a perfume blog!
and I heard about it through the NPR review of the new Diddy album. I noticed that the reviewer spent a lot of time sort of mocking the fact that Diddy keeps changing his name, and although I understand that, I started to wonder why it is we get so annoyed when artists change their names, the whole "artist formerly known as Prince" thing. Is this a cultural faux pas? Are we annoyed at them for not obeying naming rules?
Also, heard this fun interchange on the college radio station tonight:
DJ1: Sure, let's put some John Darnielle in there.
<pause>
DJ2: Now you're name dropping.
DJ1: I can do that, I'm a hipster.
think for the most part an artist's name is his brand. You build up an audience of people who recognize your name, and so are more eager to buy your new CDs or concerts. It's more of a marketing strategy. But in the case of the "artist formerly known as Prince," the reference back to the old name was simply because Prince's new name was a symbol from Egyptian mythology (I *think*) and since no computers have hieroglyphic key options, no one could write it out. So album reviewers and online forum folks were stuck. Even though AFKAP is a freakishly long acronym to type, at least people know who the artist is, and can *type/write* it.
Posted by: funke at October 30, 2006 10:54 PMOr you have people like me who are just clueless enough that they somehow miss the name change (case in point: I did not know Prince changed his name) and are left wondering who Diddy is and is that the same as that Other Guy?
Posted by: Jeannette at October 31, 2006 12:58 PMAnd I guess the main problem is in reference. I can use the name Diddy and be all respectful of his name preference, but really most people know him better as P. Diddy or Puff Daddy or by his real name (and it does seem kind of weird to have a rapper name when most people know you better by your real name) Sean Combs. So name changing confuses everyone and the name stops serving it's purpose which is to say "that one." And pretty soon people'll just start calling you whatever they want to, since the name isn't serving its purpose anymore.
Posted by: linnea at October 31, 2006 4:38 PMTo sort of add another view of the name thing totally unrelated to the Prince or Diddy thing...
I was talking to a woman about adoption. A significant part about it was naming the child. A girl who had a baby and wanted to give it up for adoption was asked to name it first. This created a tie with the child, so that the girl could, after that, decide whether she should give it up. It worked. She didn't give it up. And also God tells us, "I have called you by name.You are mine." There is a spiritual significance about names. Our names are written in a book. He calls the stars by name. That's why we get upset when someone decides to change his/her name. (Sorry, can't bring myself to say "their".)Would be interesting to do a word study on "name" in the Bible.
bionde bocchinare figa sporca moglie voyeur webcam suora tette grandi piede peloso ftvgirls zia swinger amatorial culone italia diavolette tettone
Posted by: olo at January 23, 2007 11:51 AM