What Do You Mean By Famous?

We Explore What Art Can Mean

“Daddy,” Little Bean starts out of nowhere, “are any of the bands we listen to famous?”

I’ve been around the block. I know what’s what. I can sense a cultural landmine field from a mile away.

“Well, that depends,” I begin. “What do you mean by famous?”

My daughter explains that she was telling one of her friends about the times she met The Warning, but her friend one-upped her by saying that The Warning wasn’t famous and that she - her friend - met Melanie Martinez, someone who apparently IS famous.

Melanie Martinez. I think.

So, couple points here - a couple parental obstacles to overcome.

First, we’re dealing with some kid peer pressure. Nothing new there. Little Bean is surrounded in school by Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo fans. The added tag of her friend’s musician being more famous (and therefore more popular) than Little Bean’s musician was new. Tying fame to something being good or bad was a new hill to climb.

But second, I had no idea who the heck Melanie Martinez was! That was a little embarrassing, but I guess a pretty dad place to be. Sigh.

Anyway, turns out Melanie Martinez is REALLY famous, 15 million YouTube followers, big Tik Tok following, all the marks of a famous pop singer to that age set.

I gave Little Bean the standard talk about how loving art - any art, even music - shouldn’t be a competition and everybody has their favorites. And meeting one over another shouldn’t matter and she should stick to the art she loves regardless of popularity.

“Yeah,” she said, “but is The Warning popular?”

“Yes,” I said. Then after a pause, “but not as popular as Melanie Martinez.”

But then, as always, my wife came to our rescue and asked Alexa to play Melanie Martinez. Honestly, it’s what I expected and if you’re reading this you probobly know what I mean. To my ear, her music is standard pop fair. She has a sort of Billie Eilish voice and that’s cool. Good beat, etc. etc.

I left them to discovering this new music while I went to walk the pup.

Later, before bed, I asked Little Bean, “So, what did you think of Melanie Martinez.”

She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “I don’t care that much for her, actually.”

Peer pressure crisis averted. For now. But these steps of hers - to discover her own art and music and books - will become more frequent. And if she liked Melanie Martinez, I’d lean into that with her of course. I want to take this trip with her and hope that when it becomes her own personal journey, she’ll still want me along for the ride.

I remember the look on my dad’s face years ago when I popped in a Louis Prima cd. He loved Louis Prima, but had assumed I was just about AC/DC and Kansas and Aerosmith.

“You like this,” he asked, incredulous. I nodded and he smiled.

I think I’m ready for whatever direction she wants to move. I hope it’s because she actually likes the art and not because she’s told she should like it, but we’ll see. Either way, I’ll be there. I’ll be one of those dads sitting and smiling at a Melanie Martinez concert if it comes to that - smiling and watching Little Bean be happy.

For now, though, she sleeps under a poster of Baby Metal and in her closet hangs her rock battle vest and in a couple weeks we’re heading back to pay a visit to her favorite AC/DC tribute band.

Horns in the air, popular or not, we rock on.

Meanwhile, can anybody fill me on Melanie Martinez?