Letters from fans, Indian stories & 70s tunes

With European vibes, noodles and anti-hustle anthems.

There’s a musical thread running through this week’s missive, because why not. Here’s what lies ahead.

1. Connecting: Fan-artist relationships, beautiful letters, with some Stephen Fry.

2. Friday Finds: Fun in the everyday, and a re-versioned classic.

3. Vienna: It waits for you in song, especially if you are young and melancholic.

4. Appearances from noodles, cultural arbitrage and rodent men.

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1. Connecting.

“As for raisins, they do have a grim, scrotal horribleness, but like all things in this world – you, me and every other little thing – they have their place. Be kind.”

Fans and their objects of affection. These relationships, so central to pop culture, take many shapes and forms. Most of us have at some point, if not always, admired someone whose creative work touches us. Writing, film, art and music all have that ability (as does sports but in a different, often tribal way) ; those who play with these dark arts sometimes are able to reach out to a special part of our heart and mind, and then reside there a while, or longer.

The nature and depth of these fan connections sometimes elevate artists to a status far beyond mere ‘celebrity’. Fandoms have spurred research, writings, explanations wonderment and cynicism. The concept of ‘parasocial relationships’ derives from this- complex emotional connections that fans form with celebrities, public figures, or fictional characters. It is usually understood as (or at least began as, in the 1950s) a one-sided emotional bond, where a fan invests time and energy into a connection with a media figure who remains unaware of this dynamic at an individual level.

This has evolved along with decades of mass media culture, dramatically so first in the internet age and then with that wily beast, social media. Twitter, then Instagram and TikTok have greatly, horribly, joyously increased the perceived proximity between fans and celebrities, encouraging- even requiring- frequent and personal interactions. More, and more ‘direct’ connections are now a basic element of your offering as a public figure- shaping your narrative, your persona… ‘building your brand’. Fans, in turn, have the feeling they are genuinely connected, and have meaningful interactions.

Yet, this has grown some very different demands on artists, especially in music where fandoms form, organise and scale both passionately and intimately. The relating + knowing + ownership dynamic becomes needed, expected, even demanded. Soon, lines of privacy and personal choice blur with fan expectations.

Grammy-nominated Producer and DJ Tokimonsta called out how hard this can be for professional artists.

We turn inward and create self doubt: “Is there something wrong with me? Is what I have to share not engaging? Do they not care about my art/message/profession anymore?”…

I am a musician and I just want my music to be heard—not for my entire life to be seen.

Hence, parallel to the expectations, there are also often question marks against the authenticity of artist interactions. Entire teams now manage the ‘genuine’ social media presence for artists who themselves are always conscious about how and what they speak, share, present and represent.

Bad Bunny burst that bubble a little for his fans at last year’s Coachella:

“Humbly speaking, people think they know the lives of famous people but they don’t. They don’t know what we feel, what we live through. They will never know what a heart can feel. Don’t believe everything you hear.

You won’t get to know the real me through a video on Instagram, an interview or a TikTok.

There are others, of course, from Billie Eilish to Doja Cat to Adele who have different ways to minimise their social media interactions and maintain boundaries. [Or hey, like some of the GoT7 members, simply saying “no, I am not your boyfriend and we won’t ever get married”.] *

On the flip side, some believe there has been a loss of the sense of mystery around our icons. Their accessibility has come with faux-familiarity, maybe at a dimming of their halos. Yet, till not so long ago, such access was limited, infrequent, prized. Or, just unavailable.

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Letter writing.

In all this flurry of celebrity existence, there is Nick Cave, the Australian singer (and writer and actor) of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds fame. At 66, he too interacts with fans, but not quite the way you might expect on social media. In equal parts managing to maintain and strip away veneers, you could call what he does a relic, or an oddity, or charming. I reckon, best to call it all.

At Red Hand Files, Nick Cave combines a format from yesterday with a medium of today, for something that's evergreen- making personal connections. Since 2018, this is ‘merely’ a website where he answers questions from fans, much like he might have with letters, in decades past. But, going beyond this simple idea, it “has burst the boundaries of its original concept to become a strange exercise in communal vulnerability and transparency. Hundreds of letters come in each week, asking an extraordinarily diverse array of questions, from the playful to the profound, the deeply personal to the flat-out nutty”.

That range sounds about right, from my explorations. Go have a look every now & then, to chuckle or be stumped, or immersed in expressions far from the vacuity and inanity that much of social media interaction is accused of. (And include some kindness to raisins, that quote at the top today.)

Or this,

I do my best to move through life with a joy that is reconciled to the sorrow of things but is not subsumed by it, that apprehends darkness and is not afraid of it. … I believe in creation over destruction, compassion over cynicism, mercy over vitriol, friendship over hostility, truth over lies and love over hate.

But also- lastly, here is the pretty much always delightful Stephen Fry reading one such Nick Cave letter, about human creativity and ChatGPT.

Reading.

·· Do you like raisins, Nick? ·· The letter on ChatGPT & Creativity. ·· Tokimonsta's post ·· Bad Bunny at Coachella ·· Is the relationships between fans & artists changing? ·· * Got7 being clear on the barriers between idols & fans ··

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2. Friday Finds

Always story time.

Unrelated, mundane, quirky, and some very random situations come alive in the eyes of this motley group very plugged into their IG life.

This is a series of 8 films promoting Stories for Instagram in India. The core thought pushed through? There’s always a right time for stories on the ‘gram. The tag line punctuating every situation loosely translates as, “You gotta do a story for that”.

tiltbrands

A post shared by @tiltbrands

All eight films are stacked up here.

For Meta India by Tilt, the same folks who also brought us this utterly charming T20 World Cup launch spot for Star Sports India.

Directed by Akanksha Seda, who also helmed the cool Gatorade spot I shared some months ago.

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Le Sud.

Nino Ferrer is an Italian-born French singer with a significant legacy. I chanced upon him via Guts, whose brand of soul, funk, jazz, and vibe, I have tapped along with often in the last couple of years. Guts has done versions of Nino Ferrer’s biggest hit from the 70s, Le Sud, or The South.

“We call it the South ’cause time is so long there

That life sure will take us more than a million years

And we like to stay there”

I’m digging the vibe of the song(s), but there is also a backstory to Ferrer worth looking at. Its very end goes thus, “…he would switch directions many times: from rock & roll to gospel and from prog rock to laid-back funk. The latter style made up most of 1974's Nino and Radiah, which included another fruitful Estardy collaboration in the song Ferrer is best remembered for in France: "Le Sud." Over a half-dozen more albums followed in the next 20 years, but their mixed reviews made Ferrer retire to family life and painting for longer and longer intervals. A few days away from his 64th birthday, he dramatically ended his life by shooting himself in the heart in a corn field not far from the castle he had bought from the royalties of "Le Sud."

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3. Vienna.

Slow down you crazy child

Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while

It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two

When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Billy Joel's track from his 1977 album The Stranger has had a resurgence. Led, unsurprisingly, in some ways, through TikTok. Hearing of this, an inevitable Tiktok rabbit hole opened up, with some blogs thrown in. So, some observations.

• The anti-rat race, “you have your whole life ahead of you” vibe seems to have resonated with a generation sandwiched between hustle culture, instant gratification, and a world going to sh*t.

• Was fascinating to see it used both in positive, cheerful contexts as well as much more melancholic, pensive, even sad moods. Less fascinating to see postured lyp syncing. Least fascinating to see it used (liberally) with no context whatsoever. Trend-riding, I suppose. And, tattoos.

• Saw a seemingly endless feed of Tiktoks exclusively by young girls, and started to notice it. Then Tiktok’s blackmagic kicked in and literally just when I had fully formed this thought, I saw three by young men.

It would appear this resurgence has been on for 3-4 years, harking back even to a film it featured in back in 2004. Millenials, Zillenials, GenZ, whoever - this is the beauty of lyrics and tunes with some soul, stirred with some classic virality.

So then, how do you feel about ‘Feelin‘ Groovy’?

Slow down, you move too fast / You got to make the morning last

Reading

·· “No one understands a woman in her 20s like Billy Joel” ·· Zillenials & Vienna ··

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Peanut Masala

(where I share stories or tidbits I find interesting)

1. The “Hot Rodent Man” is a thing, apparently. Click through to find out more, also with a view into Hollywood’s ideals of masculinity and their evolution.

2. The Diminishing Returns of Having Good Taste is an interesting piece that considers if our information glut makes mass culture dull. “In a time of scarcity, information had more value, which provided a natural motivation for curious individuals to learn more about what was happening at the margins of society. The internet arrived at a time when we gained social clout from arbitraging information, so our first instinct was to share information online. Perhaps we are now entering an era of information hoarding.”

3. Instant Noodle lovers unite! 2023 data shows, unsurprisingly, that Asia leads the way in devouring this hugely popular snack/meal/cheap eat, with China blowing away all other (healthy) eaters. Via.

   

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Chomp & slurp. Off for my brew!