Writes Jennifer Weiner, in "There Is No Safe Way to Turn Teenagers Into Megastars" (NYT).
October 19, 2024
"Liam Payne was just 14 when he took his first shot at the big time, trying out for the hit star-making show, 'The X Factor.'"
"He was 17 when the show’s judges teamed him up with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — all young, handsome, telegenic-but-relatable singer/dancers — and created One Direction, one of the biggest boy bands in history. They released five studio albums and 17 hit singles and went on four world tours, traveling with a portable recording studio so they could put together one album while promoting another.... Mr. Payne was 31 years old when, on Wednesday, he died after a three-story fall from the balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel. Fans reacted with an outpouring of grief, along with... revulsion for the fame factory that had shaped him to its dictates, just as it had done to former child stars like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, who struggled in adulthood, and Amy Winehouse and the K-pop megastar Moonbin, both of whom died in their 20s... As long as there are fans to be monetized and young people willing to feed themselves, body and soul, to the pop music machine, there will be producer-built girl groups and boy bands, their members thrown into the stratosphere as teenagers, old news by 25, gone before they’ve had a chance to grow up."
Writes Jennifer Weiner, in "There Is No Safe Way to Turn Teenagers Into Megastars" (NYT).
Writes Jennifer Weiner, in "There Is No Safe Way to Turn Teenagers Into Megastars" (NYT).
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25 comments:
Transitioning youth are at risk of being exploited for profit and other purposes. Deja vu.
The reason that I got into theater was that I found it stimulating and fascinating. I never wanted to be famous like a lot of the theater majors I knew. All they would talk about was how they wanted to be famous and none of them actually became famous. I just enjoyed being on stage and trying to produce the best performance I could. My mom tired to steer me away from acting because her mom had been a typical stage mother in Los Angeles and she hated every minute of it. (My mom was actually relieved when she shattered her ankle as a teenager because it put an end to her dancing.) I was always aware of the dangers of being famous and never wanted to be famous. About fifteen years ago, I worked on a video project with Lana Wood. (Natalie Wood's sister) Just being semi famous destroyed her life and she lives alone and is very unhappy most of the time.
The same thing is pretty much true for professional wrestlers who work for Vince McMahon and are worshiped by maga trumpers except no one gives a f***
TicTok, Facebook, UTube, Only Fans and other media are doing this weekly. And for every one that has instant fame there are hundreds that plan on that being their career. How many of these "stars" will have a long and fulfilling career? It may not be at the furthest reaches of the bell curve, but a dropped marble won't roll away.
He left a beautiful memory.
Some would consider him a role model.
no family? siblings? or outside friends?
I never heard of K-pop megastarr Moonbat. Thanks Weiner!
You forgot to mention the TDS afflicted who insist on turning everything into a criticism of Trump and/or his supporters. Sad.
Rumors and assertions on the gossip sites are that these pop groups (male and female) are making money, but are also no more than a front for high-end prostitution and child exploitation.
There's only one reason they're turning kids into megastars and we all know what that reason is. It's so they can have sex with them.
At least she's still alive. Natalie Wood suffered a horrific fate for being famous.
You should see what some of these 18 year old girls are making on OnlyFans. Some make millions.
Every month.
I wouldn't have called him a "megastar" (or megastarr), but I wouldn't have called Moonbin "moonbat" either. Wow.
I'm not familiar with his group, Astro. The only music video I've seen him in was when he was a child and he was in TVXQ's video for "Balloons". He's the little kid in the tiger costume.
You gotta focus on the art - and not the "Master Planning" from the bullshit super-star factory.
Really. So that's it. I was wondering what this "One Direction" thing was, and why anybody gives fuck zero about some drunken junkie falling out of a window in Argentina. I guess I should have realized there must be money involved.
It would be wrong of me to wish for Jennifer Weiner to fall from a balcony and die so I'm really glad I've never done that.
Fame often doesn't work out well regardless of the age people begin their professional career. Celine Dion was a child star with an album at the age of 12. She seems to have done well in all aspects of her life, although her career was pretty solid from that early age on.
As much as the machine exploits talent (what's changed since Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine"?), I don't think you can blame Amy Whitehouse on it.
That woman was on the rocket-sled to oblivion as soon as she had money and bad boys. While watching the very sad Amy documentary, I kept thinking if you could go back in time and show her this, she wouldn't change a thing.
This could have simply been a part of
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2024/10/i-was-so-amazed-that-harvey-weinstein.html
rather than a post all itself.
Same subject matter.
The $5 billion Netflix/WWE deal will make an awful lot of wrestlers wealthy.
There seems to be an assumption that Liam's life was a downward spiral after his brief time at the top. Other than the sad and somewhat ambiguous denouement, I can't see evidence for the trajectory assumed by most people.
"...thrown into the stratosphere"
Are you kidding me? Granted, English is not my strong cup of coffee.
Never heard of this person, so I have no f#=÷$s to give. Fame preys on the weak.
90% of the news is about someone you never heard of dying.
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