I know I've been a little obsessed lately, but I'm still completely fascinated by the preteen popstar phenomenon, and this latest "controversial" music video by Jenna Rose titled "O.M.G." takes it to a whole new level. After watching this, the fad doesn't seem as cute or easy to laugh at as it did with "Friday," "My Jeans" and even "I'm Zach." Instead, "O.M.G." showcases just how weird this whole trend really is. Today's kids are the products of a completely media-driven age, so the promise of YouTube fame (or notoriety at the very least) through popstardom is an enticing fantasy for narcissistic preteens living in a digital age. At the risk of sounding even more like a fuddy-duddy, this new Jenna Rose video pushes the envelope a little too far into the realm of sexual fantasy, going so far as introducing herself as "the Teen Boom Boom Doll." Have we learned nothing from Britney Spears about the emotional and psychological repercussions of slutting it up from a young age? Honestly, it's hard enough to be a preteen, but now kids have to worry about acheiving cyber fame before graduating from junior high school?
(Jenna Rose - "O.M.G.")
While Jenna's video was made by a company called Artist Makers Entertainment, the entrepreneurial pioneers who seem to be profiting most from this cultural explosion is The Ark Music Factory's Patrice Wilson and Clarence Jey. Ark Music is a record label that has capitalized on the business opportunity provided by parents who are all-too-willing to fund their fame-hungry child's fantasies. Still, it's interesting to consider that there are corporate interests behind teen phenomenons like Rebecca Black and Jenna Rose. Rather than being home movies, these music videos are professionally written, produced, and edited.
(Ark Music Factory Intro - "Welcome to Ark")
What does the surge in popularity of these videos mean from a cultural standpoint? Why are we as a society so oddly obsessed with them? Why is the whole movement so grotesquely compelling? On one hand, it's disturbing to see a parrotting pop culture so effortlessly, but on the other, it offers us a shock value that we haven't experienced in a long time, and in a weird way, we want to see more of it. But what message are we sending to the kids? THINK OF THE KIDS DAMMIT! Kids today are under more pressure than ever to stay constantly connected to the internet, writing their own histories and formulating their sense of selves through Facebook, Club Penguin, and Twitter. It's no wonder that becoming a YouTube sensation represents the height of success.
(CJ Fam - "Ordinary Pop Star")
Will any of these young aspiring artists find long-term success? Maybe, but let's be honest with each other, probably not. The more likely scenario is that after a headspinningly meteoric rise, these teenagers will experience their 15 minutes of fame and then before they know it, the zeitgiest's attention will have moved on to the next excitingly horrific train wreck, like plastic surgery for pets. After a while, these kids will realize that they'll probably never acheive this level of fame again, a fact many will wrestle with for most of their adult life, and will be forced to forever look back at the good old days when they were 14 and everyone on the internet knew their names.
