Magazines such as Us Weekly and television shows such as VH1’s “It’s Good to Be…” showcase the lives of celebrities, from the expensive couture jeans they wear shopping to how much they pay for their flawless skin. Celebrities such as Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and the Hilton sisters are plastered all over the pages of the tabloids every week and have become such a huge part of pop culture that you can’t even turn on the TV, radio or go into a grocery store without being bombarded with some aspect of their “private” lives. What I don’t understand is why society puts these talentless people on pedestals.
I’ll be brutally honest: I cannot stand Jessica Simpson or her kid sister, Ashlee. I’ve never understood how either of them have any sort of appeal, both in looks and in song. Jessica, for instance, was a singer before “Newlyweds.” How many people had heard of her?
I think maybe 17. But then an MTV show came along and thrusted her into the spotlight. What is Jessica’s draw? She’s stupid. What a way to make millions of dollars — by exploiting how completely brainless she is. That’s not talent. But hey, at least Jessica doesn’t lip sync (although I would advise her not to sing at all), unlike …
The younger Simpson. Ashlee had really good potential to be the anti-Jessica, with her dark locks and slightly prettier voice, but she blew it early on. After Ashlee’s October stunt on “Saturday Night Live,” she should have been kicked out of the music business. There’s no talent in mouthing words to a bad song. And to make matters even worse, she never took responsibility for her actions.
Ashlee told Us Weekly: “I grew up in a family that loves each other, so you just don’t realize how cruel and critical people can be when you’ve done nothing wrong.” Sad to say, many youngsters in “the business” don’t view lip-synching as wrong, but it is. Watching the Grammys this year, I was blown away by the skills of Alicia Keys. She has true talent and was obviously singing live, but it’s something she shouldn’t have to be applauded for — it’s just the way things should be. But Ashlee isn’t the only lip-syncher on the teen scene …
Lindsay Lohan’s appearance on “Good Morning America,” just weeks after Ashlee’s stinky stint on “SNL,” was overshadowed by viewers’ complaints that Lohan was obviously not singing live. One viewer said she did “a woeful job of lip-synching her way through two mind-numbingly generic Britney Spears/Ashlee Simpson cast-offs,” adding, “She looked like she hadn’t even bothered to learn the songs properly.”
On the acting front, “Mean Girls” did well for Lohan’s career, but how hard was that role? Look at Scarlett Johansson. Just two years Lohan’s senior, Johansson is already getting nominated for countless awards, proving that being young doesn’t mean good roles aren’t out there, although I’m sure it has a lot to do with Johansson’s much better acting skills. Like Lohan, another talentless “actress” choosing horribly bad roles is …
Paris Hilton — she epitomizes the no-talent crowd of famous folks. Sure, she lists her skills as acting (um … “The Simple Life” isn’t acting and neither is having sex on camera), singing (although she’s better known for the feud with Hilary Duff’s older sister, Haylie, about who gets to release the song “Screwed,” which they both recorded) and — here’s where the real talent comes in — modeling. Simply put, Paris is famous for being famous. She’s rich, she’s what some would consider beautiful and she gets whatever she wants. Anyone who saw her hosting “SNL” a few weeks ago could understand she can’t play any other character but herself. Guess what? I can do that. Whoop-a-dee-do.
It’s sad to say there are so many famous people in pop culture who are simply famous for being famous. That doesn’t mean there is no talent in pop culture — Keys and Johansson aren’t the only ones who give the showbiz industry some credit. But it’s about time that we stopped celebrating and admiring these people who are good-looking, rich, but ultimately ordinary people with ordinary talents. But hey, this is just my opinion. What is it about these people who have such appeal? E-mail me and let me know what you think.