Before today I had never heard of Chelsea Cutler. She is a famous singer. As of this writing I still haven’t heard any of her music. The only reason I mention her is because I read an article about her in the Washington Post this morning. My favorite quote from the article: “...Her anxieties about social media on social media struck a nerve throughout social media...” That’s a lot of social medias in one sentence!
In a nutshell, she said she’s tired of having to be a content provider for social media in addition to being a performer, a sentiment which stuck a nerve with many music artists, hundreds if not thousands of them apparently, who vigorously clicked the Like button next to her post or something like that. The thunderous piling on of me-toos has made her a big news story. Every young celebrity wishes they'll say or do something that will go viral and make them even more popular and for Cutler, this apparently is her moment. Congratulations, Chelsea!
A music reviewer admonished me that if I wasn’t active on, at the very least, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, reviewers like him immediately pegged me as not serious about my music career. Gee, I remember when being a serious musician meant practicing my instrument several hours a day, making new music to hone my abilities as a composer, and playing lots of gigs!
Not going into any specifics of why I closed my social media account many years ago, I think a music career stymied by my reluctance to contribute to the social media discussion isn’t such a bad thing. No one needs to see videos of me kvetching about what to eat for dinner or fighting tangles of cables in my studio and turning it into a goofy dance loop video. Being locked outside the gates of the walled city of Facebookia may make it harder for me to get attention or build relationships with those people who insist any contact with them must be done via that platform but I’m willing to live with that.
I make music.
If you enjoy listening to my music, that’s enough. We have an excellent relationship. Let’s keep a good thing going with that.
-V