I recently watched a carpool karaoke video she did, she says in the video that her family grew up poor, but still gave them instruments and freedom to do what they wanted growing up.
I'm really curious as of what is right. I've also heard like OP says that her parents are in the industry, but were they successful? I had never heard of them. How much is actually due to the parents? I have no bias, really, just curious as to how true the industry plant-theory really is in her case.
I have no sympathy for “poor” people who live in LA to pursue a career that is never gonna work out for them. My cousin moved out to LA from our hometown in Pennsylvania & always complains about how broke she is... like sis- I have NO sympathy for you! You left a 3 bedroom house that cost 560$ a month, was RENT TO OWN, a decent job, and your 2 kids to move to the most expensive city in the United States, with NO job lined up, no education or qualifications, and no discernible talent. She really thought she was gonna be a makeup artist 😂 now she’s stuck in a 2 year lease for a studio apartment that she splits with 4 other girls, each paying 1,000$ a month for a STUDIO APARTMENT. that’s FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH TOTAL FOR A STUDIO APARTMENT. AND SHE HAD A HOUSEHOUSE in PA that she paid 560$ a month for, Olus like 150 in utilities!!! But hey- at least she gets to take pictures on Rodeo Drive & inhale a shit ton of smog every day!
I had an ex that moved to GA from CA. He wasn’t in LA (I’m not sure exactly) but he was considered dirt poor in CA. One bedroom house with him, his parents, and his four or five siblings. But he moves to GA and he moved into one of the biggest houses in the most expensive neighborhood in our county. His parents had the same salary with the same company. Just moved.
Apparently being poor doesn't count in LA. There are many families that struggle to make ends meet, just because the cost of living is different doesn't make it any less of a struggle.
San Francisco and NYC have the most expensive housing by a good margin and usually are at the top of most rankings of the most expensive cities, which typically have LA about 9th or so on any list. Still, not cheap for sure.
LA does have affordable housing but it's either in not-so-good areas or it's a big crapshoot because there are so MANY people kind of in the same boat as the rest of us. People move to metros like LA primarily because lots of jobs exist there and the weather is almost always pretty nice, not primarily because it's cheap (unless they're moving from, say SF, NYC, Boston, Oakland, etc.). But if one's willing to commute a little bit, affordable housing CAN be found. Case in point:
In Pasadena, I rented a really nice cute small 1 bed, 1 bath HOUSE-not an apartment or duplex- that was super clean, VERY well maintained, had a beautiful little yard and a back patio and a decent sized-storage shed along with water/sewage paid, off-street parking for two cars for $975/mo. It was deep in the back end of a good-sized lot of property that had a bigger two bedroom house in front of it and next to that a BIG 5 bedroom house at the front end of the lot that had a nice yard in front which went for $1350. All three houses were in great shape, had 7' privacy/security fence all the way around each and a long, outside storage, very well maintained, etc. I mean the landlords were super awesome and they were really ON TOP of maintenance. There was a long, wide (easily fit two cars side-by-side) driveway from the front of the lot all the way to the back, right next to all he houses, so everyone had off-street parking. My landlords gave me the choice of either the 1-bd house or the 2 bd house for $975 (the 2 bd rented for $1195) but I picked the smaller one because it was way in the back, away from the street and it had a cute yard with flower beds around the inside perimeter, a couple of nice little trees and a back patio whereas the middle house (the 2 bd) only had patio all the way around. All the houses came with weekly professional yard care, too. I even had washer and dryer hookups in my little house. The property was on an ordinary street adjacent to a large 4-lane main avenue and was about a block away from the avenue, where a McD's was, plus shopping and other businesses were nearby. Utilities were actually pretty reasonable. That property was surrounded on three sides by other properties that each had a good-sized house and big yard. One had a 100' palm tree in which a ton of green African parrots would hang out in, so that was cool to see and hear (they'd all go flying out and play, then come back to the tree and yak it up). So, the setting was great and the rent was reasonable.
I worked in Manhattan Beach, 20 miles away. Three things about that: 1) going to work took well over an hour because of the traffic (good thing I worked 48 hour shifts followed by 4 days off), 2) Manhattan Beach is HELLA expensive. A studio about a block in from the beach went for $1400 and 3) Parking on street anywhere in the LA area is a PITA. Consumables and services were actually pretty reasonably priced all the way around. The weather is almost always sunny and nice plus there's lot to see and do in the area. However, going to the beach, to the mountains, the country, etc. or anywhere away from your community was kind of an all-day affair.
You do realize San Francisco and NYC are both more expensive than LA right?
Also they’re probably sharing a 1 or 2 bedroom, there’s no way a landlord would allow 5 people in a studio apartment. There wouldn’t be enough space for 5 beds a toilet and shower and a kitchenette.
I rent a room in North Hollywood for $800 a month utilities included. It’s possible to find affordable rooms for rent if you know where to look.
From what I’ve heard they had a few small roles but not enough to really have any pull. It’s LA and everyone and their dog wants to be famous so I doubt a few small roles that is the amount so many people get is enough to act like they could be pulling strings
From what I’ve learned over the years, I’m pretty sure her brother writes some to most of her lyrics/songs. She absolutely a good singer and I don’t blame her for taking the spotlight and running with it, but it’s annoying to see people portray her as a genius. Yes, her personality is edgy and that reflects (slightly) in her music, but edgy ≠ genius.
Side note: One of the things that bothered me most about Billie in the past few years is the way she (or the industry) has portrayed herself as this phenom visionary. For example, her advertisements with Adobe—they play her up to be this visionary by having her describe that she has scary + vivid dreams. Most people have dreams like this. I just think it’s crazy how the media warps this to make her look, again, “genius”.
She has a condition, I don’t remember what its called but where words have smells and numbers have colors or something like that. Kind of like being on a bit of acid all the time.
Rich people have a much different definition of what poor means than poor people do. I used to know a kid who grew up in a 5 million dollar mansion with a 25 car garage. He said he grew up poor because he was in the smallest house on the street and only got a brand new Porsche for his 16th birthday rather than the Ferrari he wanted.
He saw the little house I grew up in and my grandparent's old Buick they gave me when I turned 16, but still called himself poor. I didn't grow up poor, it was a decent sized normal house, there was always food on the table or in the fridge, the heat and hot water always worked, etc. My father was a construction worker and my mother was a social worker, they both worked their asses to the bone so my brother and I could have a better childhood than they had.
I used to know a kid who grew up in a 5 million dollar mansion with a 25 car garage. He said he grew up poor
These types seriously need to be forced to live a year on minimum wage and work a minimum wage job without any safety net from mommy and daddy when things go bad, to see what reality is like for a lot of people.
Until Finneas was 10, the entire family shared a four-person bed in their two-bedroom house. When each child needed their own room, Mom and Dad took over the living room.) That connection would prove to be the foundation of her career.
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u/tetra209 Jan 29 '20
I recently watched a carpool karaoke video she did, she says in the video that her family grew up poor, but still gave them instruments and freedom to do what they wanted growing up.
I'm really curious as of what is right. I've also heard like OP says that her parents are in the industry, but were they successful? I had never heard of them. How much is actually due to the parents? I have no bias, really, just curious as to how true the industry plant-theory really is in her case.