Strands #248 “Strumming Right...
Quizzes & Puzzles7 mins ago
Honey G - The ? Factor
35 Answers
When does 'novelty' stop, and weirdness start -
Yes, she’s a ‘novelty’ – so is a dancing bear, it’s a ‘guilty pleasure’ – so is making yourself sick with chocolate, but the actual appeal of Honey G remains as elusive as ever.
Of course X Factor chews and spits out hopefuls like an industrial wood chipper, it always has, and like The Apprentice, people are kept for ‘entertainment (me neither) value over talent – let’s face it, Lord Sugar’s current batch deserved the axe on Day One.
If you are in everyone’s living room for three months, and you haven’t got a ‘following’, then the law of averages has collapsed around you, but are people going to wash their hair, hire a sitter and drive into town on a cold January night to watch Ms. G ‘rap’? Whadda you think!
Known for dodgy bling, an absence of anything in the same hemisphere as style and the same shades every day, Ms. G. is doing what she can – sitting behind something created with no input from her, and hoping no-one moves the curtain.
The truth is, rap is about credibility, talking to a like-minded audience, creating meaningful urban poetry, and delivering it with skill and style – aspects of the craft which are utterly absent in Honey G’s outings. Pop has loved novelty acts since Tiny Tim (ask your granddad) but novelty is like candy floss, when you take a bite at the substance of it, there is actually nothing there at all.
The longer people buy into the ‘novelty’ of a woman old enough to know better, the worse it gets.
But pop is cruel, and novelties have limited appeal, and there is one simply unarguable inevitable vicious simple truth about the British public – they don’t like lumpy plain untalented pop stars for very long at all.
Yes, she’s a ‘novelty’ – so is a dancing bear, it’s a ‘guilty pleasure’ – so is making yourself sick with chocolate, but the actual appeal of Honey G remains as elusive as ever.
Of course X Factor chews and spits out hopefuls like an industrial wood chipper, it always has, and like The Apprentice, people are kept for ‘entertainment (me neither) value over talent – let’s face it, Lord Sugar’s current batch deserved the axe on Day One.
If you are in everyone’s living room for three months, and you haven’t got a ‘following’, then the law of averages has collapsed around you, but are people going to wash their hair, hire a sitter and drive into town on a cold January night to watch Ms. G ‘rap’? Whadda you think!
Known for dodgy bling, an absence of anything in the same hemisphere as style and the same shades every day, Ms. G. is doing what she can – sitting behind something created with no input from her, and hoping no-one moves the curtain.
The truth is, rap is about credibility, talking to a like-minded audience, creating meaningful urban poetry, and delivering it with skill and style – aspects of the craft which are utterly absent in Honey G’s outings. Pop has loved novelty acts since Tiny Tim (ask your granddad) but novelty is like candy floss, when you take a bite at the substance of it, there is actually nothing there at all.
The longer people buy into the ‘novelty’ of a woman old enough to know better, the worse it gets.
But pop is cruel, and novelties have limited appeal, and there is one simply unarguable inevitable vicious simple truth about the British public – they don’t like lumpy plain untalented pop stars for very long at all.
Answers
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trt - //## So never confuse the outcome with the 'journey', because that is where the money comes from. ##
Andy, why did the BBC let it go to ITV then, just asking as I dont know? //
I don't know for certain - but it may have been pressure for the BBC to conform to its remit, part of which is not to duplicate or produce shows of a similar type to those being provided by commercial providers.
The theory is - as license payers, we are entitled to entertainment of a far higher calibre than the dross that the commercial cfhanels turn out.
Of course - and The Voice proves it in spades - the BBC don't always live up to those admirable Reithian principles.
The BBC have said that they won't get into a 'bidding war' for the show, which is all right and proper, given that they are spending licence-payers' money.
But it does rather fly in the face of historical fact - namely that the BBC fronted up £20 million to get the show in the first place, and got a serious rocket from the government for wasting said licence payers' money!
So the BBC has come over all moral and fiscally prudent, and gets to drop a naff show.
That's television!
Andy, why did the BBC let it go to ITV then, just asking as I dont know? //
I don't know for certain - but it may have been pressure for the BBC to conform to its remit, part of which is not to duplicate or produce shows of a similar type to those being provided by commercial providers.
The theory is - as license payers, we are entitled to entertainment of a far higher calibre than the dross that the commercial cfhanels turn out.
Of course - and The Voice proves it in spades - the BBC don't always live up to those admirable Reithian principles.
The BBC have said that they won't get into a 'bidding war' for the show, which is all right and proper, given that they are spending licence-payers' money.
But it does rather fly in the face of historical fact - namely that the BBC fronted up £20 million to get the show in the first place, and got a serious rocket from the government for wasting said licence payers' money!
So the BBC has come over all moral and fiscally prudent, and gets to drop a naff show.
That's television!
-- answer removed --
belladoner - //Andy It was a joy to read your OP so well written and informative. I haven't much more to add other than she would have been better off rapping some of Pam Ayres work, at least it would fit in more with her identity //
Thank you for your kind words.
If I had had the wit to think of that when I was writing my OP, I would have included it!!!
Thank you for your kind words.
If I had had the wit to think of that when I was writing my OP, I would have included it!!!
Bazile - //To be honest , i've not seen the lady in question .
Indeed , the last time i watched the show was when Alexandra Burke won . //
I tipped Alexandra Burke to win from her initial audition onwards because she is stunningly good looking, she can sing, and she has presence.
So I was hopeful that the process would reflect that, and she would win, but I am not naiive enough to think that she did win for just those reasons.
The viewing public works in mysterious ways - look at Strictly Come Dancing!!!
Indeed , the last time i watched the show was when Alexandra Burke won . //
I tipped Alexandra Burke to win from her initial audition onwards because she is stunningly good looking, she can sing, and she has presence.
So I was hopeful that the process would reflect that, and she would win, but I am not naiive enough to think that she did win for just those reasons.
The viewing public works in mysterious ways - look at Strictly Come Dancing!!!
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