![]() You've seen her in film or television before. She's the young woman ensnared in the music industry machine, coached by handlers, every bit of her body lit flatteringly for the camera, her personality and humanity sanded down for the sake of the brand. Jocelyn's suffering and alienation under the weight of her surveilled pop career feels all too familiar. TV Reviews HBO's 'The Idol' offers stylish yet oddly inert debut episode "When you're famous, everyone lies to you," she tells him. When a shady club-owner played by The Weeknd's Abel Tesfaye comes into her life, she seems attracted to his honesty when so few people exercise it with her. There's a lot for Jocelyn to prove, from her ability to execute perfect choreography to the illusion of mental stamina ("prioritizing wellness," one team member calls it). When a compromising photo of Jocelyn leaks and becomes "the number one trending topic on Twitter," her team leaps into damage control, worried about her suffering from another "psychotic break." "I think what Britney and Jocelyn have gone through is really unique, but ultimately universal, you know?" one handler, played by Dan Levy, says. We meet her in the middle of a sexy photoshoot, hospital wristband still on her arm. Played by Lily-Rose Depp, the singer is about to release a new single called "World Class Sinner" (the lyrics of which are about being a freak and not much else, and the quality of which wouldn't earn a spot on Ava Max's next record) and is still processing her mothers' death from cancer. Jocelyn, the superstar around whom the plot of the contentious new HBO show The Idol swarms, has main pop girl energy. Music is just one part of her celebrity to consume, along with relationships cataloged in the press, her breakdowns and traumas (to which many documentaries are likely dedicated). But there isn't just one main pop girl rather, it's an energy to embody - fantasy aware it's serving fantasy, Bush-era raunch. The domination of her type peaked in the late 2000s to early 2010s, when the American charts were crowded with muscled, alpha entertainers like Britney, Christina, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Gaga etc. She may or may not actually, by pure album sales or streaming numbers or radio plays, be popular. Drag queens impersonate her, and rockists bicker over the number of writers credited to her hits. "Authenticity" is not a word that appears in her marketing plan. At some point she has, via red carpet outfit or awards performance or interaction with paparazzi, minorly scandalized a nation. She emerges into the spotlight according to album "eras" (what ancient civilizations once referred to as cycles). Main pop girl-ism is nebulous, but, like pornography, you know it when you see it. These days, according to the parlance of stan armies, you're either a "main pop girl," or you're not. The troubles of The Idol's embattled pop star Jocelyn feel out of step with what's demanded of mainstream music stars in 2023.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |