I came across this commentary from Edward Collier at the Guardian about the phenomena of haterz. Why, he wonders, do some people hate Coldplay so very much?

I can understand people hating Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher because politicians have a direct effect on our lives, but how does [frontman Chris] Martin affect anyone? If his music comes on the radio, turn it off. If he’s interviewed in the paper, turn the page. It’s not hard to ignore Coldplay; and yet to judge by the haters they are permanently camped out in all our living rooms, hijacking our sound systems and forcing us to name our children after fruit.

I used to be one of those people, but since I became part of a fandom, I’ve completely mellowed. I figure if there’s a pop artist who makes me smile, then why should I frown upon those who enjoy the work of other artists?

All the discussion over Lana Del Ray has become really interesting since the cooldude dads turned on her. Sasha Frere-Jones of the New Yorker talks about the criticism LDR has faced over her authenticity:

Why is pop music the only art form that still inspires such arrantly stupid discussion? The debates that surround authenticity have no relationship to popular music as it’s been practiced for more than a century. Artists write material, alone or with assistance, revise it, and then present a final work created with the help of professionals who are trained for specific and relevant production tasks. This makes popular music similar to film, television, visual art, books, dance, and related areas like food and fashion. And yet no movie review begins, “Meryl Streep, despite not being a Prime Minister, is reasonably convincing in ‘The Iron Lady.’

People are still hung up on the 1960s icon of the singer-songwriter, one man and his guitar, writing songs from the heart. But even Bob Dylan changed his name and adopted the style of Woody Guthrie. LDR ain’t no different.