Something is in the air in 2024. People seem to be feeling bolder every single day, and these opinions are being openly expressed online. There is no such thing as privacy or something being none of your business. Everything is being aired out and no one is safe. From Dave Grohl to Taylor Swift, and even Linkin Park, every genre has experienced its own increase of artists being cooked.
Starting off strong, the chaos of rock and roll is officially back. That’s not a good thing, by the way. Rock’s resident “good guy” has consistently been Dave Grohl, the lead singer of Foo Fighters and former Nirvana drummer. Outside of his renowned musical abilities, it didn’t seem difficult to speak highly of Grohl as a human being. However, once again, the internet’s trust is shattered to pieces. On September 10, 2024, Grohl announced through an Instagram post that he was fathering a child outside of his marriage. In 2003, he married Jordyn Blum and has three daughters with her.
The news came as a shock to the family. In the post, he preaches receiving forgiveness and giving support to his family, while also being a loving parent to the newborn. It is unknown who the mother of the child is.
It doesn’t end there! A porn site owner, Annaliese Nielsen, publicized her fifteen-year affair with Grohl just a few days after. The two pursued a secret relationship without Grohl’s wife or daughters having any knowledge of them. While Nielsen is not the mother of the new child, this news digs an even bigger hole for him to attempt to crawl out of. The heartbreak of Grohl not being the gem that the world thought he was has been real.
The problem with the music industry and the fan bases within it is that there is no telling when someone is going to face serious backlash or not. Something that could seem problematic to one person is a harmless joke to another. Country music has been dealt this card with the emergence of Morgan Wallen. Wallen continues to sell out stadium shows despite multiple felonies and incidents.
In April of this year, Wallen launched a chair off of the sixth floor of a bar in Nashville. The chair only missed police officers standing below by a few feet. He was arrested and charged with three felonies. However, the pattern of zero consequences continues and his tour goes on. It feels like there are little to no repercussions when someone famous does stupid and dangerous things. The lack of cooking from the fans and picking and choosing when to care about problematic issues can be concerning.
The pop music scene is currently booming with iconic women. Performers like Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae, Olivia Rodrigo, and Chappell Roan, hold an immense amount of popularity and talent in the industry. However, whether you love or hate her, there is no conversation about the music industry without Taylor Swift.
This past weekend, Swift attended the 2024 U.S. Open with her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, along with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and his wife, Brittany Mahomes. Swift and Mahomes attended many of the Chiefs games last season and their bond has grown. They are often pictured at the games hugging each other in celebration or engaged in conversation.
Brittany Mahomes has been under fire recently following a Donald Trump Instagram post that she had liked. So, when Swifties see Brittany hanging around and hugging her, they immediately assume that Swift is endorsing Donald Trump and JD Vance. Reasonable, right? No, because immediately following the backlash and right after the Presidential Debate this September, Swift officially announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on Instagram.
Many social media users assumed that Taylor Swift was cooked, which is nowhere near the first time she has been the target of hate and negative criticism. Practically the entire male following of the National Football League has taken it upon themselves to cook her in every comment section, although I’m pretty sure their efforts haven’t gotten very far. Swift continues to maintain her own views and opinions regardless of her friendships.
In 2017, the metal music scene lost one of its most influential voices in Chester Bennington. The frontrunner of Linkin Park is widely regarded as one of the greatest vocalists in the music industry, gaining recognition outside of the band’s genre.
On September 5, 2024, Linkin Park announced that they would be releasing new music and touring with Dead Sara singer Emily Armstrong. For many fans, it was a difficult pill to swallow. It’s hard to see a band move on from one of their key members. Maybe it is too soon and there is still grieving to be done, or it could be viewed as dismissive of the struggles and ultimately the death of Bennington.
Following the announcement, fans took a deep dive into researching Armstrong. Who could possibly replace Bennington and why was she the one chosen to fill that role? Well, the findings were quite notable. First, there are instances of her publicly supporting Danny Masterson, an actor who was found guilty of rape on two counts. Armstrong released a statement a few days after the uproar and claimed that her stance on the case was taken before the verdict or evidence being released. I think I speak for everyone when I say that it doesn’t make a ton of sense to stand on business before having any knowledge of a situation.
Anyways, if that wasn’t bad enough for people, fans also found out that she is a Scientologist. She is unable to speak out on the topic because Scientology is known to have cult-like qualities, so members are not to talk about it publicly. None of this information has sat comfortably for Linkin Park fans, therefore “cooking” any possibility the band has to move forward.
There is no fulfilled discussion on musicians being “cooked” unless the Drake versus Kendrick beef is mentioned. So, here it is.
Drake being a shady person has not really been a secret over the years, but the extent of it wasn’t fully understood until Lamar began releasing diss tracks on him. The first track came as a feature on the Metro Boomin and Future song, “Like That.” He took multiple shots at Drake’s career and work but presented them in a way that didn’t directly declare Drake as the target. In response, Drake released two diss tracks. If you are like most other people, you don’t know what these tracks are called because they did not hold up very well.
Things officially hit the fan when Lamar dropped four consecutive tracks, “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” “Meet the Grahams,” and “Not Like Us.” All of these targeted Drake as publicly and loudly as they could have. The lines in these songs outed Drake’s history of pedophilia and hiding another child of his on social media. “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us” in particular trended heavily on TikTok and the charts, so people who don’t listen to hip-hop were still made aware of Drake’s actions.
On September 8, 2024, the National Football League and Apple Music announced that Lamar would be playing the Super Bowl LIX Halftime show in New Orleans. Congratulations, Drake! You are scheduled to be burnt to a crisp on one of the largest stages in the world.
Whether it’s in the air this year or if this is the new normal, these artists will have to find some nearly impossible methods to push past the controversy and rebuild their fanbases. With all of these scenarios taken into consideration, there is only one question left to be asked – chat, is the music industry “cooked?
