Many people seem to have a difficult time accepting changes, and that’s normal. In a way, it does feel hard to accept some changes when they are coming in way too fast, or the changes come in drastically.
There are also some times when people react quite negatively when other people around them change. Think of Sheldon Cooper from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and how he reacted that time when his roommate Leonard and his girlfriend Penny told him that they were moving in together.
Yeah, that’s kind of negative.
But while that does feel a bit of a stretch, let’s try diving into something that people can’t seem to fathom just because they don’t like it—a singer or an artist’s change in creative direction.
Particularly, the name that always seems to come up when having discussions like this is Sam Smith.
In a video posted on January 27, 2024, Project Nightfall continuously asked the question, “Why are we killing music?” and then panned on different videos of Sam Smith in their most recent performances from their “Gloria” tour last year.
The mind behind Project Nightfall also compared Sam Smith’s looks before and after what he said was “Hollywood degeneration”—where he also said that artists nowadays are clinging on to changing their images to something more controversial and “dancing with the devil”.
According to Agon, the man behind the videos of Project Nightfall, this generation is one that “watches music”. He pointed out that because of the current generation’s short attention spans (where he compared it to a goldfish–a factoid that has been debunked many many times over), anything that has “soul or value” turns out to be “plain insane” when “there’s no a** in it.”
And he also alleges that artists that want to become relevant in the mainstream always turns to the crazy stuff, because in his point of view, “the more crazy, the more attention” these aspiring artists get.
A lot of people seemed to agree with Project Nightfall in the comment section of his video, where they all kept saying that “they liked Sam Smith’s old songs better” than their newest ones. Other comments also said that Sam Smith made their sexuality their entire personality and identity, which made them veer away from their music.
See, here’s the thing that people don’t seem to understand about artists and famous personalities: they are, and always will be allowed to change their artistry and creative direction in whatever way they choose.
The so-called “Hollywood degeneration” that Project Nightfall is trying to point out in his video and singling out Sam Smith for is his way of projecting his “unpopular opinion” as the right one. It’s also just one way to mask his inability to cope with the changes his former favorite singer did.
So what if Sam Smith isn’t the “soulful and emotional” ballad crooner we all were introduced to almost a decade ago? So what if Sam Smith prefers to be open about their sexuality to the point of him dressing “weirdly” and “inappropriately”?
If you’re not open to these changes, then you’re free to not listen to the music they make. It’s really just that easy, and you don’t have to act as if you have the moral high grounds in what they do.
You’re not them, and they’re not you. You don’t have the right to dictate what and how an artist/singer/famous personality wants to portray themselves in public.
And besides, you can literally just ignore it. It’s only going to be “in your face” if you make everything all about you anyway.
So no, it’s not called “Hollywood degeneration.” Literally there are many other non-mainstream artists out there that will fit the bill if you want someone that’s an “emotional balladeer.”
You only call it “Hollywood degeneration” because you feel like you’re better than everyone. Or the people that think they’re “misunderstood” because they love the older versions of different things, or if “they were born at the wrong era.”
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