So award show season is upon us once again, stretching out in front like an M.C. Escher painting of an eternal red carpet packed to the brim with vacuous celebrities - but the question is does anyone really care?
Every year there seems to be more and more shows, all featuring the usual suspects, shameless self promotion, unfunny skits and general domination in every facet of media. In 2013 so far we have had the CMA's, AMA's, EMA's, VMA's, the Mercury Awards, the classical Brit Awards, the Ivor Novello awards, the Silver Clef awards and the unholy terror of the Grammies and the Brits is yet to come. Are you tired yet?
Perhaps the most infuriating thing about these awards is that they have featured the same merry-go-round of artists, a roster anyone in their right mind will be abundantly sick of. Miley Cyrus kicked the season off with her "twerking" VMA's controversy, then going on to perform at the EMA's and the AMA's - each time failing to match the furore of her original performance with Robin Thicke.
Lady Gaga, Katy Perry also performed at all three shows, whilst Robin Thicke performed at the EMA's and the AMA's. As a result each of the events "blurred" (get it?), into one, begging the question if anything of worth happened at any.
Yawn...
Now this is incredibly boring to be honest, it's incessant deja-vu, like Capital FM blasting out the same songs over and over, inflicting a kind of pop music stockholm syndrome on its listeners. Even more sinister perhaps is the media's unflinching coverage of these events. Why should your average Joe care about a bunch of rich musicians and record execs patting each other on the back? Answer they shouldn't and in most cases don't.
With relentless media attention and repition come the sales that these huge pop artists require. It's as if, if they aren't shoved in our face at every award show they will fade into obscurity (the same marketing strategy that means Rihanna releases an album every week). It does work however, sadly, as huge amounts of money are funnelled in and out of the shows, with everyone lapping up inconsequential stories and manafactured controversy. In the end noone knows who won what and they don't care, most people even end up confused as to which show is which.
Snore...
There are a few hopeful gems in this year's fistful of boredom: namely The Mercury Prize and the Youtube Awards. The Mercury Prize for example, while it is still undeniably flawed, focuses entirely on the music and this year helped push the sales of some stellar albums, in particular increasing sales of James Blake's Overgrown by 2,500%. As for the Youtube Awards while it was a monumental disaster with thousands tuning out during Lady Gaga's performance (proof of exhaustion?), it did display a bold and risky approach to creating an experience tailored towards the audience, not the industry.
Currently these award shows represent the ugly corporate side of the music industry that should remain in the board rooms of major labels. Remember when the Brits were anarchic and fun? Now they invent awards simply so they can get One Direction to attend. Welcome to the age of force fed mundaniety.
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