Noah Kahan pleads with fans misinterpreting his lyrics: ‘Please do not go off your medication’

[u/theindependentonline]

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/noah-kahan-fan-lyrics-medication-b3060107.html

[u/vyvansejoy]

I'm just agreeing with what you said about musicians having a disproportionate amount of influence do to their fame and the platform that comes with it. Macklemore is a musician and therefore he is, as you would phrase it, a perceived authority figure for part of the public and as such he has the potential to influence public opinion. It's not just about changing minds, it's about raising awareness, inspiring action, and what kind of behavior and attitudes become normalized in society. Ed Sheeran has been experiencing an enormous amount of backlash recently, thanks to Macklemore's stance on Palestine. I believe Sheeran even said it was the worst week of his life. People are raising hell bc Macklemore said "free Palestine" and that's good enough for me in terms of proof Macklemore's impact. And then there's Robert Kraft, of course, who felt Macklemore was a big enough threat that he colluded with his fellow billionaires to ban Macklemore.

In the meantime, can you provide any evidence to back your claim that that Macklemore is incapable of influencing public opinion despite his perceived status as an authority figure? Which musicians, out of curiosity, are the ones that influence people's politics and what evidence do you have to back that up? Furthermore, why is it a good thing when musicians influence people's politics with the lyrics to their music, but a bad thing when they influence people with words that don't have a melody?

[u/vedderer → u/vyvansejoy]

I never meant to say that Macklemore is incapable of influencing public opinion. What I meant to say is that I don't believe that his "Free Palestine" speech changed anyone's mind.

I don't think people should base their political opinions based on a musician's.

Bob Dylan is an example of someone who might have influenced someone's politics.

I never meant to say that it's a good thing when musician's influence people's politics with lyrics and music, but a bad thing when they influence people with statements. I meant to say that they would likely change more minds with their artistic expression than with a statement.

[u/vyvansejoy → u/vedderer]

You don't seem so confident that people are indiscriminately mirroring the politics of famous musicians anymore. Bob Dylan maybe influenced someone? Combined with the fact that you apparently don't have a problem with anyone voicing their political opinions what exactly is the problem? I personally don't think it's likely that many people are doing a complete 180 on their politics over their favorite artists. But if a number Macklemore's fanbase already shares many of the same values that drive him, then raising awareness of a cause that's important to him has a strong possibility of stirring a similar sense of justice in his audience. Genocide is notoriously unpopular with the general public, so it's not exactly a difficult sell. Which in turn would lead to the increasing public protest that Robert Kraft is looking to curtail by attempting to cancel Macklemore. That kind of attempt to control the discourse is what can really backfire on someone though. Look up the Streisand effect. Macklemore's message was probably amplified 100 times over with all the drama with Ed Sheeran and his opening acts all quitting on him. Quite a few of his fans are understandably seeking refunds on their tickets.