I often like to believe that one day, just maybe, I'll be
dubbed as the "Female Ed Sheeran".
But as I sit here listening to him, I've decided that,
for today, I don't want that title. I don't want to be compared to Ed Sheeran
and I don't think anyone should be compared to Ed Sheeran.
He is on his own scale; no one can really get to
that level that he is on. It's reserved for him and him alone.
The man is incredible. Similar to another
singer/songwriter out there (whom, for reasons I shan't name), he writes about
past relationships however different from the other, he doesn't bash his ex; he
doesn't make them seem like they did wrong and he was innocent the whole
time.
The way he beautifully writes without shaming the person
is incredible and inspiring. Even if it was a bad ending to the relationship,
you don't have to bash them in a song, especially if you are extremely famous
and loved worldwide. I feel like, if you're going to write a song about a past
relationship, you write about the good things that occurred, it might help you
feel better about the break up, or not...It just seems to me like it's
pointless to dog the person you once decided to spend time with or even
loved. If you have the ability to write beautiful lyrics and music,
wouldn't you want to use that skill to write more meaningful songs? That's what
I feel Ed Sheeran does. He has this incredible talent with words and he knows
how to use it. Even with the songs he gave to One Direction, they're still
beautiful and mean something to him.
Moving off from Ed Sheeran now, otherwise I'll get
carried away.
Something that annoys me about the music industry and
critics etc. is how more pop bands/singers aren't taken seriously. I'm not that
into pop music, I enjoy the more acoustic genre; however it is no secret that I
am a massive fan of One Direction. So, it irritates me how disregarded those
boys are. They each have incredible voices, if they didn't, they wouldn't have
even been considered to do the live auditions of X Factor by the producers in
2010.
I don't think many people realise that to actually get
onto the televised auditions of any singing/talent shows, you have to make a
massive impression upon the producers of the show at an earlier, more private
audition. Sure, they put some acts whom have little talent through for humour purposes
and to make the show that little bit more appealing.
Anyway, back to One Direction. People who really know nothing
about the band apart from that they were put together by Simon Cowell like to comment on how overly publicised and
managed the boys are and enjoy believing that they only use auto tune to create
their music, the boys actually having no real talent. I’ve observed/noticed
that some of these people may then look up the boys and actually listen to them
live and watch some of their video diaries and they can’t help but like the
boys. It’s because they are as real as stars can get. Sure, they waste a lot of
money these days getting tattoos, but they’re not big headed, they haven’t got
massive egos and they are as down to earth as the person next to you. But
because they are a “boy band” they get harshly judged and are often taken less
seriously than others out there.
Is this simply because they don’t really write their own
songs? Because the amount of singers out there these days who actually write
their own lyrics or music is so limited that it seems more lucky when one like
Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift; who do write their own content, pop up. So to judge
them on that and then say how much of a fan you are of Beyoncé or Nicki Minaj’s
songs is a bit hypocritical…Beyonce’s song “Run the World (Girls)” had 6
writers and 4 producers, Queen’s song Bohemian Rhapsody had 1 writer (with the
assistance of his fellow band members) and 1 producer. I’m not dissing Beyoncé
or Nicki Minaj at all; I just can’t seem to see how they are taken seriously
when One Direction are not.
I think that all musicians, whether they write their own
songs or not, should be taken seriously. It is one of the hardest businesses to
break into, so recognition for actually being able to get a song played on the
radio or to bring an album out should be received to all!
So the boys of One Direction are a boy band? How does
that offend music? Their songs are light hearted and harmless. And don’t say
they won’t last long because they were put together by someone else. The
Backstreet Boys were put together ten years ago and they are still going strong
to this day. Sure, they had breaks during these past years, but they are
together today and making music and touring.
The amount of chemistry between the boys of One Direction
is incredible and will help the boys to stay together, not to mention their
contracts…
Another thing I question is this; when did it become necessary
to be able to play an instrument to be called a band or artist? Some people
just want to be singers, so why do they get judged if they don’t play the
guitar or piano? I hate it when people say to me, “Tell me, how many members of
One Direction play instruments?” in judgemental tones. I always reply with “Niall
is amazing on the guitar, having been playing for most of his life and Harry is
now learning and Louis and Liam play the piano,” They always, without doubt
answer with “Oh, Harry’s learning the guitar now, ha. Ha” Yes, he is, but he’s
a singer and trained in singing. It’s not easy to get up on stage and belt out
an hour and a half worth of pop songs. The amount of vocal training these boys have
to go through is incredible. Since the start of this year, I’ve learnt to
appreciate just how much work goes into training the voice. Rigorous exercises
to help balance the vocal chords need to be done every single day, more than
once, in order to get your voice prepared. Learning to sing is just as
complicated and time consuming as learning to play an instrument and I have
experience in both vocal training and instrument training, it took me 10 years
to get my piano to the level it’s at and two of guitar and I’m still learning
every day.
People judge too easily these days. Most don’t even give
singers a chance; they just dub them as “auto tuned” or “crap” without actually
listening to their songs. Sure, most of the songs played on the radio these
days are all light hearted, lovey dovey songs, but that is what is in high
demand these days. Singers like Justin Bieber and the boys of One Direction are
labelled as “gay” for no reason…It’s such a tedious and immature way of
bullying. Who cares if they are gay? If they are, it shouldn’t matter or change
anyone’s opinion on their music and it definitely shouldn’t be seen as an
offence thing to be called.
But you’re judging their personalities without knowing a
thing about them and I’m so sick of that! To be fair, I’m not the biggest fan
of the Biebs, but I didn’t just wake up one day and say “I don’t like that
Justin Bieber, he seems bad,” I actually watched some of his videos and
listened to his music and it wasn’t up my alley! And that’s fine! I don’t go
and diss the kid for no reason. Not everyone is going to like your music, or
your art, or you work or the way you play football. If you don’t like
something, you should just leave it at that and let that person get on with
their life while you get on with yours. But the thing to do these days is to
apparently bully and waste your own time abusing the person you dislike.
I’m going to stop typing this now, as it went from being
a nice little chat about Ed Sheeran to a rant about the music industry…
But if you read this, thank you for reading and I hope you
didn’t get too bored.
Elise out
xx
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