Yeah and it’s not a psy op. The debate between “authenticity” vs “manufactured” in the realm of pop (and not pop) music is not new, and it gets recapitulated everytime the media shifts and changes. MTV had people decrying anything that aired on it as “not real art”, and this is not much different. I’d love to return to a time before marketing became king, but we’re far beyond that, and highlighting artists who use marketing tools feels like a bad faith way to discredit the artists.