When it comes to Kate Nash you really want to feel for her as Richard Godwin of The Guardian seems to, but then there are moments in the narrative of her own life that make it hard to really do much more than wonder why she thought the music industry was going to be any different than it was and still is. It’s a business after all, and the sad part is that some people, like Nash, do get swept up in it and don’t know when to call a time-out, no matter what that might do to their career. The fact is that Kate is a self-identified outsider in the music industry and has done a fair amount of criticizing throughout her career and seems to think that while her opinion is just one of many that it carries more weight than others. The truth of this is that the music industry is just like any other, it’s a business, and it does have it’s fair share of faults and mishaps that go on and there are times when the artists aren’t entirely taken care of or even regarded as they should be. But the widespread criticism that the industry is the villain is kind of a typical argument made by those that ascend too quickly and find that they can’t handle the pressure that comes with it. Like it or not, being famous doesn’t seem to take into account the feelings of the individual or their ability or inability to handle the lengthy and very demanding schedule that comes with it at times, and after a long touring session it sounds as though Kate had a breakdown that she tends to blame on the industry.
This kind of implies that she couldn’t ask them for a break or to stop at any point since it would have been career suicide. It’s very true that being under contract makes things difficult, that there’s a lot of money to be lost, and that there are even legal precedents that might be put into place to keep performers on the stage. But the mental health of any individual is something that they tend to need to understand as well. If you go by what Tom Rasmussen of VICE has to say you might either fall on the side that states that Kate Nash didn’t get the push she needed early on and really had to fight for it as no one nurtured or even worked with her, or you might fall on the side that states that she didn’t seem to realize that for better or worse the music industry is not a place for those that can’t sharpen their lyrics and their sound to definite razor’s edge and keep it there until their sound is firmly established, at which point they can ease up and the fans will think they’re doing something new and even edgier. Whatever side you fall on has a bit of validity to it since from listening to several quotes it’s obvious that she didn’t have a lot of guidance, but if you were an emotional teenager that sought guidance from pop stars in the 90s you might have thought she was speaking directly to you. There are plenty of those folks out there that will sit by their stereo or have their ear buds fastened tightly and feel as though their favorite musician is indeed speaking the words that they need to hear, just for them, exclusively for them, get the picture now?
To be honest I’d love to say that Kate Nash is in a better place now being a part of Glow and still having her music, and just let that be the end of it. But the complaints she’s levied against the music industry seem to fuel the fires of opinion that burn so continually and an interview with Roseanna Greenstreet of The Guardian just seem to stoke them even higher. A person that states, in an interview no less and hopefully with a playful smile to show she’s kidding, that she’d love to have the superpower of killing with her eyes, thinks that Animal Farm ‘opened her up’ to politics, and seeks to vilify an industry that gave her the kind of exposure she needed to become famous in the first place, is kind of typical it would seem when we’re talking about celebrities. Yeah, that might seem a tad offensive, talking about someone that had a breakdown because of a busy tour schedule and didn’t feel that her talent was nurtured enough during her time in the industry. But think of it this way, those of us that aren’t famous, that also have breakdowns, are usually asked to take a pill, suck it up, and move on. In that case those in the music and acting industries asking to be nurtured and taken care of seem more like pampered children than strong, independent adults.
But as I did say, she’s doing well now and seems to have figured her life out, which is a big up for her.
Follow Us
