Nearly Half of Americans Looking for 2nd Job to Make Ends Meet, Kanye West Buys Social Network/Builds Mini-City? TikTok Killed the Pop Star? The Unlikely Christmas Movie Sequel (The Five for 10/21/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Happy Friday. Let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Americans are getting REALLY stressed about money…particularly those with kids.
Over half of working Americans have considered holding multiple jobs to pay their living expenses as inflation remained stubbornly high in September and real wages fell.
About 38% of workers have looked for a second job, while an additional 14% have plans to do so, according to a survey of more than 1,000 full-time US employees by Qualtrics International Inc., which makes software used by over 16,000 organizations. At the same time, 18% of working adults said they had moved to an area with a lower cost of living to cut expenses, and another 13% plan to do so.
Working parents, in particular, are in the hot seat. About 70% say their pay isn’t keeping up with rising expenses. A recent Brookings Institution study estimated that the current spike in prices means it will now cost more than $300,000 to raise a child to age 17, up $26,000 since inflation took hold.
Nearly half of working parents have looked for a second job and are almost twice as likely to have moved to cheaper cities than employees without children.
Expect to see smaller family sizes moving forward for the next few years.
This is going to hit all kinds of aspects of American lives…many cities are shuttering some public schools as there just aren’t enough kids to fill them (anecdotally, urban dwellers seem to be less interested in having kids these days), and higher ed is facing an upcoming demographic cliff…we’re going to see colleges close because there weren’t enough people born to attend them.
Played out long enough, this could have a huge impact on the American economy. We’ll see it first in China, which has an aging population and fewer young people…but unless we ramp up immigration in the future (or something dramatic changes and we have more kids), this current recession will likely further shrink the population.
[two]
In a week when most of the attention for his anti-semitic remarks (which he apologized for, I think), billionaire mogul Kanye West bought a social media company.
Kanye West, the superstar rapper who has made several inflammatory and antisemitic comments in recent weeks, has agreed in principle to buy conservative social media platform Parler, the app’s parent company said in a statement Monday.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” said West, who now goes by Ye, in a statement released by Parler.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t announced. The company previously said it had raised $56 million in funding from outside investors.
The move comes after Ye was locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts for making antisemitic remarks. In one post, Ye played into a long-standing antisemitic conspiracy theory that fellow rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs is being controlled by Jewish people. On Twitter, meanwhile, Ye’s account was restricted after he said he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
A representative for Ye didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Ye told Bloomberg News that he was motivated to buy Parler after Instagram and Twitter penalized him. He also declined to reveal the terms of the deal to the outlet.
Ye’s net worth is reportedly $2 billion. Much of his fortune comes from his Yeezy sneakers brand and partnerships with Gap and Adidas. However, Ye severed business ties with Gap recently, and Adidas said it’s also reviewing its business relationship with him. JPMorgan Chase also cut ties with the rapper.
West clearly has…issues.
But there’s no denying his creative output or business acumen.
In other news…Kanye is attempting to build a “mini city,” whatever that means.
Despite his bad behavior at times, nothing is slowing West down at the moment.
[three]
As Elon Musk draws closer to owning Twitter…word is he’s going to cut the workforce by 3/4.
Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter’s workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.
Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.
Considering that a video leaked this year in which a Senior Engineer at Twitter admitted to working only four hours per week, a 75% cut may not be that dramatic.
While Twitter has been bleeding users for years, the fading social network still has tremendous power as a conduit for public discourse…the media doesn’t report on Facebook posts to keep the pulse on what’s happening.
[four]
Video may have killed the radio star, as the song goes…but it’s TikTok that’s killing the traditional pop star.
Billboard reports:
Insiders have plenty of theories about why the market for new artists has become more difficult. Chief among them: a deluge of new music. It has become so easy for aspiring artists to release tracks that songs are hitting streaming services by the hard drive-full, making it harder for any single tune to stand out amid the glut. “Due to the sheer number of things coming out, songs that were shoo-ins for being hits five to 10 years ago now have to fight to see daylight,” says veteran producer Warren “Oak” Felder (Usher, Demi Lovato). Even the biggest record companies are taking notice — “If there are 80,000 tracks a day being uploaded on major [digital service providers], then [major-label] market share is going to be diluted by default,” Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer told investors this summer.
In addition, the reach and influence of once-powerful mediums like radio and late-night TV have also declined. (“A No. 1 radio song doesn’t mean fuck anymore,” laments one longtime A&R executive.) Managers say that even marquee streaming playlists don’t have the commercial oomph they had just a few years ago. (“Now, just because you’re in a top 10 slot on a big Spotify playlist, it doesn’t mean your audience is growing,” one manager says.)
The rise of TikTok has complicated matters, too. The platform has become a hit-maker — helping Em Beihold’s “Numb Little Bug” and Nicky Youre’s “Sunroof” climb the charts, for example — but it’s an unpredictable marketing tool, less susceptible to manipulation and less responsive to star power than other platforms. Engineering a viral moment is akin to walking into a corner store and emerging with a winning lottery ticket. “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to what breaks there,” says Justin Lehmann, who manages Aminé and Khai Dreams, among others. “And without breaking there, it’s difficult to say what else can cause a big moment to happen for anybody.”
A world without traditional pop stars will be…fine.
We’ll be fine.
Rewind the early 2000’s, and imagine a world without Backstreet Boys and NSYNC hitting superstar status.
Tweens would find other (probably better) music. The world would continue on.
If it’s the end of the pop star era, music will endure.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup:
Creed III (which could also fairly be called “Rocky IX”) looks amazing, and a solid bounce back from the mediocre Creed II.
This entry into the five-decade boxing anthology marks Michael B. Jordan’s first time filling the director’s chair (while also starring).
Not out until March, which is a bummer…the other eight movies in the series have always dropped around Thanksgiving. I’m a little bummed this one wont’ also be a holiday tradition…
HBO Max is doing a sequel to A Christmas Story. I’ve never sat down and watched the original…so I have no thoughts here. But it seems like a big deal.
Seems like there are less and less comedies these days, so I’ll take a swing on one starring Kristen Bell (The Good Place, Wicked) almost by default.
In theaters in November.
Tom Hanks is doing another one of those “America’s Dad” roles…the target audience here seems to be people who still subscribe to the print edition of Reader’s Digest.
Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing it, eventually. My screen time is so limited at the moment…this one feels more like a “when I get to it” streamer.
MUSIC NEWS: Taylor Swift pretty much dominates culture this week with her new album that leans back into the pop world. Rolling Stone has already named it an “instant classic,” and the overall buzz is pretty incredible, especially considering this is her fourth album in as many years.
Few artists can put out that much music and have fans hanging on to every word of every verse (not to mention obsessing over Swift’s legendary Easter egg game…dropping constant hints and info snippets about the music across social media and interviews).
Until the next one,
-sth