IF HE ISN’T being called ‘a boring suck-up‘ on New Zealand television, he’s accused of being the product of cultural brainwashing.
In short, it hasn’t been a great week for Ed Sheeran.
While he may have been the biggest-selling artist of the year in 2017, The Strokes frontman, Julian Casablancas, is of the opinion Ed’s success comes down to the fact that ‘quality is being sucked out of music’.
Speaking to Vulture, the Last Nite singer stressed that he is has nothing against the Shape of You singer personally, but he struggles to understand why other artists only get a fraction of the attention Ed does.
I’m just saying I don’t understand why there can’t be a world where Ed Sheeran gets 60 percent of the attention and Ariel Pink gets 40 percent. Now it’s almost like Ed Sheeran gets 99.5 percent of it.
Referring to the American multi-instumentalist numerous times throughout the interview, Julian added: “If you grew up in a world where Ariel Pink was popular then you would say ‘I don’t see how Ed Sheeran can be popular’.”
People grow up with norms knocked into their heads.
Countering the point that Ed and Ariel are not vying for attention from the same audiences, Julian remarked: “Everything you’re saying sounds 100 percent like cultural brainwashing.”
The 39-year-old admits he had hoped the internet would expose the public to countless genres, and ultimately allow for a musical evolution – something which he says he has yet to see.
Instead music has been co-opted by some kind of capitalist profit game. I thought the internet would help balance the relationship between quality and the mainstream, but it’s gone the opposite way.
And then One Direction got a shout-out.
Quality is being sucked out of music. One Direction have four billion views and the best artists of today will only see a fraction of that attention.
Fair enough.
