Vultures 1: Why listen?

By SOPHIE FAWKNER and ELISHA SENGA

Music has always been seen as an important aspect of everyday life throughout history. As a form of entertainment, therapy, and relaxation, music offers its wide-ranged listeners a variety of artists and genres to choose from. Even if you were to look back a simple twenty-years ago, people commonly only focused on the good qualities of the artist and songs, and never really questioned the beliefs and wrong-doings of their desired artists. However, in more recent years, people tend to have a more fixed position on the personal beliefs of an artist, in which they pose the question of whether or not music should be separated from its artist.

To gain a deeper understanding of the popular question of whether people are separating music from its artist, rapper Kayne West would be a prime example. For instance, West has been deemed a very problematic artist for much of his long-lasting career in the music industry. Recently, despite his troublesome tendencies of spreading anti-semitic views and being racist, Kanye West came out with an album called Vultures 1.

Surprisingly to some, the album has done pretty well, topping music charts in Australia, Canada, and Germany, and starting to gain prominence in the United States. Consequently, many students at QO have some thoughts on the newly released album.

Freshman Tristan Lee believes that “some of the songs were just okay, but mainly the album was pretty decent overall.” While he thinks the album was good, Lee does also say that he doesn’t support his actions, which is the sole reason why Lee separates his music from the artist.

Similarly, junior Katherine Stepp shares that she “doesn’t support Kanye’s actions or views, but [she] really like[s] his music.”

Stepp makes a point that it is common for people to not support Kanye’s problematic beliefs, but still be able to enjoy the music that they love.

In the realm of music appreciation, where to draw the line between the artists and their art has been a subject of debate.

Junior Lauriana Douanla boldly said, “I don’t listen to Kanye and I don’t keep up,” a sentiment shared by many who choose to abstain from listening to Kanye’s music based on his actions. Therefore, the actions of Kanye aren’t worth listening to in his new album.

On the other hand, junior Kamsi Iheme is a current listener of Kanye West. “I like to listen to Kanye but I can’t ignore some of the things he says,” Iheme admitted. This echoes the internal struggle faced by fans who struggle to enjoy the music while condemning the behavior of the artists.

Kanye West has always been a controversial artist. Whether it’s because of his extreme political beliefs or his drama with other celebrities, fans of Kanye are often left angered, disappointed, and even shocked by his ludicrous behavior. Evidently, due to the unexpected release of his new album, new and old issues have been brought to the forefront once again.

However, based on the large number of fans who continue to enjoy his music, but still make sure to separate his extreme actions from his songs, West has been noted as an impactful artist within the music industry.