In the XX Century, fashion designers and celebrities used to impress the society with brand-new ideas, creations and well, works of art. Today, creativity is dead and we reuse thoughts instead of formating new ones.
Image Credit: Alejo Reinoso from Unsplash
Nowadays, nothing feels iconic in every aspect. In music and in fashion it happens all the time. We are just in a fashion cycle, where every once in a while people just suddenly wear flared jeans, and then that repeats every ten years.
That is how fashion works this days. It is not every case, of course, but it seems like nowadays what is important is to shock people, that is very different of being iconic.
A very iconic moment for the fashion industry was that Versace revealing green dress that Jennifer Lopez wore in the 2000's. That is iconic. Is something people remember to this day. The meat dress from Lady Gaga, the famous white dress from "Seven Year Itch" worn by Marilyn Monroe, the black Lady D dress...
Something that is made to shock people is temporary. Nobody will remember that one year later.
In music, nothing feels iconic anymore. The industries are really connected in this aspect. New artists are making more covers then writing their own music.
Pop music nowadays doesn't feel iconic because they are all the same. They copy old pop artists to make dances, performances and songs. Everything feels copied. If you pay more attention to the beat, lyrics, and the rythm of new music, you'll realize that the sound will seem familiar...because it is. Pop culture nowadays makes music and money through samples, old dance moves and choreographies.
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Social media had a huge impact on this too. I am not against social media, but I have to admit that it has some disadvantages. We, as a society have to face that music is not art anymore, it is something commercial, is a product, and the best way to sell it is through social media.
Music as a form of art is dead. Music as a way to make short videos is unfortunately the thing now.
So, nothing feels iconic anymore. Every piece of art now is seen like a product. Do we have to blame the people who sell it, or the people who buy it?
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Get notified of top trending articles like this one every week! (we won't spam you)My Theory
In my theory, it's highly connected to sick capitalism along with the massive consumism. Our society wants more and more things to buy, and doesn't matter how it is done, how it is made, who made it or the quality the product has. (Especially in the fashion industry).
In music is the same, but people unfortunately don't buy much "music products" such as cd's and vinyl, and prefer to listen to music in a platform like Apple Music and Spotify. As a young music collector, I listen to music both online and though a music player, so I am not against music platforms at all, but we do all have to recognize that artists don't make much trough this apps, so they have the need to make more and more albums and songs, giving priority to quantity over quality. That is why music sounds repetitive, commercial, prepared and made for social media.
Of course the consumer has his fault too. If people didn't listen or buy those things, musicians and brands would stop selling the product too. It is a unbreakable cycle that our society can move on, and most of the people maybe is fine that way.
