Nick Cave and Beyonce: Eating The Same Mind Grapes
The recent woes of the music industry may have something to do with a democratized celebrity world where anyone who ever did anything ever can be a “star,” but no one can break through to the “superstar” realm. In two recent magazine profiles, Nick Cave and Beyonce Knowles seem to be drinking from the same well on the subject.
Speaking to Esquire, Nick Cave thinks that access is the problem:
The more information you have, the more human our heroes become and consequently the less mysterious and godlike. They need to be godlike. It’s something to lift us out of the commonplace and the mundane. And in the information age, they’re becoming less and less godlike. Everyone is able to make music these days. Everyone can take a crack at it. To me, that equality has diluted the power of the rock star. The rock star is dying. And it’s a small tragedy. Rock stars have blogs now. I have no use for that kind of rock star.
And here’s Beyonce in Essence, agreeing, and adding some praise for aloofness, particularly in terms of controlling one’s brand:
I feel that, especially now, with the Internet and paparazzi and camera phones, it’s so difficult to maintain mystery,” she told the magazine. “And that’s so important. Even in a relationship, I feel like not being that accessible is really important. If you think about Prince or Michael Jackson, or any superstars, you couldn’t see them when they got off their planes or when they got out of the pool and didn’t comb their hair. It’s great that people see we’re not perfect. But it’s almost impossible to have superstars now, because people will never get enough. And it’s not even about my music. It’s about all the things that people imagine about me in their minds. But I can’t satisfy everyone. I know that Jay and I probably do inspire people. And I appreciate people feeling proud. But this is the only way I’ve been able to stay sane, so why would I start talking now?
“[Not speaking] controls your brand,” she continued. “It controls what you want to put out there and kind of forces people to talk about what you want them to talk about.
Though I enjoy living in a world where I can read blogs by Pete Wentz and Lily Allen and Bradford Cox, I get where Nick and Beyonce are saying here. There’s no mystique anymore. The point of my worshipping stars is that they aren’t like me–they’re more creative, surrounded by prettier people, and have way more money than us proles. And Beyonce’s right: Prince and Michael Jackson didn’t say a lot compared to today’s stars. They had an image to maintain and talking is a surefire way to humanize yourself and lose it, though, to be fair, with those two, humanization is not an easy task. A consequence of this accessibility is celebrity fatigue; more and more, it seems like the entire culture gets tired of people after a around year, regardless of the quality of their output. (Heck, I see this in the indie world. Devendra Banhart, anyone?)
Ultimately, I hope that this mindmeld results in another Nick Cave + Pop Star collaboration as fruitful as this one:
The Death of the Rock Star [Monitor Mix] Beyonce Finally Opens Up About Marriage To Jay-Z [MTV]
