R&B and seasoned Funk artist, Ceelo Green has been on the mainstream music scene for quite sometime. From his solo projects to his colloborative efforts with “Gnarls Barkely”, Ceelo is no stranger to making gigantic splashes in the music industry. However, his new hit single bravely titled “F*ck You” which may not make it to too many radio station’s rotation lists!
Yet, the quality of the song managed to garner enough hype to balloon the number of Youtube views to a bit over 4 million. When discussing popular Youtube videos with friends I like to refer to videos with over 2 million views as “Lady Gaga numbers”, and Ceelo Green has surpassed this mark with style and ease! But how can a song with no radio rotation and not available for purchase gain this much popularity? And what does this mean from an artistic stand point?
Well the first question is a given–being that this is the age of viral media and stars, that were once ordinary people but catapulted into limelight via their Youtube presence. The second question is vague enough to form your own opinion. In my eyes, the story behind Ceelo’s recent hit only gives more power to the artist. During an era, where the music industry is clawing for any sort of traction to stay afloat, record executives have been extremely picky when selecting which artists’ projects they are willing to invest money into. In other words, if your not selling, your record label probably won’t invest too many resources into your project.
An overall slump in the industry has unfortunately given record executives more control of artists, which I personally believe curtails the creatvity any musical genre is built upon. However, Ceelo’s single is a beacon of light to musical artists and demonstrates that a great song doesn’t really need an extra push from record executives.
This signifies that people still want something new, people still want quality! Ceelo didn’t have to do an apperance on all the usual promo stops (i.e. Letterman, Kimmel, Fallon, Leno, etc), instead his talent trumps ALL.
So just like his song his named, Ceelo’s new single is officially the f*ck you to controlling record executives everywhere!
-Aaron
Tags: artist, CeeLo, music, performance
