Just Jaded Weekly

04/09/2021

Written By: Jade Zalevsky 

Artist Rec Friday:  

Anyone who has ever talked to me knows that I will recommend Tori Kelly until the end of time. I found out about her when I was about 14 or 15 years old, because her manager is also Justin Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, and I really admire him and his artists, so I knew that Tori had to be insanely talented. And lo and behold, she was. And after digging a bit deeper, I realized that she is not only incredibly gifted, but she is also very grounded and grateful for her success, which made me love her even more.

Tori Kelly was on American Idol in 2010, and after being voted off, she gained traction on YouTube with her covers of Michael Jackson’s “PYT” (if you want to hear some insane riffs, go check it out), and her cover of Suit and Tie by Justin Timberlake. Shortly after, she released her first EP called Handmade Songs By Tori Kelly. It consists of six extremely well crafted songs, especially considering she made the EP in her bedroom. My personal favorite from that EP is “Celestial”, because her voice is displayed so well, and it is melodically beautiful. From that EP, her career has been filled with more EPs, four studio albums, and her most recent non-christmas EP, Solitude, filled with songs that she wrote during COVID-19 quarantine. 

My favorite thing about Tori is that she speaks about love and relationships in her songs, but she also speaks about life, and loving yourself first. Her songs feel deep and honest, even though they’re not always about her love life. In Solitude, on the songs “Value” and “Unbothered”, she speaks of self love and knowing her own worth, which is evident in “Value” with the lyrics “lucky for me, I still know my value, if I don’t have you”. Not only is Tori Kelly a great role model, she is also incredibly talented. Her voice is like nothing I’ve ever heard before, and to top it off, she plays guitar and writes or co-writes all of her own songs. 

For anyone who doesn’t know, I am also an artist, and Tori Kelly was my early inspiration for the kind of artist I wanted to be. She is completely and admirably herself, has built herself from the ground up, and has been nothing but humble and kind since the start of her career. It’s obvious that I’d recommend listening to her entire discography, but if I had to recommend one song from her, it’d be “Funny” from her first album Unbreakable Smile. This song is so truthful, and so beautiful, and it’s definitely in my top five favorite songs ever. With all of that being said, I hope you’ll go listen to some Tori Kelly music today. 

New Music Monday: 

Attention everyone: Olivia Rodrigo has done it again. She has created another smash hit that is taking the industry by storm. And she’s releasing an entire album very soon.

Olivia Rodrigo is the artist behind the heartfelt ballad that rocked the music industry these past few months, “driver’s license”. She has been creating an album since the release and massive success of “driver’s license” on January 8th, 2021. Before that song, she was known for her role on the show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, as Nina Salazar-Roberts. 

Rodrigo has been the talk of TikTok since “driver’s license” was released, and maybe that had something to do with the lingering rumors about who the song was for. Either way, she had every teenager belting her song in their cars with their friends. When I first heard “driver’s license”, I immediately went to my piano and started playing it. There was something so simple about the song, and yet so beautiful. From the heartbreaking lyrics, to the powerful vocals, there was no doubt that Rodrigo had put together the song of the year for young love. 

Her new song also has a unique sound, and has gained traction because everyone who loved “driver’s license” has been waiting for this day. I know that I was extremely excited to hear the next song from her, and now that it’s here, I can say with confidence that she didn’t disappoint. The second single, “deja vu”, is the fifth track of her new album, and there is much anticipation surrounding the release of the rest of *O*R. 

I am excited to hear the new album and see where she takes her career next. The world is in the palm of her hand, and with the double threat of being an actress and singer, and only 18 years old, I know she has a long career ahead of her. She is extremely talented and very relatable to her target audience of teenagers and young adults. Hooray for Olivia Rodrigo! 

The Impact of Fandoms on My Life & Artists’ Careers: 

As a fan of many artists in the social media age, I understand the amount of work that goes into being present and constantly keeping up with your favorite artists, and I thought everyone just understood that fans make the music industry as successful as it is. As it turns out, that is not the case. In fact, most people, especially women, are mocked for being big fans of artists. So what I would like to address and hopefully bring attention to today is the amount of work that fans do for their favorite artists, online and in person. 

I’ve been a fan of artists for as long as I can remember. The first band that I remember being a really big fan of was the Jonas Brothers. I was under 10 years old, and my favorite member was Kevin. My sisters and childhood friend would blast “lovebug” and “burnin up” everywhere we went. However, because I was so young, I wasn’t really active in the fandom, unless you count going to the movie theater to see their concert movie. Then, it was Big Time Rush, and they were actually my first concert. My best friend and I had a fan page and everything (she was a Logan girl and I was a James girl, let me know who your favorite was). 

I really started to be an active fan and take fandom activity seriously when I was around 12 or 13, and my friend asked me if I liked Justin Bieber, to which I scoffed and gave her my answer, which was a strong no at the time. However, when I started listening to his music, I really connected with it, and it also didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes. I started an instagram fan page (which, when I logged off for the last time, had over 3,000 followers) and a twitter fan page, which had gained about 400 followers. It was then that I realized it was not only the impact that Justin had on me and others, but the fact that those 3,000 people were following me to see pictures of Justin that could’ve been found on any paparazzi website and decided to follow me even though I wasn’t directly connected to Justin at all, speaks volume in terms of how fans impacted Justin’s life. He had always talked about how he was from a small town and wasn’t always in the best financial situation, and music gave him an entirely different life. Although his label, and Scooter Braun, and Usher did that for him, it was also the fans.

Everyone has an experience with being a fan, and it’s probably totally different from mine. But one thing that does not differ from fan to fan is our love for our favorite artists. I remember the day that Justin Bieber was arrested. I was in seventh grade, and I had just woken up to go to school and checked my fan page, where I found that Justin had been arrested in Miami. I also saw that his fans were outside the courthouse singing his song that has helped so many, “Be Alright”. Similarly, Justin Bieber fans also helped Justin break Elvis Presley’s record for the youngest artist with the most number 1 albums, with a total of seven number 1 albums. There are also amazing stories of Justin connecting with fans on personal levels in different social settings.

Justin is obviously not the first artist to engage with fans. Artists like Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, Billie Eilish, Tori Kelly, Selena Gomez, 5 Seconds of Summer, and many more have had amazing connections to their fans. They all have different strategies and ways to engage their audiences. Whether it’s going live on Instagram as often as they can, or giving each fan a glow bracelet when they enter the venue that is synced to the music, these artists and their marketing teams work hard. But fans work just a bit harder, and most of the time they do it for FREE.

Fans work day and night on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Clubhouse, and many more, to advertise and promote their favorite artists. They create promotional campaigns, sleep outside of their favorite artist’s concert venue, stream singles until they become number 1, and even more amazing work that they rarely get credit for. Fans launch artists and their careers for the most part. Although the record label sometimes fronts the money, if no one were there to listen to the artist, they wouldn’t have a career. FANS. PUT. IN. THE. WORK. They’ve broken records, stood up for their favorite artists when no one else did, and will continue to rule the music industry.

That is my story with fandoms and artists, but I would love to hear yours! Email or chat us on Instagram if you want to share your story or have it featured in a blog post, @jaded.productions !