Art by Todd Schorr

Lady Sovereign has had a rough go of being a promotional tool for a major label. Sickness, exhaustion, same old shit every day for two years. Lily Allen, too. Britney Spears has a whole nation breathing down her back for the last three, maybe four years? Don’t big name artists pay anyone to look out for their well-being? Oh, that’s right — their agents. I know this doesn’t necessarily mean an entire trend can be based on these three individuals. But celebrity has screwed up many a famous person, and these days it’s a much more public and somehow accepted affair. It’s almost like we’ve accepted that gaining celebrity status is going to exacerbate any potential weaknesses an individual has, or create new ones.

Trust me, no tears will be shed on the subject from this end, but it’s simultaneously fascinating and disgusting that attaining a certain status which so many seek can be hugely destructive to someone’s life. Someday I’ll write a really depressing book about this and then hopefully get well enough known to have some sort of inane scandal and fall from grace. Anything to prove a point, right?

SUNDAY MORNING

Close Up Over, “Caz” [Wax Tracks!, TVT]

Balil, “3/4 Heart” [Wax Tracks!, TVT]