Crystal Chau

Writing 2
Zack De Piero
Is It Acting or Just Affectation?
Imagine todays pop songs. What do they have in common? Is it the constant reassurance
that were beautiful like diamonds in the sky, or possibly that we are so powerful that we
dont need batteries to play? Or is it perhaps that we dont need dollar bills to have fun? In
any case, the songs that dominate the Billboard Hot 100 chartwhether the songs come from the
seemingly fearless and flawless Beyonc to girly and supposedly innocent Ariana Grandeall
have somewhat the same core story to tella story that ranges from a love story to a victim-tovictory tale. Of the multitudes of pop artists that have come and gone, one has taken the initiative
to display the inner workings of the pop industry: Sia. Her new album, This Is Acting, has
sparked discussion and possible reflection on what the consumers demand. Among those
discussions, Billboard, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker have all participated by providing
articles that both praise and criticize the album. And in each of these cases, the critics vary their
style and subsequent tone in order to appeal to their audience.
First of all, the writers noticeably differ in their style and tone. As stated in Navigating
Genres, it is important that the writer considers the context in which the writing is being used
(Dirk 255). Reading through the three articles from different publications, the writing style
changes, causing a shift from a disdainful to a critical to, finally, a didactic tone in the articles
from the publication Billboard, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker, respectively.
In the first article written by Carl Wilson in Billboard, the critic grabs the readers
attention and immediately establishes his disdainful tone as he describes the concept of Sias new

album as a watershed in the publics growing awareness of the way pop sausage gets made
today. From his word choices, readers may wonder what caused the writer to respond in such an
extreme way. This is the reader trying to understand the exigence of the piece. Understanding
the exigence is important because it helps you begin to discover the purpose of the rhetoric
(Carroll 49). The author further develops his tone through words such as banging beats,
onslaught, overwhelming, reject, scrap heap, scattered and forgettable, and
impersonal. With the incorporation of negatively connotative words over neutral ones, the
author conveys his disdain for the album and emphasizes the negative qualitiesprevalent in
some reviews. In addition, the author also ends the article with, That isnt actingits just
affectation, which creates a large impact on the readers just through its placement as the last
sentence of the article. Such a method is befitting a publication such as Billboard that centers
solely around music and the creative process that musicians experience and, in certain times,
suffer through. As a publication that celebrates music, the author adheres to the publications
goals by delivering an article that delves into the musical substance in Sias album. Seeing as
how the entire album was created to a formula with the artist stating, upfront that [the album] is
more impersonal, the author finds that the concept does not excuse the songwriter because,
according to Wilson, David Bowies recent death reminded us how theatrical and contrasted pop
can be without turning glib. This also appeals to Billboards constituents as many of the readers
hold somewhat the same principles as the publication that emphasizes artistry and original work.
Many of the people who read the articles on Billboard, and especially the reviews, expect a
judgement that encompasses the inception of the album, but more importantly the appeal to the
album sonicallypossibly indicating that the readers are music purchasers, which the article
delivered on, stating that five songs [sound] like the scrap heap.

Deviating from the first writers disdainful tone, Jon Dolan from the Rolling Stone takes
on a more critical approach that judges the album, yet keeps a more objective viewpoint. The
author describes the album through such words as strain, perseverance, tensely, utilitarian
versatility, dusky, and outtakes. The writer utilizes terms that possess both positive and
negative connotations, providing a balance in the review that describes the artistic faults and
accomplishments. Unlike the first Wilson, Dolan gives credit to the titanic cathartic chorus and
the mastery of the pop song formula, while critiquing the refrigerator-magnet-level lyrics.
The writer also optimistically examines the rejected songs and understands that Rihanna
mightve been right to dismiss Cheap Thrill, but the lithe party tune couldve done well for a
sprightlier singer like Ariana Grande. The objectivity in Dolans article highlights certain
conventions accepted in the publication, Rolling Stone. Instead of analyzing the album by its
individual parts like Wilson, Dolan values both the concept and songs equally, highlighting the
flaws and achievements of the album thus, taking a more objective route than the first writer. The
somewhat objective viewpoint and a critical tone fit the publications audience as Rolling Stone
publishes works that expand beyond the music industry. In fact, they cover politics, television,
movies, sports, and culture. As a result, the readers of the publication may possibly desire a
broad range of current event topics that encompass popular music, indicating that the readers are
not reading to determine whether to buy the songs or not, but instead to be informed of the world
around them. In So What Who Cares, readers are more likely to keep reading and pa more
attention with a broader range of topic (55).
Unlike the first article and somewhat like the second, Carrie Battans article in the The
New Yorker delves into a purely informative piece where the purpose of the article is to discuss
the album as well as the artist as whole rather than individual songs within the album. Writers

often use diction to appeal to their readers emotions (Carroll 54). The New Yorker doesnt seem
to use this approach. The author develops a didactic tone through relatively neutral words such as
releasing, experienced, appeared, vigor, involuntarily, and nonsensical. Unlike the
other writers, Battan utilizes connotatively neutral words in order to deliver an informative
article that details Sia and her current work without any personal opinions on the artistry. More
importantly, the author also incorporates another fixture in the article that emphasizes the last
two paragraphs that detail the implications of the article. The objective focus on the singersongwriter and the albums concept allows for the author to discuss the piece of work as a
commentary on todays societal culture rather than the appeal to the album sonically. In fact, the
article does not discuss any of the songs. Instead, the article discusses the conception of the
album and the context of the album relative to other performers such as Beyonc and Katy Perry.
This appeals to the audience that subscribes to The New Yorker because they presumably want to
learn of current events as well as their implications to society as a whole. Much like the article in
the Rolling Stone, The New Yorker also writes articles on other industries such as business,
books, and news. With the didactic tone of the article, the author provides a great detail of
general information on the parties relevant to the topic and creates an explicit connection to the
world.
Although the different articles have many differences, the structuring of the articles are
similar. The critics start by describing Sia as anyone wouldby relating her to the strange
costumes she wears as well as the A-list popstars that she has written for. The author then,
discusses her role in the music industry as a writer for many artists, which leads into her breakout
single, Chandelier. The articles discuss the positives of the albumnamely the conception.
Next, the critics discuss the relationship of a song to an artist that it was meant for. Finally, they

discuss some of the faults in the album, specifically the emotionless aspect of the album. This
appeals to the audience because in any review, they are able to first understand the strengths of
the album then, realize the faults in the album that caused such a dip in the rating. Although some
articles focused on the negative aspects while others emphasized the best aspects, each of the
articles gave somewhat of a full picture of what the album entailed.
As these articles stuck to and deviated from their genres conventions to fit their
publication and appeal to their audience, the value of studying these genres became clear. Each
of these articles held some aspect of their genre in order to provide a complete review of the
album. By learning the conventions in the genre and the genre itself, the reader can view the
articles specifically for their purpose such as a review being used to provide both the faults and
accomplishments. In addition, learning about genres also allows individuals to understand about
biases that may arise. Referring back to the reviews, although they detailed both the good and
bad, some writers praised the album while others degraded it, indicating that the reviews should
be taken with an understanding the writers may impart their preferences in reviewing an album.
Another reason to learn about genres is to deliver a piece of writing that appeals to the readers as
well as serves the function of the genre. As a result, anyone who will deal with writing should
learn about genre to deliver a function piece of work as well as understand the uses for each
genre.

Works Cited

Battan, Carrie. "Sia Gives Us What We Want." The New Yorker. 8 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/08/hidden-wonders>.
Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." Writing
Spaces: Reading on Writing. Vol. 1. N.p.: n.p., 2010. 45-57. Print.
Dirks, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing. By Charles Lowe and
Pavel Zemliansky. Vol. 1. N.p.: n.p., 2010. 249-61. Print.
Dolan, Jon. "Sia This Is Acting Album Review." Rolling Stone. 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/sia-this-is-acting-20160115>.
"So What? Who Cares?" Saying Why It Matters. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 92-101. Print.
Wilson, Carl. "Sia Struggles to Find Her Identity on 'This Is Acting': Album Review." Billboard.
28 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/6859156/sia-this-is-acting-album-review>.