The Importance of Authenticity in Current Popular Music Essay

The Importance of Authenticity in Current Popular Music - Essay Example This "The Importance of â€Å"Authenticity† in Current Popular Music" essay outlines how authenticity reflected in the songs and analyze three different songs. Michael Jackson was popular, but with popularity came the price of fame, so to speak. â€Å"They always had Mike in a scope.† In the official video of Better On the Other Side , six musical artists plus the group Boyz II Men offer a tribute to the King of Pop Michael Jackson, who unfortunately passed away in the summer of 2009. Michael Jackson was always involved in some sort of scandal or drama. There were a few times he was accused of behaving with impropriety. However, besides that, Michael Jackson was very involved in charity and many types of philanthropic ventures. He worked tirelessly for AIDS research and funding, as well as other charitable causes. Better On the Other Side is a tribute by at least 9 or 10 well-known artists in hip-hop and rap who idolized the pop icon of Michael Jackson and the widely-publicized details about how he rose to fame, first starting out in the group The Jackson 5, and later developing a musical career for himself which he carved out separately from his famous siblings—including Janet Jackson. Better On the Other Side is a special tribute song because, in a way, it documents Michael Jackson’s fame as well as some of his difficulties in being one of the best. Although it never mentions his multiple surgeries on his nose and how he had burns from an accident in filming a soda commercial, Michael Jackson had his problems. The song also expresses sadness in terms of how he died, saying that this was a song that would make the angels cry. Currently, Michael Jackson’s personal physician is on trial for manslaughter. This song by The Game featuring several other artists is one way that the music industry â€Å"kept it real†Ã¢â‚¬â€by performing a tribute to a real-life incident (Michael Jackson’s death) which affected so many fans of his. III. Mariah Carey’s Song â€Å"Obsessed† Mariah Carey takes on a stalker in the song â€Å"Obsessed.† She says, â€Å"All up in the blogs sayin’ we met in a bar/When I don’t even kn ow who you are.†3 One can see in her official video for Obsessed4 that she thinks the stalker is â€Å"delusional.† Mariah Carey had a real-life situation where a stalker was actually following her and so forth. She had to take some legal actions with regard to this stalker. Stalkers are a common problem in Hollywood, because usually famous people are looked at with such high