Role models

I was talking to a student of mine who wants to be a singer-songwriter.  And in the course of the conversation, he asked me how important it is for an artist to become a role model for the youth.

I was taken aback by the question since it brought me back to the time when I was just starting out. I was 20 and wanted to be a singer-songwriter, too. Our time was an era of rebellion. Woodstock, the Vietnam War and the social upheavals in the Western world were finding their way into Philippine society. And it was also a time of military rule.

As young people then, by default we universally detested “the system” which was created, fed and kept alive by what we referred to as the “military-industrial complex.” We were against war, nukes, fascism and crass commercialism. We wanted peace, free love, the freedom to do anything we wanted. And most of all we loved music.

We saw ourselves as different from our parents. We had different moral values. We were the first generation that was casual with drugs.  We also saw nothing wrong with the idea of couples opting to just live together. Buttons with messages such as “Save water. Shower with a friend” were funny, popular and were generally looked at in a harmless, even positive light. No, not all of us did that. In fact, very few did. But we all openly admired those who were bold enough to do it.

I was young. I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be famous, admired. I wanted to play the guitar and sing well. I wanted fans. But the idea of being a “positive role model” for other people to look up to, admire, imitate did not enter my mind. That thought entered my mind only later, and when it came up a few times, it actually scared me. I was there just for the music, the girls and the good times.

I am well aware that my student who asked the question comes from a different generation. I am 63 now and he is 20. While I am sure that he probably wants the same things I yearned for then — fame, fortune, adulation, girls and all the wild trappings of success, the difference I think lies in his generation’s views on how to achieve all these.

I know I sound really old when I say this, but “during my time” (I hear my mom’s voice in me), we simply made music and hardly thought of the market that would buy our stuff. We assumed that what we liked was what a lot of people also liked. We knew the zeitgeist of the times through gut feel, not via surveys or market reports. We expressed what we felt and recorded the songs with very little pressure from record companies except for budgetary constraints. We did not need to conform to sponsors’ messages. In fact, there were hardly any sponsors.

These days, while most see the youth as seemingly carefree, I see them as more conservative, more uptight than we were. We were non-conformists then. Their need to conform seems greater now. Political and social correctness rule a bigger portion of their lives now more than they did ours then. They worry more about things like their body weight, physical appearance, fashion, social acceptance and have more self-esteem issues today than compared to our time. A lot of them feel they are not thin, or pretty or perfect enough and strive more for some ideal look. At least that’s what it seems like to me.

There is also the lure of materialism and the need to be rich, successful and admired at a young age. I remember my son saying that he felt like a failure because he was 20 and his band had not made it yet. My generation also wanted these but the pressure seems much stronger today to achieve them. And I think this is where my student’s  “role model” question was coming from.

These days, an “idol” must have not just popularity and appeal but also corporate approval and sponsorship. Any singer, actor, or entertainer backed by a big brand can only get more and more popular since their linkage with the product puts them on TV, billboards and corporate ads. In effect, he/she and the brand must ride successfully in tandem. The talent must in many ways be the living testimony of everything good about the brand. He/she must become a role model of sorts to enhance the connection.

In our career as APO, we also made many ads for many sponsors. But the demands were less then. We sang the jingle, endorsed the product through an ad or two, and that was pretty much it. We did not feel that our careers were largely “brought to our audience by” certain products and services. We already had careers even without product backing.  Endorsements merely enhanced them.

To answer my student’s query, I said that more than just being a role model or someone who is admired because he/she appears to be successful and to “have it all,” a real artist must be “true.” By this I mean, the artist must be loyal to his calling, and his conscience. Authenticity must shine through. For example, you can’t say you are for the environment, and endorse products that destroy it.

And there may come a time when, as a public person, you may have to speak out and defend and promote beliefs that may not be shared by the mainstream. You may even find yourself as a lone voice on certain issues. You may have to go against the tide of public approval. You may even have to abandon political correctness and being a so-called “role model” and instead be the only person in the room who is telling everyone an inconvenient truth. It can be scary. But an artist must be true, more than just striving to be popular.

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” These words uttered by writer Robert Hughes are as relevant as ever.

When APO decided then to speak out against the dictatorship, we were scared and daunted by the possible consequences. But we did it anyway. And there were consequences. We were banned from all media and government venues during the last few months that built up to EDSA. We thought it would be forever, but thank God, the dictatorship fell.

Our consolation then was in knowing we were true to the cause we believed in, and that the cause was everyone’s cause as well. I personally looked up to Picasso, Charlie Chaplin, Caetano Veloso, and other artists who spoke out against the fascism that ruled their countries then. I felt I was in good company.

Every artist surely wants fame, wealth and adulation, and that’s okay. But one’s truth and substance must also shine through in the course of his/her career.

No one said it better than singer Queen Latifah did when she said, “I don’t want to be a supermodel; I want to be a role model.”