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How I Became a Katy Perry Sympathizer

Currently making the rounds on Facebook is this parenting blog post about our responsibility to teach kids about "good music." What a load of hipster-douchebag crap. My retort: How on earth did your kids get exposed to this "shitty" music in the first place? So when my eight-year-old daughter decides her favourite singer is Katy Perry, what do I do? In my mind, my daughter must make her own decisions.
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Currently making the rounds on Facebook is this parenting blog post about our responsibility to teach kids about "good music." Or, as the title states: "How to Talk to Your Kids About Their Shitty Taste in Music." It's a weakly argued call to arms in reaction to the whole VMA/Miley Cyrus twerking debacle.

What a load of hipster-douchebag crap. My retort: How on earth did your kids get exposed to this "shitty" music in the first place? Pro tip: don't leave your kids in front of Disney XD all day, or they will think music is meant to be overly synthesized, un-artistic pop.

I'll admit, pop music is heavily marketed to our young people. Whether you realize it or not, a lot of money is spent on product awareness -- that's the music biz. What is on the album takes back seat to the mysticism or hype built on what you think is going to be on the album. You already know what to think and feel, before hearing a note. That is marketing.

If done well, the potential audience will be worked into a frenzy. So let's get accountable for our actions: instead of pointless, complain-y blog posts, why not get our mom-and-dad brains into the game? The question should be: Are your kids getting caught up in marketing? Do they know what marketing is? Do you know what marketing is? Do you understand the intersection of marketing and the arts?

Few people, including most people who work in the music biz, care to understand this concept. They wilfully ignore it, and gleefully get caught up in it. And, so, our kids follow suit. New Arcade Fire anyone? Gawd, white people -- adults, even -- are SO PUMPED about their new album. It's exhausting.

So when my eight-year-old daughter decides her favourite singer is Katy Perry, what do I do? Is Ms. Perry a suitable role model, considering the mainstream options? Is anybody? Or is this an opportunity to impose my jaded, post-feminist, post-indie rock opinion?

In my mind, my daughter must make her own decisions. If I listened to my parents, I would only like Kenny Rogers and '80s Tina Turner. Our kids must create themselves for themselves. Our job is to give them a loose set of rules, parameters inside which to make good and positive decisions. When my kid asks to listen to "the radio" in the car -- which inevitably means Top 40 dance pop stuff -- I abide. We listen. I tell her to listen for the sidechain compression, the auto-tuned vocals, the recurring use of beats and fills, arrangement structures that are copied form song to song. I want her to listen with her brain, unhindered by any marketing message.

Point being, life is a perpetual learning experience to be enjoyed. This is the main lesson I teach my children, and happens to be my prime directive. Most music, yes, is shit. Katy Perry balances on the razor's edge of being a mega-YOLO-slut (ever listen to the lyrics to "Last Friday Night"?) and being a young, powerful, inspiring woman with an incredible voice. RAZOR'S EDGE, PEOPLE.

So sure, we'll watch the "Roar" video on YouTube together. We did that with "Gangnam Style," too. Trendy music will ebb and flow, but it's those times when we're walking home from school and my daughter is humming "Ring My Bell" by Blood Sisters that I feel a tinge of redemption.

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