I attended the final night!!! Which!!! Ahhhh! I’ve sincerely been a huuuuge fan of hers since I was twelve and heard Teardrops On My Guitar on the radio. Fearless was my first of her albums that I owned, and with every release of hers, it felt like an album that made up and spoke to specific eras of my own life so getting to watch her perform soooo many songs that spoke to me like that was really emotional and AMAZING and ahhh!!! Like, it felt really and truly magical for me 🥹 ALSO OUR SURPRISE SONGS WERE INSANE! I guessed 2 out of the 5 she did in her mashups heheheh 🥰 Thank you so much for asking me this 🥹💖

Wow wait who are you!!! I wanna know why you think that also what if we COULD become friends irl 😭💖

Oh that’s really kind of you, thank you ☹️ I’m trying hard to make sure the answer is fair and expansive but also, god, do I need to be clear about how little I’ve actually just said about it. It’s such a broad spectrum, such a broad topic, and I know some people’s feelings really get hurt when you tell them their taste in music isn’t deep enough/is obnoxiously deep so I really tried hard to veer away from making it emotional 🙏🏼

omg haha maybe! who knows with them

I changed the accessibility of the fic so you can only access it with your ao3 account!! (bc AI lol) 🫶🏻

omg ok I’ll try to have one ready for tomorrow 💖💖💖

You know when you hear a song and you’re immediately obsessed with it? Like it gets in your head, you want it on repeat right away, it “scratches and itch in your brain just right”? Let’s say that the “commercial” aspect here represents music that is built with that effect in mind. Like down to the science of it, the melodies and the production and the chords chosen and the level of complexity of the lyrics and every part of what is making the song, it all comes together to do its best to get into the heads of the most possible people. So that’s the “sellability”—if it’s catchy, it’s because it’s built using the elements that make it more easily pleasurable to the most amount of people. Because that means it’s got radio appeal, playlist appeal, and the potential to be a hit, which ofc means it will make everyone more money.

Let’s define the other side, the “pretension”, by saying it’s the side where people don’t inherently place value in how much money they desire to make with the music. Instead, they have another, more creatively artistic goal—it could be one of experimentation with a new genre, one of expressing their personal creative vision, of pushing themselves and other people’s boundaries, etc. Whatever their purpose, the purpose itself is waaaay more important in determining how the music is going to be made, and in what the end product sounds like. And if they’re really far into that (which creative types often are, bc they LOVE it, and like, why else would they care so much?) then it often comes across as off-putting, obnoxious, arrogant… or pretentious.

Now, this is very much a venn diagram situation where the circles DO overlap—toooons of time, artists walk the line between their purpose and also wanting to sell the music, because they have to. Because music is a business, and for you to make music your job you need to be able to pay your bills. (I know that for the biggest celebrities in the world they make a shitton of money, but the smaller artists who aren’t celebrity millionaires still count in this.)

SO. To offer you a concrete example: one of my favorite artists, Tinashe, was at one point signed to a big label. Back in 2013/2014, she released an album that performed extremely well in the pop/r&b space, but by the time she dropped her next album, it was clear it just wasn’t her strongest work. It was a little more conventional in its sound (which isn’t a bad thing inherently, but the thing about conventional is that it can also mean it’s often forgettable, which means it doesn’t have a strong impact, and imo it never hit the zeitgeist because of that). She then left her label and went independent so she could have complete creative control, and the output since then has been more nuanced and experimental (though not entirely! look at Nasty).

There’s an interview she did earlier this year where she actually described the tension between “artistry vs commercial” as any kind of working artist, and how much more pressure there usually is to aim for the latter when you’re attached to a big label that really just wants the money at the end of the day. She found that creative control was more important. If you want to see how it plays out for yourself, listen to her Joyride album (her second album attached to her label) and then follow that by listening to Songs For You or, hell, anything that she did after that. Although you’ll probably see that she still has a lot of pop/r&b bangers made to be immediately likeable, I think you’ll also see that she experiments with her sound a lot more and isn’t afraid of taking those risks, even if it means losing out on more revenue.

(cont. in comments!)

Ahhh I didn’t 😔 I had started a wip but didn’t have enough time to get it to where I would be happy with it

this is so freaking nice of you, thank you 💖🥹 i’m actually spending my day travelling back from going to see the eras tour so my heart is full anon 😭💖

Hahaha look fair enough, they’re def the two authors most known from booktok

I mentioned her because I think she’s the number one author synonymous with booktok books, and booktok books have a certain connotation to them in terms of their skill-level (as does she). I’m aware of her shitty son, and I know a very vocal corner of the internet is as well, but she’s still a hugely top selling author so the reality is that most people don’t hate her for that in the general public. Also, to be frank, my point in bringing her up is not about her being hated, it was about the associated skill level her books imply. They are fast food books, the kind of books that draw people who don’t read in. Highly consumable but not necessarily the highest of quality (arguably).

it’s when one person inhales smoke and then exhales it in the mouth of another. the kind of thing that makes more sense when you wanna get high and less so with cigarettes but, ofc, we’re living through a 90s renaissance so ppl think it’s sexy (when hoooonestly irl it’s not lol)

omg SOON hopefully but knowing my track record it’ll be when the boys come out of the military 😮‍💨

omfg why am I blanking on my own story rn dkfdjjs REMIND ME WHEN THAT HAPPENED PLS?? 😭

SOMEONE write the au for this pls 😭

appreciate your enthusiasm but uhhh I don’t think that’ll be happening 💖

that tracks bc the events that led to shine muscat (tae beefcake era) changed mine 🥲

Hahaha literally Taehyung would probably never do that (the most he would actually tolerate for himself is fr a vape) but it’s a cute thought for sure 💖

hahahah damn, i gotta say that you’re not wrong and this WILL change soon but ALSO nic!tae’s just rlyyyy into it

SOON!!! I’m definitely planning on updating before the end of the year!!! life is just crazy right now

I GET YOU 😭

hoooonestly? maybe……. probably.

😇

Damn dkfjdjdhs I’m sure there are parts where they express their attraction in ways that aren’t so explicit 😅 happy you’re enjoying so far anon, thank you!

ummm in a manner of speaking