I Whip My Hair Back and Forth

This morning, while pretending to check my mail I indulged in my daily guilty pleasure: peeking in on the frivolity and distraction that passes for news on Yahoo’s home page.

While I hovered over the tiny icons to read the teaser blurbs, I happened on a picture of Willow Smith, the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Old enough to fondly remember Parent’s Just Don’t Understand and It’s a Different World, I clicked on the blurb for the full page article.

Apparently, nine-year-old Willow Smith released a pop single earlier this week entitled “Whip My Hair Back and Forth”. Shortly prior to its release, she was signed by Jay-Z and the blogosphere all a-twitter. The article used both the words “club banger” and “super-catchy” in the same sentence, and described its author’s talent as nothing short of preternatural.

Gullible as always, I clicked the video link in the middle of the article expecting nothing short of Beethoven. As I probably could have predicted, the song comprised of little more than Willow repeating “I whip my hair back and forth” to an infectious but predictable beat.

Just below the video was a snippet from an interview that Jay-Z gave to Ryan Seacrest on the occasion of the song’s debut. And in that snippet, Jay-Z compared Willow to both Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder (who both released their first tracks at around eight years of age) to attempt to put her genius in perspective. I read on for a few lines after, but the author included not even a hint of sarcasm after the quotes closed.

Now, I will admit that the tune is catchy. And, as I write this article, “whip my hair back and forth” is being repeated in my head wholly against my will. But is that talent? Really? Because I like to think that if I hear anything repeated seventy or so times in the span of three or so minutes, I’m going to remember it. And, at this point in music history, that’s a significant part of the music industry’s winning paint-by-numbers formula.

And apparently, the formula has been so stripped of creativity that a nine-year-old can put it to use to create a “hit” track. Which isn’t really surprising. What is surprising is the faulty syllogism that seems to have followed.

Listen. If you’re in the kitchen cooking with your nine year old and she finds bread and cheese on the counter and makes a grilled cheese sandwich, the conclusion you draw upon your return is that grilled cheese sandwiches are easy to make. You do not draw the conclusion that she is a culinary child prodigy and begin phoning the media.

You do pat her on the head and tell her she did a good job. And the fact that Willow Smith, at nine, has the self confidence to get into a studio and lay down a track is commendable. And the song is great. For a Nine-Year-Old. But, isn’t this – just maybe – a sign that we should all be aspiring to something just a little bit more similar to actual art? Shouldn’t we feel a little bit silly for supporting multi-millionaires for doing a job that a nine year old could do?

I’m Just Saying.