Over the years, I’ve realized one of the best tests for popularity is the support someone receives when the chips are down.
Back in 1990, a band by the name Milli Vanilli were awarded the ‘Best New Artist’ at the Grammy Awards. You might recall them with this song:
Their debut album spawned 5 hit singles and sold over 6 million copies in the United States. The group consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus and like any band or singer that tastes success after their first album, they became overnight sensations.
Just to digress a little — what we assume to be overnight successes, in many cases involve years and even decades of toiling away from the limelight. But in Mili Vanili’s case, they literally were overnight successes and you will see why in a bit.
After their initial over-awing success, the wheels came off their journey very quickly.
The truth was — the duo never sang on the album. Different singers sang and they merely lip-synced. When it came time to head to the studio to record a follow-up to their monstrous debut, the duo insisted on singing instead of merely lip-syncing to someone else’s voice. But their voices weren’t up to the mark, which is why they didn’t sing even on the first album. This forced Frank Farian, their producer (who also incidentally put together Boney-M) to reveal to the world that the entire album was lip-synced.
As expected, the backlash was severe. Their Grammy award was revoked and the label stopped production of the album and the courts went so far as to rule that people who had bought the album could claim a refund.
For the briefest of time, Mili Vanilli was one of the most popular acts around who became unpopular overnight. They attempted a couple of comebacks but nothing really came of them.
Popularity. It’s a word that is misunderstood most of the time. And most of the measures we have for it are utter crap. More likes, more people at your party, more people who suck up to you.
Popular isn’t trustworthy.
Popular doesn’t always mean correct.
Popular isn’t forever.
Popularity can be bought. And faked.
Sometimes, popularity stems from a position or a designation.
The advent of social media has led to the pervasion of false popularity.
All famous people see dips in their popularity. Victory, loss, hit record, flop movie, missteps, all play a role.
Tiger Woods’ popularity sunk after his sex scandal in 2009.
In 2019, he won a Master’s after a decade long drought.
The intervening years weren’t that kind to him. Personal upheavals, painful surgeries and driving while under the influence of painkillers.
His victory saw a resurgence in his popularity.
Or did it?
Had Tiger Woods never won another Masters, he would have still been one of the most popular sportsmen in the world, in spite of all his missteps, trials and tribulations. He fought his trials and tribulations in the public eye and while he might have cheated on his wife and caused her unforgivable grief, he didn’t cheat the sport.
On the other hand, people like Lance Armstrong and Ben Johnson were the most popular athletes in the world at different points in time. When they admitted to cheating, sponsors, fans, everyone deserted him. They will never regain that level of popularity, ever. They built their popularity on a lie and it fell apart when the lie was exposed.
Over the years, I’ve realized one of the best tests for popularity is the support someone receives when the chips are down.
When things are going your way, when you’re hitting all the right notes, popularity is easy to come by.
But what about when things go south when you don’t seem to hit the right notes when it seems as if the walls are closing in you?
In other words — who helps you, stands by you, understands you, when you are feeling or made to feel unpopular?
It is only during these times that you realize how fleeting popularity is. And discover what popularity actually is.
That to me is one of the most effective litmus tests for popularity — help, support, and encouragement when the chips are down.
Seen in this light, authentic popularity involves some level of integrity. But cotton candy popularity doesn’t need any integrity at all.
The people you need on your side are the ones who will turn up for your party as well as the ones who will extend an olive branch to you when you’re slipping.
That’s a much better version of popularity worth striving for.
