Say what you will about the cult of celebrity and the very shallow world we live in, but what one needs to be at least aware of is how constructed everything has become.

What is real and what is not is so hard to tell these days.

The alarming thing is that there is no warning attached to all that is out there in the media.
I pity the poor kids, and the easily lead sheeple, that wander around attempting to live up to these pop idols and media generated expectations of beauty and lifestyle that quite frankly are never going to be achievable, not even for those that they are based on.

Take the current wave of popular music celebrities, that are not only performing songs "live" but also have to be able to perform in music videos, on the red carpet and most especially in the tabloid magazines, gossip channels on tv and the increasingly important gossip websites and blogsphere.

It seems that being able to sing is fairly low down on the list of what is needed to be a music celebrity these days - hey, if they can't sing just chuck a layer of auto-tune on it and problem solved.
If they can sing, then lets just over produce the sound to create a new form of popular music so that we can continue to pump out the next generation of music money making stars in a pre packaged format to maximise market exposure and conversion. Too cynical?

This video has been doing the rounds, here one minute and gone the next. So apologies if it is gone by the time you get here. I will attempt to keep replacing this but you can understand why the music exec's and their team are right onto shutting down this kind of conversation.
Video has gone to ground. Will keep trying to find a new version.It does little to help the "brand" of Ke$ha. Here she is showing the world what it is to be a raw artist. Singing acoustically, without the aid of the digital enhancements, she has a very different sound that the end product that follows on the clip.

It exposes this conversation to be what it is. I personally would rather listen to Ke$ha without all of the production, I think she is interesting and valid to a certain market, but the production just thrust her into an entirely different category of sell outs and musically produced fakery that is so much more mainstream.
Her Funny or Die Princess video (see in the related blog list) is such a pisstake that it exposes the reality of the constructed nature of it all.

So here we have the Cult of Ke$ha. She is an interesting media profile to observe and ponder upon. Embraced by the rebellious side of the pop culture, you know, the kids of wealthy or semi wealthy parents from the suburbs that think they are counter culture and standing up for the tights of the free man by staying out late and maybe getting a couple of piercings and tattoos. Heaven forbid they take complete responsibility for themselves and their actions by being socially and morally accountable for their existence as much as one can be in this current cultural climate. If that were the case they would probably be out of the market that Ke$ha's music / videos / lifestyle is aimed at.
They may appreciate the art side of it, but perhaps not be too keen to buy into it....

Can she actaully sing?

Word has it that she can, and that she also writes her own songs before the heavy hands of the producers come in and rework the format into the sound that it is now.

Having followed her on twitter for a while now I do have to say that she does work hard at the lifestyle, and by that I mean the trained musician one. It must be quite exhausting at times being in that manufactured cycle. At the end of it all, what does Ke$ha get out of it? Her 15 minutes of fame, some cash that will come and go, or a lasting career in music?
It seems that the end game is not so important for this generation of pop culture icons.

It all reminds me of that Mark Walberg Movie "Rockstar". That sums up this conversation nicely.
Haven't seen it, you need to, one of his best I think. It is quite late 90's, but very valid.