wait r u a guy and u said slay LOL

Hmmmm I don't think that's true really, back then there were a lot of music acts (especially in genres like Rnb/Soul/Disco/House/Rock/Funk/Reggaeton/dancehall and Rap etc) that were massively successful (more successful than acts today) without being dependent on fangirls or fangirl culture. Fangirls really became essential in the social media/streaming age. While I appreciate Jasmine higlighting the positive contributions of fan girls in the music industry. I also wish she could highlight (and go into more depth) the more negative and toxic aspects of fan girl culture a especially in the social media age in regards to issues like idol worship, chart obsession and hostility towards other artists (like calling every other artist flops etc). Morever the fact that success in the music industry has become so dependent on internet activity (especially social media) also brings to light another negative aspect of fangirl culture these days (so gen z fangirls). The dominant users of music related internet activity (or stan culture if you want) are white or whitewashed teen girls, and young kpop stans. The latter is a demographic that can AFFORD to spend a lot of time on the internet and be so invested (like the amount of money that some kpop stans spend to make sure that their "faves" chart high is just...WOW) on their faves. They don't just listen to their faves' song, but they go out of their way to make sure that they chart high. Whereas other and older demogaphics tend to have more things going on in their life and can't be as invested and are therefore less present. The type of artists that the former demographic favors THESE DAYS is often limited to white (or white passing) pop/alternative pop (indie pop,pop rock, ) acts or more specifically performers like Taylor,Justin,Olivia,Shawn,Harry,Billie,Doja, and kpop groups (which is dominated by Koreans or Asians who fit the korean aesthetic) as well as some Latin male artists. Consequently any NEW acts that don't fit those characteristics will have a harder time attaining consistent success even if they're music is objectively better, and they are more talented performers. For instance I think it's sad that black rnb and soul performers have almost vanished from mainstream music. Beyonce is literally the only one of those type of artists that can chart high, but she doesn't really do rnb music/soul anymore, and she comes from a different generation. It is extremely hard for new artists of those genres to have or maintain commercial success these days. Soul/rnb/urban music tends to chart high when Adele,Ariana,Justin or white passing artists like (The weeknd,Doja) releases. For instance Jazmine made a video on the group FLO and given what I said earlier, I highly doubt that Flo can be as successful as they deserve to be. This goes to show that colorism and white privilege is a real thing. And I think that current Stan culture unintentionally furthers that. Even when it comes to Asian acts. Successful Asian acts only consists of kpop groups. You'll never see SoutheastAsians (even if Lisa is Thai, she's made to look like a North asian). Given the aforementioned power and control that gen z fangirls have, I think the music industry has become less diverse musically and has declined in quality. You see that in the constant complaints about the quality of live performances. You have the Justin,Taylor,Harry,Olivia,Billie,Ed,Shawn etc squad that have good poo songs, but are just okay vocalists and performers. And then there's Kpop groups who are great dancers, but in terms of overall performance, there's still something missing and they lack the artistic depth and unique qualities that the aforementioned American Artists have. None of these acts give performances at the level of Michael Jackson,Beyonce,Gaga,Pink, and even rihanna (Who is not the best singer nor dancer but she still gave great and immersive performamces) or singers like Whitney,Celine and Mariah. I'm speaking generally of course, so there might be exceptions. Finally, back then most of the the top charting performers had more diverse fanbases (in age and race) but now a lot of the top charting acts have fanbase that strongly consists of one demographic (especially teems). I just feel like the dominance of fangirls in music has led to a decline in performance ability and a lack of musical diversity in mainstream music.

Sorry for the long comment btw, I get really passionate when I talk about the music industry 😫😫😭😅

@@angelaortega1495 I know you wrote this a year ago but I wanted to add onto what you said. I think another element that has led to the decrease in musical diversity is the artists' ability to create parasocial relationships with their fans, something teen girls are especially susceptive to. There have been so many instances of Kpop stans for example, streaming music for hours on end, and trying to artificially inflate numbers to chart their favourite artist. I don't think they would be doing that if they also didn't feel a personal connection to the artist. I was in a fanclub insta once. Was just hoping to make some friends. And I left immediately when they started taking donations from members to PAY youtube to advertise an artist's music videos. Since when do fans pay for advertising? Something that should be coming out of the artist's and label's pockets? And what's even more disturbing is that artist's act in ways to encourage or reward fans for this kind of behaviour.

Omg me too!!

omg me too!!

What your race?

They do the same about football and no one ever makes fun of that

The sad thing is grown man lose their marbles the same way over sports and no one judges them. In fact the stereotypical ‘popular guy’ is a sports jock. If you like sports your so respected, your a serious athlete, your healthy, your dedicated, etc. If your a fan girl your ‘cringy’ and ‘obsessed’ The only difference between the word dedicated and obsessed in these situations is literal opinion

That really is a fascinating thing.

being a fan of something is fine. it's celebrity worship aspect and making that artist you're entire life that isn't ok or healthy.

You reminded me that when I was an army I forced myself to learn English to understand their English interviews and because they barely had content with subtitles in my language and it was all fan made and with the worse quality ever and i was done lol

so real!

As a fangirl I think you being a fan of Taylor & 1D is totally fine! There is nothing to ve ashamed about what we like. I was also made fun of for my music taste a lot when I was younger and it actualky hurts because our favorite music is part of our identity. You should watch "I used to be normal" documentary here on KZfaq about being a fangirl. This documentary felt so validating to me. Fangirls deserve more respect. 👏

@@redberryterf I'll watch it asap :) Thank you so much

You're not alone, I'm exactly the same with obsessions

i so agree. everybody calls themselves “stans” and i’m not sure if they understand the meaning behind that word. it’s not supposed to be a good thing. ofc now it’s become a part of our slang but i find it odd considering the song it originated from is literally about a psychotic stalker/fan. i think the song sheds light on the dark side of fandoms and parasocial relationships perfectly. stan eventually talks about how he can relate to eminem’s songs on a personal level, not realizing that there’s millions of other fans who also resonate with his songs. it’s interesting to see how he slowly becomes more obsessed and infatuated with him to the point where it consumes him. i don’t even think eminem meant to write something that applies to everyone but i truly feel like every celebrity has their own group of “stans”

@@crab2195 yes Eminem's song is very insightful. I think if we are to have a conversation about fandom and fangirls is necessary to talk about the dark side of it

@@doesitmatter13 100%!!

absolutely!