In the fall of 2010, I was lucky enough to see Bruno Mars right before he got really, really, huge. Granted, "Billionaire" had already blown up, and he was starting to gain momentum, but he hadn't had any solo hits yet, and he was basically on the periphery of pop culture. Anyway, I saw him at UB's Fallfest, where he played with B.O.B. and Jason Mraz, and he was easily the best act of the night. He sang with more passion and energy that anyone else on stage, as well as anyone else on the radio. It was quite a sight to see. Shortly after that, he became immeasurably huge. "Just The Way You Are" hit #1, and a few months later, "Grenade" would do the same. He became one of the biggest pop stars in the country, and he has been ever since.

In that time, the American public has responded to him with a somewhat mixed reaction. Half of the public seems to love him for the same reason I do; his passion, and his commitment. He wants to make the kind of pop music that Michael Jackson did; the kind that goes beyond radio fluff, and hold up 40 years later. Even if you don't think he's accomplished that yet, he probably deserves some admiration just for trying.

And yet, other people hate him for that very reason. They see him as being a little too sincere. They see him dancing and singing his ass off, letting us know that just cares so much and it turns them off. For them, all the effort just doesn't seem to connect. If you like his music, you think the effort is what makes him special. If you don't like him, you just think he's trying too hard. What's surprising about Mars' success, though, is that he's basically the only person in mainstream music who takes this approach. You could make a case for lady Gaga, but while her "Little Monsters" might not want to admit, a lot of what she does involves gimmicks and sloganeering, and while she certainly cares a great deal about the music she puts out, it tends to take a backseat to all the glitz and glamour surrounding her.

Still, she's deeper than most of the pop populace. A huge chunk of the pop set these days is going for what a style that I might call "Aggressive Shallow;" which is to say it revels in how cheap, and meaningless it is, because that's the point. Katy Perry and Ke$ha rule this stuff, and 3oh!3 tried their best to latch onto the bandwagon, only to lose their spot to LMFAO, who broke up, meaning that part of the bandwagon is up for grabs at the moment. What I find myself often wondering is whether or not there's anything noble about what these artists are doing. In particular, I've wondered this about Ke$ha. When she came out in 2009 with "Tik Tok," I thought it was the worst crap I had ever heard, and I felt similarly about subsequent singles. Now I've begun to reconsider my position, if ever so slightly.


I wonder, do the people who hate Bruno Mars for being so damn earnest like Ke$ha because she's the exact opposite? I mean, as much I dig Bruno, I have noticed that he cares a LOT about whether or not people like him, seeming very eager to impress in just about all of his TV appearances. Ke$ha isn't like that at all. She just does her shit, if you like it, great, if not, that's fine, she doesn't need you. I still don't particularly like her music, but I get why a lot smart people - like Wayne Coyne - think she's so cool. Maybe there's more depth than I thought, if only because she's telling us exactly who she is, and refusing to be anyone else. To put it this way, the music of Ke$ha feels ultimately meaningless, but I see how people could enjoy, and even admire the concept of her. With Bruno Mars, I feel like most of his songs will hold up 20 years from now (especially "It Will Rain," which totally makes me cry every time), but we might forget a lot about him. We'll remember him as a likeable guy with tons of energy, who tried with all his might to make everyone in the world a Bruno Mars fan, but perhaps not much else.


With Ke$ha, her songs might not carry the same resonance in the future as they do now, but we won't be forgetting her any time soon. She's a completely outrageous figure who talked about sex more openly in her music than any mainstream pop star before her, and she clearly doesn't care how many people hate her. I still think Bruno Mars is a far more talented artist, but I could see how someone would prefer someone like Ke$ha, if only for the wild individualism she brings to the table. She knows people like me aren't going to enjoy what she does, and she doesn't give two shits. There's something truly admirable about that.