Wait, Our Favorite Artists Have Real Opinions?

As an 18 year old living in Manhattan, I can’t go anywhere without hearing Kanye West. When in my friends’ cars, Kanye echoes through the speakers, when warming up for games, Kanye blasts across the field, and I can’t attend one party without hearing “All Falls Down.” The majority of the Jewish Community believes we should never listen to Kanye West again because of the anti-semitic comments he tweeted. As a member of said community I believe one should have the ability to separate the art from the artist, which is why I continue listening to Kanye's music without promoting him as an individual.

Art should be separated from the artist because part of the human experience is disagreeing with those you interact with. An integral part of identity is having an opinion that helps separate you from others. If I were to show you a painting with no name attached, and proceeded to tell you the artist committed a felony, your feeling of the person’s art should not change. If you adored their work, you would continue to do so, and vice versa if you hated their art, your opinion would remain. 

“American Pie” by Don McLean is one of the most influential rock songs ever. Yet, according to the New York Times, McLean has a past of domestic violence with his ex-wife Patrisha McLean. Patrisha McLean does not believe we should cease to listen to his music, however, “she feels we should reconsider how we elevate these artists… The problem with ‘American Pie’ isn’t the song. It’s the singer.”

The problem with separating art from the artists is that artists make money per stream. According to Parade Kanye West makes $0.00437 dollars per stream which is a seemingly low number, but when multiplied by billions of streams, he is projected to make over 3.7 billion dollars from streaming alone. If we do not promote Kanye as an individual but we still listen to his music then are we promoting him as a person? I think no, but it is entirely a personal belief whether or not you should remove Kanye from your playlist because of his comments. According to Song Stats on Spotify alone he is the 29th most listened to artist in the world with 52.4 million listeners. Kanye’s following is not going away.

In a generation crazed with celebrities, we are bound to learn about aspects of their person that are less than agreeable. Because of this, it is unreasonable to exile every artist whose opinions you disagree with. In such a politically heated time, it is pertinent that we acknowledge one another’s opinions and separate the art from the artist.

Work Cited

Boylan, Jennifer Finney. “Opinion | Can We Separate the Art From the Artist?” The New York Times, 8 Nov. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/opinion/music-pop-culture-justice.html?searchResultPosition=2.

Sager, Jessica. “Yeezus, Take the Wheel: Kanye West’s Net Worth in 2023 Following Adidas and Gap Partnership Terminations.” Parade, 13 Jan. 2023, parade.com/1167487/jessicasager/kanye-west-net-worth.

Songstats. “Songstats.” Songstats, songstats.com/artist/adg3kn5t/kanye-west.