Driving in down town Santa Barbara while I was listening to "Beat It", until I got to the public parking lot. One car ahead of me to get my ticket to enter the lot. As I was in my car listening to "Beat It " and waiting for the car in front me to processed I was browsing the area. It was a very quiet area of down town, not too many people around even though it was the black Friday. Until I turned my head and saw a group of very young little kids and couple of folks walking out quietly from the lower level of the parking lot. Suddenly I realized the media mogul and icon, Oprah Winfrey was walking with them.
Surprised!!
It was just recently that I saw a video clip of Oprah that raised my eyebrow and put me in shock. In this video that was shared on Oprah's Facebook page, Oprah interviews Justin Bibber. As you may know Justin Bibber is a teenage singer that was discovered on YouTube by Usher when Bibber was much younger. Now he is eighteen years old. If you live in the US you may also know that JB has lot of fans as well as lot of people who don't like him, and there are some that are in my position, which I will explain shortly. Since JB was discovered by Usher since then he has become very well known and have sold millions of record and generated lots of money.
(Note: if you decide not to sign please don't forget to share this link, maybe a friend of yours care to sign it. Thanks.)
The third opinion about JB. I personally don't like JB neither I hate him either. He has lots of fans in music industry, but for him to impress me and so many other people like me it might take him a long time and definitely the time hasn't come for us to look at him as a music icon. He definitely has some great talent but more than talent he has luck.
I have always been interested in music and followed the news and played in bands playing Violin and Guitar, therefore I have a decent knowledge about different types of music and who's an icon and who's not.
Talking to some of my friends that are musician and some that are businessman in music industry a few years ago, they informed that music industry is shifting its target to teenage demographic nowadays, in order to to produce and sell more products according to the taste of the younger audience. They have simply figured out that it is much more profitable and time efficient to create a type music and materials that are attractive to teenagers.
The music industry is very smart. They have simply realized that by backing up a decent good looking talent who is 12-15 years of age with big load of money and hire the best producer, songwriters and choreographers, and of course marketing they can create a product that can start selling out very soon. Moreover, as he gets older and older he creates a bigger fan base; therefore more profit in the long term.
Now, in her recent interview with JB, Oprah comments and compares JB to some of all time music legends such as, Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Elvis Presely; furthermore she indicates that he, JB, is as famouse and popular as these legends. This comment from such an experienced and intelligent woman who has been around for many many years raised my eyebrow as well as many other people.
Many must know that the success of icons such as Michael Jackson and The Beatles was more relyed on their talent and hard work more than marketing and took them many years to become famous; Moreover their fan base was a vast range of people, from teenagers to older folks. However, these days it is very easy to become famous with the help of social media even though if you lack experience and talent. And yes, I believe that Justin Bibber is a byproduct of social media and he should not be praised yet. In addition, majority of JB's fans are teenagers. Who knows, maybe he becomes popular in the future and more talented but it is not yet the time to compare him with said legends. I personally believe that one important qualification of being recognized as an icon is to be able inspire others to do a similar job regardless of better or worst. And I haven't heard any musician to say that he or she started singing because he or she was inspired by JB.
Click here to see the HQ video of Oprah's interview with Justin Bibber.
(Note: if you decide not to sign please don't forget to share this link, maybe a friend of yours care to sign it. Thanks.)
As I was very upset about this comparison made by Oprah I formed a petition to be signed by those who that agree with me on this matter and my goal was to reach one thousand signature so maybe It would reach Oprah. The petition is still going on and you can read, sign and share it by clicking on this link http://www.causes.com/actions/1706765 if you like to support our campaign. (Note: if you decide not to sign please don't forget to share this link, maybe a friend of yours care to sign it. Thanks.)
After all today when I saw Oprah while I was in the line of the parking lot she suddenly looked at me and noticed that I was looking at her, therefore i didnt hesitate and said "Hi" and told her that I have something to share with her. She was kind enough and approached my car. And I told her the whole story of how I thought about her interview with JB and her comments. As I was sitted in my car my left hand was sticking out of the window suddenly she held my hand and we had a five to eight minutes friendly discussion over this matter, following with some jokes and laughs.
I don't know how many things she was thinking about while she was talking to me but I was stoked and thought about a few different things at once. One thing I was wondering about was that how cool this is that I'm chatting with Oprah and was wondering how long this discussion is going to last. Every now and then I could see her bodyguard behind her raising his hand pointing to tell me there is another car behind me so maybe I would cut it out and leave, but of course I didn't care. In my mind I was yelling "Come on! I'm talking to Oprah." As we were talking she was looking inside my car like she was searching for something particular, until I told her not to worry I'm not recording anything, she laughed out loud and said "you are funny!"
(Note: if you decide not to sign please don't forget to share this link, maybe a friend of yours care to sign it. Thanks.)
Like some amazing people that I have met before, she impressed me mostly with her level of intelligence and politeness. I guess you have to become that intelligent after all these years interviewing and meeting so many icons and hundred of other people. After all she did not admit that her interview with Bibber was a bit spiced up and against what many people expected; However, I could feel that she knew that she had upset many of Michael Jackson's and The Beatle's fans and probably inside she was regreting it too.
Before the end, I have to acknowledge to all the readers that this discussion was absolutely casual and friendly even though my points in our conversation was very strong, otherwise she wouldn't hold my hand probably!! Sometimes after an event or action that already happened in the past we come up with better ideas and regret if we had said something different or if we had done something more in that event. And yes, there is something that I regret I didnt do. And that is that I regret now and bothers me the most that I forgot to take a picture with her. Ugh!!
In the end I have to confess that I met a very smart person.
Click here to see the HQ video of Oprah' interview with Justin Bibber.
(Note: if you decide not to sign please don't forget to share this link, maybe a friend of yours care to sign it. Thanks.)
Merc,
Sina
