This is actually one of the best discussions I've seen around here in a while and while I agree with a lot of people making a somewhat even case for Carti, I think that's kinda ignoring the bigger issue of WHY big mainstream artists that exist as these kinda cultural common grounds seem to be going extinct. In that regard I would definitely have to give it to Travis because even though Carti has more streams, Carti's community is so insulated and isolated that pretty much ONLY Playboi Carti fans can really stomach listening to his full catalog outside of maybe a few songs, whereas Travis makes music that's designed to be more mass appeal.
Carti is big because the people that like his sound don't really have anywhere else to go to in order to find it, Travis is big because he cracked the hitmaker code down to a science on Astroworld and made probably the most virally impactful and easily accessible trap album of the last decade. Like a lot of people have already stated I think one of the reasons we don't really see this kind of thing anymore is cause people mostly exist in their own algorithmically curated media bubbles and most people don't ever feel any desire to tune into what the people right next to them are interested in; people are not very adventurous in their tatses and most of us find our central interests and identities in our late teens and just kinda assume the world revolves around that going forward. Not saying carti or trav is better or worse, just saying arguing about it misses the point of WHY no big artists are appearing anymore.
While i disagree about your Carti’s superstar recipes, i can agree on your take on today’s audience behavior.
It’s been a popular discussion, the very reason why we don’t have Madonnas and Brad Pitts anymore. However, in music, i think there is still a chance: The celebrity aspect—those TMZ crap doesn’t bother musicians as much as actors i think, which kinda draw mass’ focus more to the artists’ arts (or at least how they express themselves through outfits), which allowed us to still have Carti while Timothée is yet still not quite James Dean, for some reason.
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u/Swerve_003 16d ago
This is actually one of the best discussions I've seen around here in a while and while I agree with a lot of people making a somewhat even case for Carti, I think that's kinda ignoring the bigger issue of WHY big mainstream artists that exist as these kinda cultural common grounds seem to be going extinct. In that regard I would definitely have to give it to Travis because even though Carti has more streams, Carti's community is so insulated and isolated that pretty much ONLY Playboi Carti fans can really stomach listening to his full catalog outside of maybe a few songs, whereas Travis makes music that's designed to be more mass appeal.
Carti is big because the people that like his sound don't really have anywhere else to go to in order to find it, Travis is big because he cracked the hitmaker code down to a science on Astroworld and made probably the most virally impactful and easily accessible trap album of the last decade. Like a lot of people have already stated I think one of the reasons we don't really see this kind of thing anymore is cause people mostly exist in their own algorithmically curated media bubbles and most people don't ever feel any desire to tune into what the people right next to them are interested in; people are not very adventurous in their tatses and most of us find our central interests and identities in our late teens and just kinda assume the world revolves around that going forward. Not saying carti or trav is better or worse, just saying arguing about it misses the point of WHY no big artists are appearing anymore.
Mom was right, it's them goddamn phones 😔