Idolator
This week's Newsweek has yet another article on the
alleged musical tastemaking ability of gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who—when he isn't MS Painting coke-noses onto wire photos or crowing about his public appearances—seems to fancy himself as a sort of DJ. We're all too familiar with his gushing prose about music artists (today, he's freaking out about Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss") , and according to Newsweek, the desperate-for-any-recognition-at-all music industry is thrilled by his ability to pick anything resembling a hit:
He's actually more of a fanatic than a fan. Hilton was so devoted to the pop singer Mika that he started blogging about him ("Mika's music is just as hot as his model looks. However you describe it, it's f—-ing fierce!") months before the release of Mika's debut CD, "Life in Cartoon Motion." In fact, he posted about Mika more than 20 times. The result: in the first two weeks, the CD sold 50,000 copies. "For a brand-new artist, that is unheard of without traditional airplay," says Monte Lipman, president of Mika's label, Universal Republic Records.
The "Gossip Gangstar" seems as surprised as anyone by his tastemaker status—"That's very flattering," he says—especially since his Web site is only two and a half years old. Hilton is a staff of one, and he answers every e-mail that comes in to his "office"—the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on L.A.'s Sunset Boulevard. "It's important for me to stay very accessible," he says. "I might take a day, a week or even a month to respond back to people, but I eventually do get back to everyone."
And persistence pays off. Shervin Lainez, a 23-year-old photographer from Washington, D.C., fell in love with a little-known indie folk singer named Jenny Owen Youngs. He e-mailed and IM'd Perez several times in a week. Hilton finally listened. Then he posted, in his typically over-the-top style: "If you don't know Jenny Owen Youngs, then you must. You must! She has created what we think is one of the best love songs of all time." "The effect was massive and immediate," Youngs says about the impact on her MySpace page. "I was getting an average of 2,000 [plays] a day, and I got 60,000 in one day from Perez. People at shows were saying, 'I would have no idea who you are if it wasn't for Perez Hilton'."
A touching story, to be sure, and an easy out for Perez once the lawsuits get too hairy. But it made us wonder how legit these claims were.
Let's look at Mika, whose album came out at the end of March; according to some leaked Soundscan numbers, Life In Cartoon Motion had moved almost 110,000 copies as of last week's chart. Perez's slavish devotion to Mika surely resulted in a few sales; hey, if you throw spaghetti at a wall that attracts 5 million eyeballs a day, someone is going to wind up looking at whatever sticks. But it's something of a stretch to say that Perez's hyperventilation was the sole reason for that semi-respectable tally; after all, while radio in the States seemed to be allergic to Mika, the promotion for Life also included a boatload of other tie-ins, including a slot on VH1's "You Oughta Know" new-artist spotlight, which had previously boosted sales of Corinne Bailey Rae and The Fray. And even if the bulk of Mika's sales were attributable to Perez, is a 1.2% daily-visitor-to-purchase ratio in those first two weeks all thatgreat?
We're not really sure where this "Perez as tastemaker" idea was hatched, although we do have to admit that as far as Internet music hype goes, it has a little more traction than the idea that Tila Tequila is popular. But seriously, someone needs to stop the madness—because any more articles like this, and we won't be able to escape his barely readable prose-spasms every time we open our inbox.
A Gossip's Golden Touch [Newsweek]
Comments
Perez is just... awful. That being said, I'm sure he did direct a lot of readers toward Mika. BUT I first read about Mika in Popbitch's July 14, 2006 newsletter (yes, I looked it up), three months before Perez started gushing over him. It directed readers to his MySpace page, which helped a lot, too, I'd assume. I also remember seeing him pop up on MTV/VH1 in late summer.
Perez is often late to the party. He made a huge fuss about the Wreckers months after their album came out.
Perez must be part of the music business I saw him down at SXSW
Hey, it's Lindsay Lohan and the ghost of Fred Gwynne!
I suppose the Newsweek article fails to cover this dichotomy: If I hear that Perez is gushing over a new artist, I automatically despise them. Mika is a prime example.
Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way?
The dude is gross. Lohan does seem to like fat sweaty guys, doesn't she (re: SXSW pic of her dining at Guero's with hairy guy in tank top)?
I saw the video for that "Lip Gloss" song this morning. It nearly made me weep for humanity. It's bad beyond belief. Not Fergie bad but still...
oh and fuck that guy...
I have only a vague idea of what a Perez Hilton is, and I have absolutely no idea what a Mika is, so obviously the real winner in all of this is me.
I always thought he had something to do with the Hilton sisters, and I can only now imagine that he deliberately chose that name to milk that name like a Vegas hooker would milk a tourist. Quickly and with gusto...
Does this make me an ass?
So, HE'S the one responsible for the world-altering success of "Stars Die"!
I'm actually surprised at how decent looking he is in that photo. Most of the time he's WAYYYYY nastier and greasier. And anyone who claims his office is in a coffee shop needs punches in the face forever.
Mika who now?
I don't know, I think that there may be something to this. My (married, two kids) sister, who appeared to stop paying attention to new music for the first part of this decade, is now a fan of Mika and Lily Allen. And is a confirmed P***z reader. I hate to extrapolate a trend from a personal anecdote, but there's probably a causal connection.
@The Van Buren Boys: It's going to be a looooooooong summer for you, my friend. Stay far, far away from the radio.
@chrisb: There are any number of artists that I automatically despise based on a whole slew of different blogger recommendations! So no, you're not the only one.
I can respect him for answering every email, because i sure as hell never do, not even from my 'staff'...
but anyone who goes to a shop called 'coffee bean and tea leaf', no matter how swanky, should be beaten with birch rods for sheer wankery.
I feel embarrassed when I read Perez's music posts (for myself and for him). It's like he searches the archives of music blogs from a month ago and shouts, "Hey, look at this cool new band I found!" Along with the behind-the-times feel, there's also the fact that he writes like a five-year-old.
He was all over the new Feist album just recently, too. So I can't say he's wrong about everything.
Perez is trying to take credit for Mika - one of the most promoted new artists in recent memory (look, just because they didn't suck ClearChannel's cock to get him on national playlists instantly doesn't mean his label didn't blow a lot of other people to give uber-hype)? Hey, if it makes himself feel better - fine - and aside from a few gems he cribs from NME or actually relevant music blogs months after the fact, all the music he "promotes" is either total shit or something you'll only hear a remix of in a club after 1 AM.
@Audif Jackson Winters III: Kill her NOW. Just for the Lili Alien love - the sooner that whiny little scrag is away from us, the better the world will be.
New Jersey singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs (MySpace), whose song "Fuck Was I" was on Weeds, is arguably best known for her connection with the controversial and self-described "Queen of All Media" Perez Hilton, whose championing of her music led to visits on her MySpace page reportedly leaping...
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