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Thanks for all of your comments, including the really colorful and nasty ones. By now it’s clear that we’ve made some changes to Idolator.
Before we get into that, we want to thank the estimable Maura Johnston for her incredible efforts here over the past three years. She’s a class act, and we wish her every success in her next chapter. (BTW, she and Chris Weingarten will be resuming the F2K list – they’re looking for a home for it, and you can contact them at efftwokay@gmail.com, or via Twitter @maura or @1000timesyes; Idolator will be picking up with its own take on things.)
Our new bloggers are Robbie Daw and Becky Bain. They are, in fact, real. We checked. Robbie has been writing his own music blog, Chart Rigger, for nearly five years, and during that time has contributed regularly to The Daily Beast and Towleroad, served as managing editor of Instinct magazine, and wrote for and appeared on Clear Channel’s syndicated radio program Radio With A Twist. Becky, who has been an entertainment reporter for E! for the past two years, writes a monthly pop-culture column for INsite Magazine, and performs comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade.
The addition of two new co-editors is the first of a series of changes coming to the site. We’re working on a number of new product features that we think will help transform the blog into something more. We invite you to share any ideas or thoughts on what you’d really like in a pop music site. We are listening. We hope you’ll stay tuned too.
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Hello! Thanks for proving patience is a virtue as we all adjust to a new day here. And thank you kindly for also correctgn my speling errorz! I’d like to give major props to Maura Johnston, who I’ve never met but have much respect for. She did a supreme job with the site, always made for an amazing and informative read, and I wish her the best of luck. As for me, I assure you, I’m not the Anti-Christ. Nor has it ever been verified that I am, indeed, of mechanical, robotic origin! What I am is a massive music fan and professional writer who’s really looking forward to being a part of Idolator as it moves forward. I really hope you all continue to hang around be a part of this rad online community. After all, I’ll probably need some editing now and then.
- Robbie
Greetings, snappy-minded Idolator readers, absolutely love your passion in the comments, makes the pressure of taking over for the fabulous Maura thaaaat much more braincrushing. But I’m up for the challenge! Hope you are, too. I’m a huge music fan like all of you (and don’t get me started on my addiction to American Idol), and I hope you’ll stick around while we try some new stuff out while keepin’ you on the pulse of all things pop.
- Becky
Oh, hello! It’s nice to finally make your acquaintence about 20 posts in! Would it have been so hard to start off with this?
Uh, okay. Thanks for the intros. Fantastic.
But why did it need to change? It was one of the best music blogs–hell one of the best blogs period–on the web.
I want the new format (or whatever) and new editors to succeed. I’ve read Robbie’s stuff over at Towleroad, another fantastic blog. But keep the essence of Idolator intact. This isn’t a pop music blog, per se, but rather a music blog that appreciates the contributions of pop music to the overall music scene.
Please don’t make this a wannabe Perez Hilton site. Because that would be tragic.
wow. turns out admin is the best writer left here.
@iantenna: lol!
@propaganda-artist: Very well put: This isn’t a pop music blog, per se, but rather a music blog that appreciates the contributions of pop music to the overall music scene.
HTML, you vex me!
Welcome, Robbie and Becky – I have stayed out of the mêlée that has been occurring since the switchover because I thought it was both misdirected and premature – but I would like to welcome you to the site, and wish you much luck. Maura did a wonderful job here, and I think you see that her departure has left the avid readers a bit jarred.
PS: Robbie – I am a huge fan of Towleroad and I have always enjoyed your work there.
A much better introduction:
http://www.thedailyswarm.com/swarm/new-idolator-meet-your-new-editors-becky-robbie/
Welcome Robbie and Becky!
@propaganda-artist: You say:
“This isn’t a pop music blog, per se, but rather a music blog that appreciates the contributions of pop music to the overall music scene.” I agree, but according to Becky — “I hope you’ll stick around while we try some new stuff out while keepin’ you on the pulse of all things pop“ — it doesn’t necessarily seem that this will continue to be the case. Too bad. Like I said yesterday, if this blog is strictly pop-focused, then I’m not in the target audience. Oh well, it was a good run.
Damn, this feels like when one of my favorite tv shows gets cancelled. I feel helpless and wonder why the rest of America doesn’t appreciate what I think is awesome. Good luck Robbie and Becky. Judging by the vitriol directed your way, and the fact that you’ll be forced to listen to Lady GaGa all day, you’re gonna need it.
For Becky: Please stop dropping the “g” off of words that end in “ing.” It makes me think of the Paul F. Tompkins joke about beautiful Hollywood actresses talking about their tomboy childhoods “constantly catchin’ frogs.”
“…the site, always made for an amazing and informative read”
Glad we won’t be doing THAT anymore.
It was never a “pop” site (exclusively), so let’s not pretend this is just a mild direction change, ok?
what got me hooked on idolator in the first place, and what was their original mission statement if i’m not mistaken, was their intelligent analysis of the music INDUSTRY in the internet/dl/etc era. they did it really and with varied opinions especially when jess was still around and also with the team of maura, dan, lucas and a whole bunch of others. towards the end of the maura era i got a little turned off by the obvious shift to straight pop star coverage (most likely a directive from the suits at buzznet). but, i still came back because maura continued to drop her unique perspective into the most trite piece of kanye news. but now, all the evidence points towards a straight gossip site with zero intelligence, and two hacks at the helm. this is the end of the line for me. it’s been a good run, thanks to maura, jess, dan, lucas, christopher, the commenters and all the other freelancers for making this the most intelligent and interesting music blog out there. r.i.p. idolator.
@propaganda-artist: I’m going to respectfully disagree. Towleroad is horrible.
lol at the robot picture, actually. is there hope yet? we’ll see, i guess it’s up to you guys, thanks (finally!) for the intro
@bcapirigi: Agreed. I loathe that site.
That being said, and not that anyone’s gonna care anyway, but now that I have a better idea of who Robbie and Becky are, all I can say is KTHXBYE for reals. I actively despise, in no particular order Towleroad, E!, and the UCB — and given the “humor” and “music sensibility” presented here in the past 24 hours, I can say without any semblance of a guilty conscience (not like that was really a worry anyway) that I am so through with this site. I can’t even be bothered to stick around and leave irate, riseable comments (*ahem* @brasstax). Not worth the bother.
Bye, kids. Be sure to set everything on fire after you’ve finished gutting it!
I’m willing to give the new team a shot, I’ve found out about some really cool artists thanks to Idolator and the insights into the industry in general have been awesome. The pop coverage was the weakest part of Idolator historically, but I can get pop coverage anywhere. Insight, analysis, and outside the mainstream stuff is why I like the site.
I appreciate the intro, even if it’s a day late. And I’m realistic enough to accept that as much as I loved the old Idolator, it wasn’t meeting the objectives/hit rates/sales targets that Buzznet wanted. And if they want to relaunch Idolator to hit a wider audience, that’s fine.
What’s sad is that they have lost the essence that made this site unique and made me visit several times a day. It’s just another vapid pop culture blog now.
Ah well, c’est la vie. It was a good run while it lasted.
@revmatty: “I’ve found out about some really cool artists thanks to Idolator and the insights into the industry in general have been awesome… [i]nsight, analysis, and outside the mainstream stuff is why I like the site.”
What part of anything posted Tuesday and today make you think that’s going to be the prime objective anymore? Granted, I’d like to see that part continue too, but I’m less than convinced it will continue.
UCB? That literally explains every aspect of this.
What is “the UCB”?
Upright Citizens Brigade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upright_Citizens_Brigade_Theatre
Oh, gotcha. I’d read the troupe’s name in the main post, but my brain didn’t manage to do the acronym-izing five minutes later.
Looking forward to the future of Idolator.
Thanks Nicolars for the link shedding some light on these mystery bloggers. Pathetic. This sort of sh*t is what has ruined music journalism at every level.
The Becky Bain Awesome Update Squad totally did NOT update me on this.
Well…
It does seem unnecessary to transform an intelligent, subtle and open-minded music forum (because I learned as much from the commenters here as I did from the writers) into what reads like an expanded, popmusical version of the “comedic” fashion judgements in the last few pages of Us Weekly…*shudder*…I know it is not up to us who have been participating here for the past couple of years.
This used to be the only place where I felt (almost :P) OK to vocalize that I love Joe Jonas as much as I love Jarvis Cocker, and felt humbled by the amount I was learning about chart trends & a range of other acts without a popcentric definition. It felt revelatory & truly upper level. I guess that’s not commercially sustainable, eh?
So while the change, in a vacuum, would have been fine and easy to ignore…in context, it’s all too obvious a grave disappointment. But, okay, whatevs, have fun, Becky/Robbie!
Like many others, I’ll remove Idolator from my blogroll & I’ll try to follow all of you commenters who are follow-able out into the night. Great “work”, here. See yas!
Jeez what a pair of losers. Don’t be ashamed to be from Long Island. Fuck off with your boring bullshit.
That said, the new Idolator reminds me of when Choire left Radar Online. (God, have you seen that site lately?) The problem: Becky and Robbie, in spite of your insistence to the contrary, you are giving us no reason to believe that you have a unique vantage point in this field — hence, the robot jokes. Your posts are swimming in blog tropes. You actually write things like “Le sigh” sans irony. And we get it. You like American Idol. So do thousands (millions?) of people who wear T-shirts with wolves and American flags on them. That alone is not a qualification. Fuck the limp snark; where is the insight?
I’m not a Maura-fanatic — although I think she was swell — so this isn’t a question of allegiance or anything like that. I just think that, so far, your posts have only made me come back to the site because the commenters are making me laugh, and from a writer’s standpoint, that’s not the most awesome way to get page views.
Who doesn’t like the UCB? People who don’t like things that are brilliant and hilarious?
^^Thanks. Just because you like the old Idolator, don’t throw Matt Besser under the bus.
Chiming in as completely disgusted with the change in direction. Blender folded for a reason. Despite the claims of some editors, it was maxim disguised as a music magazine.
I’ve been reading Idolator for three years. I’ve never been the type to be a regular commentor on sites like this; I attempted it a couple times but couldn’t keep up.
now I’m commenting b/c of the drastic change we’re all upset about – Maura’s posts were intelligent, full of personality, snarky yet insightful…
even the posts about complete shit had respect and a sense of ‘laughing with’ and not ‘laughing at’ those elements of pop culture.
posts with titles like “Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta And Kris Allen Just Might Rock Your Town” and “Britney Spears Knows Her Fans Don’t Care About Her Actually Singing Live” won’t fly with the readers here.
Norman’s post at 12:27 – OTM
goodbye, Idolator.
I guess the old cliche don’t fix what ain’t broken will never be learned. It’s really sad how often this kind of thing happens.
Indeed. This blog is now “Totally Pop!” instead of something unique and incisively observant.
See above comments re:stripping the site of its personality.
“Nor has it ever been verified that I am, indeed, of mechanical, robotic origin!”
As opposed to being of a non-mechanical robot origin?
Idiots – 1
Idolator – 0
That’s it. Unbookmarked.
Robbie and Becky. You manage to represent everything that’s wrong with the web and writing online. You are Perez Hilton, make no mistake about it.
I’m just going to drive by and forget I saw anything, as I would when encountering any messy accident.