Han Yi prides himself on being able to remain impartial in judging musicality and singing techniques. Objectively speaking, Madison Beer's performance in "Bad Things" is indeed much better than Camila Cabello's in the previous life. Camilla's voice condition is indescribable. The range is quite narrow, the bass is a dry chest voice squeezed out from the air, and the treble is ethereal and powerless, making people feel as if the voice is about to break at any time. Madison Beer's voice is much richer, smoother, and more powerful than Fifth Harmony's number one idol, and he is more proficient in vocal techniques.

You can tell from the live performance at Mad City just now that it was better than what I remembered when Camila Cabello was at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball. How many times will it go out?

Moreover, even compared to the original singer, Madison is a stable performer. Most of the lead singers of rock bands have a white voice, and Tony Scalzo, the lead singer of Fastball, is no exception. His specialty is music creation, not live performance, and his precise control of suppressed and decadent emotions in sound processing. Control, if he were to practice for another five years, he would not be able to catch up with Madison now.

But even at this point, fans who gave Madison Beer negative reviews for his performance on "Bad Things" still made up the majority, at least in online space.

Many people have deep-rooted stereotypes about the appearance of singers, or in other words, this is the only criterion for most ordinary music fans to judge musicians. After all, they have no way to conduct a more in-depth analysis from the quality of the songs - if they are good-looking, then There must be no talent, only middle-of-the-road looks like Sia or Ed Sheeran, which shows that their popularity depends on their strength.

According to this formula, there is no doubt that Madison Beer will be classified with Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Ashlee Simpson as an empty vase with a beautiful skin.

Industry Plant, who has received so many resources because of her good looks, is the main criticism of Madison by netizens. Other negative comments include saying that she has no creative ability at all, her first single was copied, her second single was copied, her voice is mediocre, she might as well just keep posting photos on Instagram and become an internet celebrity...Anyway, anything can prove it. Madison-Beale's unworthy inferences and speculations were all applied to him in one fell swoop.

If we put together the hateful speeches made by Madison Beer in the comment section of social media in the past month and concealed her name, I am afraid no one would have guessed that their target was just a teenage star.

These manic and violent words are more like an evaluation of Heinrich Himmler.

And it’s Himmler in the TNO world line.

But Madison's management team is quite content with this. After Billboard's third consecutive win, inquiries for cooperation invitations and commercial performances are flying in like snowflakes. Four fashion brand endorsements are currently being negotiated. Every day when I wake up, I see five or six figures worth of business. Manager Zhao Youzhen has no interest or energy to deal with these bad words. The monitoring of social media was handed over to two manager assistants who had just joined the company. Ordinary negative comments were ignored. Extreme comments related to race could be deleted by contacting the platform.

As for Madison herself, this Internet-addicted girl who has seen big storms is even more calm. When she didn't have a number one single before, there were many people in the comment section scolding her for various unfounded scandals or photos. Although there are more negative fans now, generally speaking, it still has mostly positive reviews. Therefore, Madison, who has an increasingly busy schedule, spends more time online. Taking advantage of the compliments in the comments section to boost her spirits has become her main way to relax.

As for the occasional "I hate you" and "You are really a worthless waste" that I see?

Madison sees them as helping her stay humble, reminding her that no one is perfect enough to please everyone at the same time.

The only criterion for testing truth is how many zeros are written on the performance contract.

Of course, although many people can't stand Madison Beer's rapid rise to fame, the jealous disgust she has attracted is far from enough to make "Bad Things" have such a low rating.

The main public dissatisfaction with this song, or the key factor that drags down the score the most, is actually another collaborator.

Machine Gun Kelly.

To be fair, Machine Gun Kelly is actually the most eye-catching new-generation white rapper in the European and American music scene after entering the 2010s. It can even be said that there is no one. Not to mention anything else, the backstage alone is very powerful. It belongs to Bad Boy Records and is the protégé of Diddy P.Diddy who took the initiative to approach and sign him at the SXSW Music Festival.

Although in terms of personal music achievements and influence in the music industry, P. Diddy is not at the same level as the real industry giants, such as Jimmy Iovine and David Geffen, and is also far from his West Coast rival Dr. Dre. Very far. After all, the income from one Beats by Dre is enough for P.Diddy to pursue it for another ten years. But there is no doubt about Puff Daddy's lofty status and deep connections in the hip-hop circle. He is the soul of East Coast hip-hop, and he is also the criminal tycoon who killed Tupac and is talked about by many conspiracy theorists. With such a powerful person behind the scenes to protect him, Machine Gun Kelly's career path was much brighter from the beginning than that of ordinary newcomers.

In 2012, MGK released his debut album "Lace Up", which peaked at No. 200 on the Billboard album chart and included the hit single "Wild Boy", a collaboration with Waka Flocka Flame. His follow-up work "Genral Admission" maintained a good upward trend and topped the hip-hop album chart. It also maintained its best ranking of fourth on the album chart.

Throughout 2015, Machine Gun Kelly held 94 performances around the world, all of which were sold out. Its brand reputation and commercial value have far exceeded its former goal of catching up with Macklemore, becoming a hip-hop music fan who has the opportunity to succeed Eminem. The next white rap star. So what went wrong for this promising rapper?

For most of his anti-fans, the root of all problems starts with the man MGK once called "the King".

slim Shady.

"I have to say, she's so fucking hot. I write this with the most respect because Eminem is the King." This is what MGK posted on Twitter in 2012, with Eminem's daughter Hai Hailey’s tweets about Hailey were only 16 years old at the time and still a minor. It is conceivable that such remarks will arouse great disgust from Eminem. After all, everyone knows how protective he is of Hailey. It doesn't matter if others diss him casually. As long as his daughter is involved in any word, it will definitely be an endless fight.

Since then, MGK has offended the white rap base he was supposed to strive to win over - fans who like Eminem. On October 2015, 10, in an interview with WQHT, a New York urban music station, MGK claimed that because of his unintentional remarks three years ago, he suffered three years of retaliation from Eminem, and many music magazines refused to publish it. News related to his album, many radio stations have also blacklisted him... This accusation has undoubtedly intensified the antagonism between him and Eminem and his fan base.

Coupled with his often controversial comments, his feminine appearance during performances, his appearance as a drug addict who clearly overdosed on drugs, and his attitude towards pop punk, a music style that has been derided among the music fan community as an "outdated music style" His preference has caused his reputation to reverse rapidly in the past year or two, forming a sharp contrast with G-Eazy, another handsome white rapper who is almost the same height.

Others are popular lovers from all walks of life, but he is a nightmare in the world that serious girls are afraid to avoid, and there is no place on their arms to stick a pinhole in.

There will definitely still be girls with strong self-destructive tendencies who like him, but overall, MGK is so notorious on the Internet that any song related to him needs to have a score of more than 2.0 on Rate Your Music. It's all very difficult.

The most important thing is that Machine Gun Kelly's performance in the song "Bad Things" is indeed shockingly bad.

"Actually, it's not that bad.

As long as it makes you feel good.

You came back to me,

Just like I predicted.

We are all equally wild,

In this night that has just begun.

You are the poison that makes me unable to extricate myself,

Keep breathing you in until my face starts to lose consciousness..."

With the slow accompaniment of 69BPM, Machine Gun Kelly did not incorporate any rap skills. He simply stepped on the beat and spat out meaningless phrases bit by bit - no practice required, anyone can do it in the recording studio. They had recorded it in one pass, and the effect might even be better. At least their voices wouldn't be as dry and jerky as MGK's.

In other words, as soon as Machine Gun Kelly's verse came out, it immediately highlighted Madison Beer's proficiency in singing skills.

This is one of the reasons why Han Music and Renyu Management are willing to collaborate with MGK on this song.

Since he has already expected to be scolded, it is better to find someone who will be scolded more harshly, which will actually increase Madison's impression in the hearts of music fans. If she were to be put together with Eminem or J.Cole now, the score of the song itself might be higher, but Madison would become a dragster. On the contrary, if the partner is a representative of negative traffic like MGK who can attract firepower, people will even feel a little pity and sympathy for Madison.

Why did you get together with him?

If it had been someone else, this song might have become a classic.

You see, in the field of music marketing, any seemingly unreasonable operation has its deep meaning.

In the previous life, Camila Cabello used this method to improve her reputation.

The same is true for Madison Beal in this life.

"As the bass drum vibrates together,

I have all the qualities of your dreams.

Your nails scratched the tattoo on my back,

Close your eyes while screaming at the top of your lungs.

We are inseparable,

When our lips and teeth are close to each other..."

Before Machine Gun Kelly finished singing the first verse, Han Yi and Joshua Kushner beside him were already looking around. This is why when Han Yi mentioned this song to Joshua, he did not say "the most recent favorite song", but used the wording "the most recently played work" - MGK's lyrics and interpretation, It's really hard to attract anyone with a remotely mature musical aesthetic.

Live performances are no different than recording studios. Mixing engineers and mastering engineers can fine-tune the recorded vocals to make them sound more textured and magnetic. Even if the emotions are not full, they can still gain points from the listening experience. But it's different at the music festival. Although there are sound engineers standing in front of the FOH sound console, all they can do is transmit your sound on the stage to the ears of every listener as authentically as possible. There is no way Do the details. More importantly, even if it is handled, no one can catch it in such a noisy and noisy situation.

"Your body has given me a new life,

You suffocate in my passionate kiss,

Then you tell me...

I want to be with you forever,

Even if we can't be there for each other.

Leave scars on my body so that I can be with you wherever I go..."

Han Yi patted the non-existent dust on his trouser legs, smiled at Joshua, stood up, and walked towards the edge of the booth area. After confirming that his face had disappeared from Joshua's sight, he yawned - no way, MGK's lyrics praising morbid love, and his severely distorted voice after excessive autotune, really did not belong to him. within the scope of appreciation.

Not to mention Machine Gun Kelly, Han Yi cannot appreciate even those melodic rappers who are much better than MGK in terms of musicality, such as XXXTentacion and JuiceWRLD. This is a matter of personal taste and music preference.

But not being able to appreciate it doesn't mean that he won't recruit these musicians and produce similar singles. On the contrary, in addition to "Bad Things", he also stocked up a large number of similar works, waiting for official release.

why?

Because this is indeed the style that European and American teenagers are most passionate about at present, and it is also the content that commercial radio managers need most.

It was officially released on October 10th. On October 14th, with 10 million streaming media plays, 24 digital downloads, and an astonishing 570 million radio coverage, it shot up to the 16000th place for the first time on the list. , surpassing Martin Garrix and Bibi Lexa's "In the Name of Love" to land at No. 4600 on the singles chart.

"Cold Water" didn't reach the top spot as the runner-up in its first week, nor did Lil Yachty's "Broccoli" from the same company make it into the top five after months of hard work, but as Madison Beer's first album after signing with Han Music, A promotional single that takes the lead alone, "Bad Things" has already shown people who care about its trend a future worth looking forward to.

In the first week of release, it directly entered the Billboard Top 40, which means that the RIAA-certified platinum hit is on the rise.

It also means that as a popular artist, Madison Beer has established a firm foothold in the music industry with his own appeal.

He is no longer the hesitant child star who was terminated by the record company before releasing an album.

Now, she's a Billboard Triple Crown winner ready to pull off another miracle.

　I have been sick repeatedly in the past few months. It is so uncomfortable. Everyone must pay attention to your health. My lungs are almost coughing up and I am in a daze...

　　

　

(End of this chapter)