Estelle attacks ‘blindness to black talent’:
“There is a fashion for YWFs – young white females,” said Paul McKenzie, editor of the urban music magazine Touch. “They are the ones who are given the money and the time, and most importantly, people are patient with them. Duffy, if she hadn’t had this hit, would have been given a second chance, and a third. Estelle wasn’t. The people who hold the purse strings are looking at trends rather than talent. If you’re not a young white female – in other words if you’re black – I can imagine that is incredibly depressing.”
Hmm. I don’t listen to young black men and women (or young white men and women) doing soul and R&B and hip-hop because… I don’t like soul and R&B and hip-hop. They should be thanking their lucky stars I’m not into that kind of music, since I’m such a cheapskate I only buy the S$11.90 Special Singapore Editions once a year anyway!
Besides, if what Paul MacKenzie says is true, it’s not about race, it’s about what makes money (well, knock me over with a feather). Can talented young black women musicians not create a demand for their ‘product’? Are they mad that what is considered ‘black’ music is mainstream enough for white chicks with nice voices to get in on the action? But if soul music had never gone mainstream, the record companies would be accused of being racist, wouldn’t they?
I also have a question. How many successful (commercially or critically) bands / acts that do NOT do soul, R&B, or hip-hop feature a strong black presence? There are loads of people of every colour trying to do R&B (mostly poorly), but when it comes to black people doing rock, pop rock, or indy, I can really only think of Hootie and the Blowfish and the the Dave Matthews Band.
BTW, didn’t Leona Lewis just get her first Billboard no. 1? She’s not a YWF.
while you are certainly making a point, the tagline seems to trivialize, and detracts from your message. don’t you think?
Comment by denisesee — 31 March 2008 @ 3:12 am
don’t you think, given the historical context of pop music where the white artists profit from lifting black styles (elvis copying from little richard, the rolling stones basically lifting from the blues) that it’s a little more complicated than just black people complaining?
Comment by denisesee — 31 March 2008 @ 3:16 am
Aha, I knew at least you would be offended by this.
I don’t have a message, and I’m not crusading for anything. I’m just, as I like to think, pointing out the bloody obvious.
Do you not think that if someone who is complaining that record companies aren’t giving them a fair shake, taking into context the resources available for self-promotion in order to create demand that record companies WILL pay attention to if it’s gonna make them money, perhaps either isn’t trying hard enough or aren’t, simply, good enough?
Or are companies with a clear profit motive – whether you agree with that or not – meant to go for acts that they aren’t sure will make money?
Comment by Andrea — 31 March 2008 @ 9:36 am