On the other hand, there is something about these shows, about the commentary offered by the judges, the downright condescending tone with which the judges are presented on camera (the lighting, the angles and the montage are all carefully crafted to instill an air of pomposity), that just reeks of expert opinion, as if spectator criticism (which is how their opinions should be categorized a great deal of the time) was good enough to substitute expertise, or worse: to be expertise.

It occurs to me that this is something like the embodiment of all that is perfectly overrated, because this reckless validation is spawned from little else than a phenomenom that is already overrated in itself: celebrity. Overrated celebrity as basis for overrated opinion. An orgy of overratedness, if you will…

While Popu thought of Bey’s work when reading this, I thought of philosopher and musicologist Theodor Adorno’s critical musings on jazz music, written in several essays throughout his academic career. He mainly stated that jazz was turning the art of music into a commodity for the enjoyment of the masses, and this constituted a big “no-no” in his book. He also stated that, being a product of the industrialized era, jazz was “bereft of spontaneity, newness […] and freedom of expression.” (Essays on Music, http://is.gd/1q1Mm).

Well, as we all know, history proved him wrong: jazz became an amazingly popular genre whose basis is the same improvisation of melodies he so refuted.

Even though Adorno was a philosopher and musicologist, experts say he threw those credentials out the window and went head on to criticize a genre he had not studied thoroughly. We all do this, and some even see the participation of people unconnected to a particular subject as a “breath of fresh air” because they may be able to see things from a different, novel perspective than the people who are immersed in the industry on a daily basis.

Nonetheless, the problem lies when these “novel” people—who have no formation on a subject—start assuming they are authorities in the field and start setting and commodifying aesthetic guidelines for the masses to follow.