Pop Music: What Goes Around, Comes Around...

Pop Music. Funny how this unpretentious, light-hearted term has truly become a phenomenon and has taken over so many of our lives. Some swear by these two words, others consider the very notion of it way beneath them. But so very few of us have been left completely sterile and ignorant of this genre.

Quite ironically, as I flipped through the online pages of Wikipedia (another representative of today's pop culture - forget Webster's dictionary - Wiki is the big boss now!), I noticed how Pop Music is not referred to as a set genre, but instead: "music charted by the number of sales, plays, etc. that the work receives. It is not a particular genre or style of music, but simply that which is the most popular for the tracked period of time." So true, I never looked at it that way.

Another interesting point made by the same source is that in opposition to music that may require education or formation to fully appreciate it, "a defining characteristic of pop music is that anyone is able to enjoy it."

What about the pop stars? I often wonder how the simple term "singer" has gradually shifted from the very essence of "a music artist" to the pompousness of "a pop icon" and finally has reached an arguably low form of art under a very glittery "pop star" position.

Can't say too many pop stars worrying about this too much nowadays, but a significant chunk of the album-buying (not the single buyers!) demographic in today's marketplace have raised the question on a number of occasions. It's hard to blame them, really, as there are more and more single-oriented records and much less "conceptualized" albums being made these days. How many songs do you really LOVE on an average album you normally buy nowadays? 1? 2? The days of "I love this album, what a work of art" are pretty much over. Itunes has made it a lot easier and much more convenient to operate on these terms - you like one or two songs on an album but aren't willing to spend 20 bucks on a CD of 12 tracks, 10 of which you don't really like? No problem. The obvious downsides are probably present, as well, but let's leave that to the critics...

It is a shame, though, that most artists (not all) have been replaced by what we now call the "pop stars" on a larger scale. Television has certainly helped a great deal, and particularly all the music-oriented reality shows. But can you do? C'est la vie, really.

These afternoon I came across Nickelback's Rockstar video spoof about "Pop Stars" which is absolutely hilarious, but at the same time, quite sad if you look at it from a realistic standpoint. Funny and all that, no doubt, but the ironic thing is that joking aside, it actually is a very objective synopsis of what's popular today. It's pointless feeling distraught and nostalgic about it, what's done is done and that's the end of it... For now. I'm constantly surprised - pleasantly surprised - when I witness first-hand the ever-growing "comeback" of real hunger and thirst among average music lovers for REAL music. Not to say that today's pop hits aren't very commercial and very catchy - no offense at all - but what ever happened to the days when we were regularly discovering the big shots like Elton John, The Beatles, Aretha, Barbra, The Jacksons....? Revolutionary talent, that is... It's hard to beat that sort of caliber, isn't it. Plenty of fabulous one-hit wonders have emerged lately, there's no denying of that! Great sounding, well-produced, highly addictive commercial successes all around... But what happens a few months down the line, when what was hot last month is no longer the "flavor of the month" today?

I read an interesting interview with the legendary Sir George Martin, often referred to as "the Fifth Beatle". His take on today's pop-music scene isn't all that lovey-dovey, either... "I've listened to quite a few records," Martin said, "but I'm not terribly happy with the current pop music."

Everything comes in a full circle, though, no doubt it'll be that way in this case, as well. Just curious to see what will eventually prove to be the final straw that leads on to the new beginning, a brand new starting point of that same old circle.

Interesting times... And remember: what goes around, always comes around :-)

P.S. Some of you might be wondering right now: "who cares?" And that's the bottom line, whether we like it or not - some do, others simply don't! :-)

"Where are you from?"

It's a classic question, isn't it, especially in a world capital such as the Big Apple, for example. It's not so hard if you're from an obvious place (e.g. France, Italy, Australia, Japan, etc.) but a tricky "dubious" answer like "Georgia" is nearly always followed by a quick explanatory "the country, not the state!" Otherwise, I'm bound to get bombarded with additional questions, such as " you don't have a Southern twang at all!"

No, not Atlanta, GA - the former Soviet republic of Georgia, that is!

I suppose it was only recently that people in the western world became more open to the notion of Georgia not being Russia but a former member of the Soviet Union instead. Although I have to admit, a lot of the new friends I have made here over the last 3 years that I've been living in the US, have really embraced this cultural exoticism of being a Georgian and even more so, they seem quite fascinated about what it means to be from the former USSR.

A few years ago, saying you were from Russia was a big deal - next to stating that you're an alien, really. Every time I mentioned that I'd spent my formative years in Moscow came as a huge cultural shock to those in the western part of the globe... Not anymore! It seems that the "Russification" of Europe and the US has become a norm in certain aspects, except the problem is that a lot of cliché misinformation tends to go hand in hand with it, as well.

I spent the evening chatting about this with a British friend of mine who happened to spent quite a bit of time in Russia during the last few years - in fact, she lived and worked in Moscow for a while. I am always rather surprised (though I know I shouldn't be - that's the norm, after all!) to hear my friends and colleagues talk about where they come from - very rarely do they ponder over a straightforward question like "Where are you from?" like I do...

Don't get me wrong - I am very aware and very proud of my Georgian roots, but having moved to Russia with my family at the age of 9, I got slightly confused as to which of the two places I could actually call "home" in all confidence and the due nostalgia.

Traveling the world and living all over a sufficient part of the western hemisphere over the years has really been a blessing in disguise. On the one hand, it is fascinating and enriching for the character and the inner being to be able to grasp the variety and diversity of the different cultures and also making them all a part of oneself in some small way. Yet, not forgetting who you are and where you come from (sounds corny, I know!) is a very important factor for discovering and nurturing one's own identity.

I do feel very lucky to have witnessed at least the tiniest part of the end of a Soviet era as we knew it and the transition into a new more westernized world as we now know it. The silliest things that may come across as trivial to a European or American reader made it so exciting and memorable even at a tender age of 7 onwards: the first grand opening of a McDonald's "restaurant" in Moscow, a pompous event, a ridiculously long queue and insane prices; a first Pepsi Cola invasion; the ability to buy any foreign record (the reign of piracy had just kicked off over there!) at a dingy Gorbushka Park in the outskirts of Moscow, etc. All of that and more made it quite an experience for me - and I think I actually appreciate it more now than I ever did before.

Whenever I go back to either Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia) or Moscow (no need for clarification here!!) I do feel a strange sense of coming home, yet having spent all these years away from the nest, I genuinely don't know if I'd ever be able to go back to square one and settle down back where I started for good... But then again, who knows...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the innermost importance and emotional bond between myself and these two homes where, at the end of the day, I took my first steps both literally and metaphorically. Seeing Red Square or any other typical Moscow sight on television is a thrill for me each and every time. And yet, I met a lovely Georgian girl through an American producer that I am working with at the moment and have become friends with, at a bar next to the record company yesterday and I thought to myself, "I know I've been away a long time, but there's something special about two Georgians really clicking with each other miles and miles away from home." I was genuinely happy and proud in a patriotic sense to have been introduced to my compatriot... Oh, did I ever mention that Georgians are notorious for being a little too heavy on the patriotic side? :-)

As I'm writing these words, I can't help but remember that classic line from the Beatles "Back to USSR":



"Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind...."