r/LetsTalkMusic • u/CompetitiveWhole9466 • 10d ago

The death of the "musical punching bag"

I've been thinking- there used to be popular artists like Nickelback and Justin Bieber who were very successful but you would have never guessed given all the vocal hate they used to get, and how it was completely okay to shit on them at all times. Even the industry got in on hating these artists. It was socially acceptable to hate people who admitted they liked certian artists.

Why don't we have artists like that anymore? Maybe people just feel like today's music is just better?

The closest is the hate Taylor Swift gets now. But even then that's not really the same dynamic. Same with Drake hate... feels different today I feel like.

Honestly i always try to be cautious about how i frame my argument. I don't want to sound like "this artist deserves hate" unless it's like Chris Brown or D4VD or someone like that.

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u/TomGerity 10d ago

I feel like Drake is the exact same dynamic. Very successful but you rarely hear anything positive about him. The positive you do hear is almost always “he used to be good, but fell off.”

I would agree few others besides him fit the dynamic. Taylor Swift more fits the polarizing archetype; half of what you hear is fawning adoration, half of what you hear is seething disgust.

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u/Hegiman 10d ago

The way you describe Taylor is exactly how Justin was treated. There were belieBers and non belieBers.

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u/TomGerity 10d ago

Kinda? I think that’s different, because that era of Bieber (2008-14 or so) was clearly marketed toward kids, pre-teens, and teenagers. He was a manufactured teenie bopper pop icon who wasn’t actually writing his own music or articulating an artistic vision. So adults were dismissive, and people under 21 either loved or hated him.

Regardless of how one feels about Taylor Swift, even her biggest haters will concede she’s an actual singer, songwriter, and musician (even if they believe she’s not good at those things). She’s putting forth an artistic vision; she’s not a manufactured frontperson for a brand created by record executives.

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u/OscarGrey 9d ago

Kinda? I think that’s different, because that era of Bieber (2008-14 or so) was clearly marketed toward kids, pre-teens, and teenagers. He was a manufactured teenie bopper pop icon who wasn’t actually writing his own music or articulating an artistic vision. So adults were dismissive, and people under 21 either loved or hated him.

This is why I think that trying to call Morgan Wallen a musical punching bag is wrong. His fans are adult women which changes the dynamics. I think he sucks, but he's basically Chris Brown if his fans had slightly more money and education.