What is is with public figures sharing way too much of their life with us lately? The internet has always been a good medium for ephemeral nuggets of information but since when did it become acceptable to air your professional grievances or personal experiences in public for everybody to read? These days pop stars are less mysterious than ever and it’s not a good thing.
Last week, Erykah Badu had a baby girl. How do we know? Herself and her husband tweeted about the event AS IT HAPPENED. At first, she began with “Morning, I’m in labor” before telling her then 4500 followers (it’s doubled since) how long was between contractions. As Erykah prepared to have the baby, her husband, producer Jay Electronica kept things going on Twitter - “Labor has begun. Stand back. No hospitals. No doctors. No medicine. We’re waiting for the midwife to show.” He followed that with updates on her water breaking, how much she had dilated and then bizarrely this - “I see the head, full of hair.” After the pregnancy, the couple posted updates extolling their experiences and they later announced the newborn’s name on Twitter.
Isn’t this the concept of having an online life taken a little too far? Is no moment private anymore? She’s not the only one at it, though her story is by far the most bizarre. Celebrities and musicians have been using their blogs and Twitter pages to have cyberspats for a while now. Lily Allen recently claimed she would publicise Katy Perry’s mobile number on Facebook after Perry made a jibe about her weight. Courtney Love continued her crazy routine on her discombobulated Myspace blog by trashing.. well everyone. Washington rapper Wale had an argument on Twitter with DJ Semtex after he appeared on his radio show because he was unhappy with the interview. Axl Rose recently launched into an expletive-filled tirade at fans in an online chat because he disliked what they asked him. And last summer, Kanye West got so mad at fans disappointed by his performance at Bonaroo his that he finished his woe-is-me rant with “I’m typing so f**king hard I might break my f**king Mac book Air!!!!!!!!”.
As well as some anger management classes, these stars could take a leaf out of others who have never erred on the side of craziness and who have used blogs and other social networking services to their advantage without resorting to diatribes. Look at Victoria Hesketh aka Little Boots whose short career so far has been fueled by Youtube videos of her performing and blogging about her musical life. Nothing wrong with that. At the moment, she seems like a fairly normal girl whose suddenly hanging out with Perez Hilton and going to the Grammys (according to her Twitter). Hopefully, fame won’t dissuade her from blogging with grace, humility and privacy; things which today’s stars are increasingly lacking.
February 14th, 2009 at 4:08 am
I seriously expected Erikah to call her kid Tweet!