When it comes to body image, any celeb would be lying if they said press about their appearance, gender, or general setting of value didn’t affect them. While blogs and online publications give journalists (and sometimes the public) a place to judge/report on musicians, they also give these musicians a platform speak out about how they would like to be viewed and how they see themselves. Here are examples of both sides – ranked from 6 (less noteworthy) to 1 (more noteworthy).
6. RANKER – “The Best Female Visuals In K-pop Right Now”
The creator of this page has presented 31 different K-pop female singers and allowed viewers to vote on who has the best visuals.
This article prefaces the rankings with a general overview of good visuals: “Korean beauty standards, like light skin, slim figures, and big eyes, play a huge factor in selecting the visual members of the group. ”
I would not consider this particularly notable because it doesn’t use official sources to curate their list. It does have some base because it produces results directly from the audience – the people who are fans of these k-pop stars. Though there is no area for the fans to discuss their reasons for voting up or down.
5. PEREZ HILTON – “Taylor Swift Reveals Her Past Struggle With Eating Disorders & Body Image Issues In ‘Miss Americana’”
Perez Hilton’s article draws much of it’s material directly from Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana documentary, playing now on Netflix.
Because it’s practically reporting straight from the original source itself without much non-cited opinion or information, I see this particular article notable in that sense.
That being said, Perez Hilton has been known to post more “breaking news” as an attempt to be one of the first sources to report a scandal or story. For that reason, I still stay wary of this blog.
4. BUZZFEED – “Sam Smith Opened Up About Their New Pronouns And Being Misgendered By The Public”
This article is similar to Perez Hilton in the sense that it is drawing directly from a different, very notable source. This time the source is an exclusive interview between Sam Smith and New Music Daily by Apple News. The interview is linked at the bottom of the article.
This article picks out the pieces of the interview which relate to the subject of pronouns and being misgendered, which makes it accurate. The author does not add their own views or a comment section for viewers.
3. DAILY MAIL – “Too sexy for the Super Bowl! Parents slam J-Lo’s pole-dancing and Shakira’s tongue-wagging half-time performances blasting that they were inappropriate for kids”
I wanted to highlight this article in particular because it shows both sides of the argument. The author includes screen shots from Twitter accounts who think the Super Bowl halftime show was inappropriate and others who believe other performers (i.e. cheerleaders and Adam Levine) have been just as risque, but did not face nearly as much scrutiny.
There is also a section below the article that lets the readers voice their opinion. I am not sure if there are moderators who keep an eye on this area, but this allows for a more transparent conversation.
2. HUFFPOST – “Rebecca Black Shares Emotional Post On ‘Friday,’ What She’d Tell Her 13-Year-Old Self”
While Rebecca Black’s Twitter was directly quoted frequently, this piece links other sources like NBC and the Hollywood Reporter to present more information. Because it’s not just quoting the star’s social media, I find it to have more depth than the previously mentioned articles.
The author herself has had experience with other sources like Vanity Fair, Apple, BULLETT, and Conde Nast Traveler, which are very well-trusted outlets. This gives the writer more notoriety.
1. BILLBOARD – “ITZY, K-Pop’s Rookie It Girls, Are Sharing Their Confident, Self-Love Message With the World”
Billboard’s article starts off explaining how K-Pop band “ITZY” rose to fame, including links to other Billboard articles which related to the topic.
This was an exclusive interview with the band members, so it is a very notable source. Because of this, it wasn’t the type of article that would require “both sides of a story” to be discussed.
It was very accurate – all the names were spelled correctly. This was a thorough article, asked the band members many revealing questions (i.e. “You’re entering your second year as ITZY as we move further into 2020 and approach your first anniversary, so how do you feel moving past your debut era?”), and let all of them answer.
Revisiting The 24-Hour Media Assignment
The first thing I difference that stood out between this assignment and the 24-Hour Media Assignment was that I was expanding my intake of media sources in order to find articles that related to my topic.
This was not my expectation. I assumed I would organically come across this subject a lot more often because I follow a large amount of musicians and media sources that cover pop culture. However, they are not necessarily covering topics this specific. They often discuss music releases, stories behind the music, and outfits, rather than image and identity.
Billboard is one source that stayed consistent between the two assignments. It has remained one of my favorite trusted outlets to view music news – one of the big reasons is because of it’s exclusive interviews like the one mentioned above.
I have never gone to Perez Hilton for my news, not because I don’t trust it, but because it is always so cluttered with numerous “breaking news” articles. The actual structure of the website is busy and full of click-bait pieces. I prefer sources that are straight to the point, clean in visuals, and aren’t as much focused on gossip.
I don’t directly follow Buzzfeed, although oddly enough, I find myself on their website quite often. Buzzfeed shows up on my Apple News feed on my iPhone and the articles tend to be subject that interest me – be it fashion, politics, music, or breaking news. I also find that many of my Facebook friends post these pieces from Buzzfeed, so naturally I end up clicking on some of them. This is a source I may consider making more of an effort to follow.
