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The above image is a quote that I’ve been mulling over for awhile. Adele saying that she doesn’t make music for eyes but for ears has some practical errors but it also has some ideological ones as well.

Whether Adele (who I always want to pronounce ah-dell-AY for some reason) knows it or not, you really can make music for the eyes. It’s the same way that a master chef can make food for the eyes or how Febreeze can make a scent for the eyes.

Or a taste of the ear, right Mike?

Image, dear Steinman, counts for a whole lot in the entertainment industry. ESPECIALLY in the entertainment industry. What you look like, what you do, where you go, your respect for authority and a good deal of other factors contribute to how you’re viewed by the general public.  It’s been true long before movie stars and rock stars started showing up in newspapers and tabloids. And it’s especially important when you’re representing a group of people – they want to know that most if not all of what you do aligns with their values.

I know I’m less inclined to listen to the Justin Bieber even before I listen to his terrible music. No matter how slowed down it is. I know this because of the way he’s presented and because of the people that listen to him. It’s all a part of the image. You can already picture the rocker dads that listen to the new Van Halen stuff or Chickenfoot because of the way they look or even just their age.

Which brings us back to Ah-dell-AY. She makes music for ears. She might even mean that she makes music for ears. But even by saying that she makes music for ears, she’s not making music only for ears anymore. I would go so far as to say that doing that is impossible. Making any kind of statement about what you do innately changes it in the eyes of your consumers regardless of whether they’re fans of the music you make or devourers of the food you cook.

So what does it mean when Ah-dell-AY says that she makes music for ears? That either she wants to believe that she does or that she wants you to believe that she does or both. That’s her target market – people who want to believe that music can be made without all the flashy, sometimes gaudy, production that a lot of pop music gets today. People who want to believe that a person can be beautiful without getting Photoshopped into a two-dimensional figure. Hell, lookit Ah-dell-AYs eyes

Can't... look... away...

See how the left one is a little bigger than the right? That’s something that can be easily removed with Photoshop (it’s probably been a little altered anyways) but it was left in for this picture. Because SHE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT! SHE’S ABOUT THE MUSIC NOT THE LOOKS! SHE’S LIKE YOU AND ME!! Nothing that can be considered genuinely ugly, but something to show she’s real and honest. Just little flaws like you’d find in handmade dishes.

Adele hopes that you’ll see her face and be reminded that her music comes from the heart.

There’s nothing really wrong with it. Every musician you hear has varying degrees of image grooming from Ah-dell-AY to Chickenfoot to Corb Lund to Skrillex to Johnny Cash to System of Down to Justin Bieber. It’s simply common practice.

So next time someone says something like ‘making music for the ears’ or ‘music that cuts through the bullsh*t’ or any number of cliches, remember it’s all part of how they want to define themselves and how they want you to see them.

What type of dining set defines you as a person?