MUSIC or BEAUTY?

“I make music to be a musician, not be on the cover of playboy” – Adele

I read this on twitter once - ‘I saw Tiwa Savage today, she isn’t even fine…’ seriously? I am confused. I thought we are after their works of art? If you want beautiful celebrities you can lust after or get obsessed with please go watch American’s next top model or any fashion television network.

This generation is so messed up with shallow people, it breaks my heart. Thank God for singers like Adele and Seal even our very own Nigerian Asa who have made success out of their music careers despite their seemingly not so attractive looks and sexually enticing pop images.

I find it odd when someone judges a musician by his or her looks or when someone makes a statement like ‘I don’t like him/her so I won’t listen to his/her song’. That’s how people miss out on great works and awesome records.

I am after music not your personal life or looks. If your song makes sense and I can relate to it or the beats get me groovy, I am definitely buying. I don’t care about your belief or your looks because that’s not what music is about.

I admire Kelly Clarkson a lot for not conforming to Hollywood’s stereotypes. I used to admire Jennifer Hudson, especially when she won her first Oscar. American idol told her she was too fat and didn’t have star quality, but she rose above that and even the so called weight that didn’t seem to be star quality was what was needed for her role ‘Effie Whyte’ in the movie dream girls which was her first movie and also which she won an academy award for best actress in a supporting role. But ever since her recent weight loss, I can’t really say much not with her short and revealing dresses.

But do I blame these artists? This is their source of lively hood so they have to make money by selling their records. The only way to do that is meeting the needs of those that’ll but their works.

Society claps for and appreciates sex appeal far above true talents. What do you expect from a musician who needs to pay her bills? It’s the society that makes these musicians pay more attention to their looks and appear in videos in outfits which leave nothing to the imagination. As far as people are buying their cds they keep doing same thing over and over again. In short society applauds mediocrity as far as it satisfies their perversion. If a musician wants to grow and take a new direction or have a different sound, the fear of losing audience keeps them back, they just think of the fame and money, too scared to venture out onto higher grounds, because our society has refused to appreciate true art or encourage growth.

I hold nothing against the kardashinas, in fact I give them props! People keep hating on them, branding them names like talentless individuals doing stupid things on tv and yet get paid millions. Truth is, if no one watches a show dedicated to these so called ‘stupid’ people living their lives, they would not be paid, and the show would have been cancelled in the very first episode. The joke’s on the viewers. They are the stupid people who have no lives that they have to sit in front of the tv and watch other people live their lives. How pathetic!

If I realize there is a market gap, and I all I need to do is sit on a chair and people would actually watch me and I get paid million, I’d definitely fill that need.

Our society is full of idiotic shallow individuals, which is why every artiste in Nigeria now sings mostly party songs with terribly written shallow lyrics that have no meaning or positive impact and the beats in every song on the radio sounds alike because those are the kind of songs most Nigerians like. I was reading Iyanya’s interview in the paper yesterday, he said after project fame he was doing R&b but he wasn’t making it because no one listens to such in Nigeria, so he decided to change his sound, and to his surprise kukere became a hit.

The market (society) is a driving force that determines what these artists produce. No smart individual will waste his or her time and resources producing a master piece that he knows no one would buy. So until society grows and starts appreciating true art, our musicians would continue churning out crap for us and continue focusing on sex appeal, releasing videos with nude girls, offensive lyrics and cheap written songs. The funny part is how hypocritical society can be. People would complain about the nude girls in videos and poorly dressed female stars yet they are the ones who encourage such by voting such videos for awards or giving them numerous air play that they become chart toppers while also secretly enjoying the nudity but openly criticize it.

I sincerely hope the next generation gets it right and appreciates true art and not long for shallow short lived sources of entertainment because this generation has really lost it…

Well, what do I know? I am but just a kid…..

WHEN LOVE BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE

Love is supposed to be a beautiful bond that holds people together, but at times love could be the very reason people are apart...

It sucks when love is the reason a friendship comes to an end...

There's this school of thought which says a boy and a girl should never be best friends except if they are married or one of them is gay.

If other wise, chances are one of them would develop feelings for the other and we all know what happens in such situations. You either keep your feelings to yourself or you express them and God help that friendship if the other doesn't feel same. Most times that's always the beginning of the end of the friendship.

Then again, there are some persons who make the best of friends being platonic but are miserable when they bring in romantic love. I know of two persons who are very great friends now, you wouldn't even know they have a history of two failed attempts at a relationship or there's been a period of hate because love almost ruined their awesome friendship.

It's a risky thing when your best friend is your girl/boy friend. What happens if you guys break up?  Not only do you lose your love, you also lose your best friend. Imagine the hurt and loneliness? This is usually the lot most clingers find themselves. When they are in a relationship they cling and build their lives around their partner, alienating their old friends and shutting everyone out...then when that relationship ends, they come back or suddenly want to hang out, chat or talk on the phone again, acting like they never left. If your friends love you deeply, they may forgive you but if not, they may give you the ‘talk to the hand” wave. I read this somewhere – ‘you know that tingly feeling you get when you have the hots for someone? Yea, that’s common sense leaving your body.’

“No matter who broke your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you'll never get through it without your friends.” - Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City

Hiding your feelings and preserving the friendship? For how long really? That's serious case of dying in silence or hoping someday he or she will see through you and know exactly how you feel. Chances are you are going to keep waiting till the day they break the good news to you, with their eyes sparkling and a sheepish grin across their lips. They inform you they are in love and....wait for it...in love but not with you! That's the day reality would hit you and you'll finally awake from dream land.

Or can you be friends and hope the feelings would go away? Never! Truth is you are just going to fall deeper in love with each moment you share. Time spent together would just keep you falling more and more in love. Feelings are not mere switches you can just turn on and off. We are humans not robots. We need time to process and get over whatever we feel and the only way time can help in this situation is being apart from your love interest. You can't keep deceiving yourself that all of a sudden you have killed the feelings and switched over automatically to a pure friend zone with no romantic feelings attached. You are just going to burn till you either act out someday or crash, which I promise would definitely end that friendship for maybe forever...

All forms of relationship, be it friendship, love inclined, parent and child, employee and employer, just whatever form needs good communication and understanding to work fine. If you find yourself in this kind of situation, I feel it’s best you call your friend and express your feelings in a mature way and maybe you can start by reassuring them the friendship means a lot to you and that's why you want to come clean to avoid unnecessary complications later. If you are lucky, he or she may feel same way or even if she feels same way and you guys think things over and know a relationship isn't the best thing for you guys due to certain other reasons as we all know, love is never enough. Still if they don't feel same way, you both can come to an agreement that some time apart would be needed, to enable you get over what you feel.

This difficult conversation would save you both a lot of future drama and truth is you would feel a lot better after letting known your feelings because dying in silence is never fun. It’s like dying in a burning room endlessly, you wish to die, you crave for your final moment but it never comes.

At times love is beautiful, sometimes it leaves ugly scars

At times love builds, sometimes it destroys

At times love makes two become one, sometimes it tears apart

At times love is fun, sometimes love hurts

Depending on how you apply wisdom in handling it...

Well, what do I know? I am but just a kid...