Great Artists with Bad Reputations

We’ve always been told that great art comes from pain, heartbreak, or from the worst experiences. Real emotions and real hurt stem great talent, which blossoms into the songs, movies and poems we watch and listen to. We find ourselves confused when an artist makes masterpieces with their music, but their reputation to the public is problematic, factors that include what they can and can’t control. We debate whether we want to keep supporting them or not. This is a reoccurring debate I had with myself in the past year specifically about 3 artists. Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Kanye West.

Doja Cat

Doja Cat rose to fame in 2019, when a few of her songs popped off on Tik Tok. When she first got famous, she was known for catchy party songs, and of course she still makes songs like that, but it didn’t take long for people to realize that she was a lyrical mastermind. In every new song, Doja’s verses were topping the last. In every original song or feature, she ate every word she said. Her talent is undeniable, but so are her problematic actions. In May 2020, Doja was exposed on Twitter for participating and entertaining white supremacists on an online chat room. Many stories resurfaced of her using a homophobic slur, and only claiming her blackness when it benefitted her. She was being accused of being colourist and needing white approval. After her Instagram live in June 2020 the public slowly accepted her apology and started loving her again. That is until November 2020. If this pandemic has taught us one thing, it’s that celebrities think they are exempt from the virus because they have money. Obviously when there is a lockdown ruling in your city, the last thing you want to do is throw a party with over 500 people, but Kendall Jenner couldn’t survive one year without having a huge birthday party, and in attendance, there was Doja. Doja didn’t receive hate for just being there, because frankly all of our favourite celebrities were there. The Weeknd, Kylie Jenner, Saweetie, Winnie Harlow, and Justin Bieber were all there. It was the blatant ignorance Doja showed on Twitter after receiving backlash from the party. Calling people lazy, stupid and slobs for simply telling her not to party during a pandemic. Let’s not forget the “no social media” cards that were handed out during the party...this is another reason why we hate celebrities. I won’t lie and say that I hate Doja, because in all honesty I don’t. In fact, I do like her a lot. I feel like I resonate with her, EXCEPT ALL THE PROBLEMATIC THINGS SHE DOES of course. To me, it feels like she lashes out at people who call her out, because her rise to fame happened so quickly. Which is not an excuse because she’s 25 and is well aware of her actions. But don’t lie to yourself and say that all of her verses aren’t fire.

Lana Del Rey

Lana, formally known as Lizzy Grant, is one of the most gifted singers and songwriters in the music industry. Being in the spotlight for over a decade, not only do her fans stream her music all day every day, but they idolize her as a person. I can safely say that the music Lana makes is pure art. Something straight out of a poem. And her vocals are UNMATCHED. She has been receiving hate ever since the start of her career for her music videos and songs romanticizing the idea of being with older men, abuse and cheating. It seems as though Lana had enough of this criticism in May 2020. She had a point but her execution was terrible. Instead of shedding light on how she writes songs about her experiences and her life, she started comparing her success to WOC in the music industry. Calling out Kehlani, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce. If she expressed how she felt about people criticizing how she expresses herself, that would’ve been great to hear, but instead she decided that dragging down women of colour with her was the way to do it. In October 2020, she was spotted meeting fans with a sequined mesh mask, which to no one’s surprise, doesn’t protect you or anyone else from the virus. Just wear a proper mask Lana. More recently, this month actually, Lana announced the name and cover of her new album “Chemtrails over the Country Club”. Everyone was excited to hear her new music until they read the caption of her Instagram post. The album cover is a black and white photo featuring her friends, and some of them happen to be WOC. In her caption she basically states that people can’t call her racist because she put her POC friends on the cover...like what? She put her POC friends on the cover of her album to solely prove to people that she’s not racist. Lana girl, you are making it so hard to support you please shape up because I wanna listen to your new album.

Kanye West

We all know Kanye West. Aside from his personality, he is in fact a rap icon. Being in the industry for almost 15 years, Kanye has been through a lot. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so I will take that into account while discussing his actions. The first major downturn that Kanye took was his public support for Donald Trump in 2016, after Trump was elected. Many fans and other celebrities showed their distaste for his support of Trump, and that’s when Kanye started publicly stating some very false and damaging information. During his very questionable “presidential run”, Kanye stated that “Harriet Tubman didn’t actually free the slaves, she just brought them to more white people”. Anyone with more than a single brain cell obviously knows that this isn’t true. When Kanye lost the election, badly, he decided he no longer supported Trump. Very convenient timing. What Kanye needs is help. He has pretty much stopped making music and doesn’t even live in California anymore.

All 3 of these artists spark a controversial question. Should we always separate art from the artist? On one hand, we shouldn’t separate them because if you stream their music, you are contributing to putting money in the bank of someone problematic and hateful. But on the other hand, we should separate them because as a person you’re allowed to just simply like music without having to idolize the artist. If you ask me, I am personally on the fence of both. In the end, it comes down to your beliefs. If you keep idolizing the artist as a person after you’ve learned about the horrible things they have done, then you need to reevaluate your life choices. But if you’re just simply listening to their music and not supporting them as a person, then do your thing.