“Be Kind” by Marshmello & Halsey, Thursday, August 10, 2023

This is the fourth entry that Marshmello gets in my blog and the second entry by Halsey. Every time I write about Marshmello, I have a sinking feeling in my gut. It's hard to explain, but writing about music as purely a hobby, I feel like I have acquired a knowledge of music production, commercial performance, and touring--many aspects I've come across in my research for both writing and enjoying music. Looking at the charts and artists listed used to be unsurprising: "Song" Artist/Band Album Record Label. Of course, albums are not always relevant, and record labels are sometimes obsolete for hugely successful independent artists. 

TELL ME WHY YOU GOTTA BE SO OUTTA YOUR MIND. Admittedly, some artists and genres are more fun to learn about. I've thought about sticking to one genre and even avoiding popular music altogether. Popular songs have enough dialogue around them that what I have to say, often late to the game, doesn't add much to the conversation. But then I realized that I didn't have to add anything to the conversation. Sometimes I'm learning, and that's the approach I need to take with what seems like recent song-crediting conventions: listing artists as equal contributors rather than listing a primary artist and a featured artist. Until now, I generally format the chief artist as the singer/band whose album houses the single. For example, While Bon Iver's Justin Vernon starts "exile" in Taylor Swift's folklore, Bon Iver is credited as the featured artist. That seems to be the way that I understood reading song titles since I took up an interest in the music business in the '00s. A side point, though, is that I take issue with featuring a lead singer and crediting the band as a feature unless the band has become a solo project for a new single artist. But duets are tricky, especially if they don't have a parent album.

I KNOW IT'S HARD FOR YOU, BUT IT'S NOT FAIR. But what if the artist doesn't contribute vocals? In 1999, Santana released his massively successful record Supernatural. The hits from the record, though, weren't sung by Santana. Instead, the record was a kind of who's-who of rock, pop, and R&B of the day. The biggest songs, "Maria, Maria" and "Smooth" followed in the tradition of disco DJs billed as the primary artist. But still The Product G&B and Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas are listed as featured artists. Fast-forward to 2020. Halsey includes the single "Be Kind" on an EP titled Collabs and as a bonus track on her third record, Manic. By old music industry standards, it seems that Halsey should be credited as the chief artist, featuring Marshmello, right? But then should we credit every producer as an artist? Anberlin and Timothy McTague and Chad Carouthers? Carouthers does scream on the record, so I have no problem writing uncredited features in the artist line. What if the producer is much bigger. Does it become Rick Rubin & Imagine Dragons? I'm ranting now. I could change position on this, but I think that the role of a DJ/producer is tricky. Marshmello doesn't sing. He produces. Without famous singers, he would be unknown. Also, without song credits, casual music listeners wouldn't know who he is and may not show up at his DJ shows. Again, I have to spend some more time listening to experts on this, but I thought articulating my thoughts so far would be fair use of my blogging time today, rather than digging into the song itself, which is catchy and fine. But just as Marshmello steals Halsey's role as primary artist, that "theft" became the subject of my post today. 

 

Read the lyrics on Genius.