Reply To: JoCo in the Media
The quote links to JoCo’s listening suggestions, which lists “Baby Got Back” as fourth under “4 Most Popular,” which is a reasonably objective criterion. There are five other categories beyond “Popular.”
Addressing the rest of the article, much of the controversy is the race thing, and Jonathan knew he was walking into that when he released the song. His cover is self-deprecating in that it emulates a style of music (soft rock) which is not only characteristically white but is also several decades out of fashion. He’s not just being very, very white; he’s also being very, very unhip. The author of the article is suggesting that white performers feel a need to whiten these songs up in order to make them palatable to white audiences. Does she seriously think that white people are still sitting on avocado-upholstered furniture in shag-carpeted, wood-paneled dens, listening to soft rock on 8-track players?
Its apparent respect for the source material and the seriousness of Jonathan’s delivery are all the funnier given that the source material doesn’t go out of its way to take itself seriously in the first place; indeed, covering a light-hearted, casually disrespectful song in a sensitive, soulful manner adds significantly to the humor.
What’s funny — and really, the point was to be funny — isn’t just a white guy playing urban music “seriously.” What’s funny is a white guy playing urban music in a manner which isn’t merely white but anachronistically, unfashionably white, and playing a song which isn’t the least bit serious with completely inappropriate seriousness.