Walter Shapiro has argued that Double Down wasn’t meant to be read; it’s meant to foster discussion on cable news shows. Robin James wonders if some pop songs – such as Lily Allen’s latest – play a similar role in the blogosphere:
It seems like music videos and/or performances are increasingly common fodder for so-called “thinkpieces.” There’s Allen, Miley’s VMA performance, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Lorde’s “Royals” [seen above], Macklemore’s “Same Love,” and on and on and on. But what’s interesting to me is that most of these thinkpieces discuss the social and political implications of these pieces without talking about the actual music–as though the music was somehow separable from the social and political work these songs and videos accomplish. … So, here is a demand for material about which to write thinkpieces. Maybe one function of the contemporary pop star is to supply this material? Music is part of the social media supply chain?
What does it take for a song to make a good thinkpiece? James thinks novelty isn’t enough:
[T]here’s a distinction, I think, between Gaga-style shock and the “trolling” I identified in my previous post. Gaga courts fame by performing excess – weirdness, disgust, avant-garde fashion, etc. But trolling isn’t about excess or vanguardism. In fact, these troll-gaze songs are more ambiguous than avant-garde. To crib a bit from Le Tigre, troll-gaze songs have to straddle the “What’s your take on XYZ? Misogynist? Genius?” line. There have to be at least two irreducible, individually defensible positions or sides. That allows there to be ongoing back-and-forth debate. These songs court that debate.
The Dish 