Recently Trendy is a blog that does take pop culture seriously. It bills itself as “analyzing pop culture - one trend at a time” and pretty much delivers on that line - the blog talks about things like the rise of judged talent shows, the growing demand for tablet computers and the significance of Rebecca Black (of “Friday” fame/notoriety) to the music industry.
It’s a pretty fascinating collection of thoughts and conclusions that I tend to agree with, and seem to make sense. At the very least, Recently Trendy’s blog inspires thought and discussion, which is something I’d like to do with my blog.
Interestingly, though, the blog has no named author. Through the “About Me” section and the footnote on the blog, it’s clear that it is one person, and the author also goes ahead to note that he/she is “not an expert” and most definitely “not a spokesperson for pop culture today”.
In other words, they’re likely doing the posts as an independent exercise for themselves as opposed to an extension of their career or expertise. It’s possible that they do work in the entertainment field, but I never get the sense that this is the case; the blog posts themselves don’t reference the author’s own credentials.
Regardless, I end up not caring because the writing is at times pretty impressive - as solid as many so-called pop culture bloggers that work professionally. I think this is an absolutely key observation for myself and every other blogger that’s trying to write in a field where they don’t have established credibility. Consistently good writing can and will garner attention. Anything average will not.
And I think that Recently Trendy does a pretty solid job of fleshing out ideas or statements with convincing analysis and background. More importantly, the blog does so while using a balanced voice - more personal and casual when dealing with the author’s own subjective thoughts, and more academic when establishing objective points.
For me, the latter is particularly well-done - intellectual, without overt dryness, like in this example:
Voting is an interesting concept since it may lead to some unpredictable and even undeserving results. It takes the basic foundation of a talent show and turn the format into a popularity contest instead. Yet, this is not purely a democratic vote, as most competitions allow the public to vote multiple times for their favourite contestants. Thus, a small but devoted fan base can possibly triumph over the more widely popular candidates. In essence, the votes indicate the level of passion from the fans, rather than serve as an accurate measure of talent or popularity. As such, this faulty system is sometimes disputed by the voters, especially when it leads to surprising eliminations.
Best of all - and thank the blogging gods for this - Recently Trendy’s writing doesn’t tumble into the quagmire of hyperbole and awful, Perez-Hilton-like attempts at sarcasm and humor that so many entertainment blogs tend to. Apparently, some bloggers realize content and information trumps vapid “personality”.
The source of the blog is pretty much a mystery. I think this is an notable tactic used by a lot of bloggers that want to be judged purely for their work, as opposed to being recognized by friends/family and the like. While I can’t say for certain that this is what the author of Recently Trendy is going for, I wouldn’t be surprised, either. It does create a bit of a distance from the reader to the author - I do, in a way, wish I knew this person better, to connect easier. But anonymity is a major element of the internet, and I don’t blame the author for remaining behind the shutters.
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