When I first come across a musician that I like, I tend to look up their background. Sometimes I may be surprised (or not so much) by where the artist comes from. Sometimes, it may turn out that the song is decades older than I predicted. When I first heard Jasmine Thompson's cover of "Titanium" (by David Guetta and Sia), I was surprised to hear that she was only 12 when her video was recorded. It turned out that she had built a career through YouTube covers, starting at 10 with Bruno Mars's "Lazy Day." When she sings some of these songs, there are occasions where if these the meaning of the songs may seem not right for age, but for some time, people have been exposed to modern top 40 when very young. Through my parents' listening to songs primarily from the 50's, 60's, and 70's when I grew up, I would sing the lyrics to the Beach Boys' "Barbra Ann" at the age of 10 (though not with Jasmine's skill). I noticed in younger family members how they started hearing modern pop music at a younger age, and I don't think that was just Radio Disney beginning to feature the genre more in their programing. Apparently Thompson's parents recognized her talent, and began documenting performances. A month after the "Lazy Day" recording, she released a version of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" and adorably, she loses her focus when distracted by her cat playing on the bed. She breaks out of reaching for a Gaga-like vocal power, and reverts to this little girl jokingly asking if the pet's having a spasm, and turns to pet her. Cut to the cat being off the bed, and she's back to pop singer mode. Over time, she develops a singing style that we now know her for. Two days after "Paparazzi", her version of "We Are Young" (by Fun) is up. She is starting to show a level of restraint, when it comes to letting loose her vocals. It's like she steps back, reserved and demure in ways. But you can hear the focus and strength surging from within. I discussed this with someone in a comments section. He was asking why she no longer sang with the oomph that she brought to Paparazzi, and I was saying that it's not always that necessary with some artists. Citing Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval as an example, I pointed out that there can be a stylistic charm in being a little shy and withdrawn, while choosing moments in the song to loosen the valve and exhibit even greater strength.
The song I picked to analyze is "Titanium." With the song's popularity, most of us have probably heard the original single, or it being performed on televised singing competitions. Until sitting down tonight, I hadn't paid attention to more than the refrains where Sia (and other singers) ascend in strength, reaching points where they're breaking down "titanium" into syllables for emphasis. I interpret this song to be about bullying. To be more particular this may be about cyber trolling, because it seems to be more about a war of words. I faced cyber bullying in high school, and that alone can be ignored, but another layer is added when the torment seeps into your personal life and even physically affects you away from the keyboard.
Trolling needed to be addressed, and Guetta did a great job in writing about someone plagued with excessive negative criticism. Deciding that in grace, and a carefully worded response, the singer can show her strength and fortitude in this moment of harassment. Guetta's lyrics go into a metaphor, comparing insults and disparaging comments to bullets fired, and as if titanium plated, the singer shows their resilience. Even when falling to the ground under the pressure of the haters' barrage. The singer gets back up and moves forward.
In the news this summer, the comedienne Leslie Jones has stood out as someone particularly trolled in social media.
She had spent some years on Saturday Night Live, without this becoming as much of an issue, but as Paul Feig's Ghostbusters remake built up it's marketing campaign, people turned against the film. Many said that it was over the female casting, and as a fan of how sci-fi, horror, and mysticism were higher priorities than comedy in the original films, I personally wasn't a fan of Feig and his writing partner making the movie primarily a comedy. It became a heated PR war between the cast, crew, and friends of the new movie, and loyal fans of the franchise. Even Ghostbusters fans who had embraced female leads in the franchise's TV shows and comic books were grouped with blatant misogynists and racists, as the films marketing was bolstered by the rhetoric of social politics. As each side would repeatedly slam the other, the back and forth taunting exacerbated the conflict. Stars would enter the fray, standing against the project's critics, and would even stoop to passive aggressive words about the franchise's passionate fans. Wishing for nerds to find some friends is the type of comments that I would've expected from the mouths of high school students, and not an adult with 19 years in the entertainment industry. I'm not sure how many people there were who like me, stepped back after the initial trailers were released, and skeptically hopeful head our proverbial breaths, hoping for a quality film that could live up to the original. Unfortunately, it didn't hold up, what's worse is that cast and crew altered the movie combat their critics. In an age of cinematic revamps of intellectual properties, 2016's Ghostbusters stands out for being a weapon against against fans. It was the most belligerent comments from fans and celebrities that seemed to get the most publicity, and fans who just wanted a movie that captured the spirit (no pun intended) of the original were collateral damage when the film got released.
This also had thrust Leslie Jones further into the limelight. Though I don't find her over the top brand of comedy that funny, many people do. When she was mostly just seen by SNL's target audience, she was widely accepted. It was her work on Ghostbusters that raised her profile, and suddenly Jones was on the news, on talk shows, and doing TV commercials. It continued long past the point of promoting the movie, and over the past few weeks she was trending for the exuberance shown when tweeting about the US olympic athletes. When faced with trolls over Ghostbusters, Jones tended to be one of the more vocal celebrities in battling with critics, and her increased exposure has only garnered more trolls. I don't condone the bullying, but I also wonder if Jones could've taken a higher ground in her response (like the singer character in "Titanium"). I confess that I've been in feuds with bullies in the past, and the conflicts would reach a point where we step back, never to see each other again. I've learned from my experiences, and looking at past scars, there are times that I wish I had just ignored the bullies and let them burn themselves out.
When her iCloud account had been hacked earlier this week, personal photos and documents are aired to the public. At that point, laws had clearly been broken. While hoping that Jones gets her due justice, I hope that she and her bullies learn from this over time. It's more likely that she (rather than the trolls) learns lessons about allowing a bullying conflict to escalate. I may never be a strong proponent of her comedy stylings, but I'm holding out hope for her personal growth.
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