WEAPONDEREPLAY

You might not remember me, and I don’t mind that at all. I mentioned something about Broken Hearts and Torn Up Letters and the Story of a Lonely Girl being mystically written about me. I don’t expect that to be something that sticks out to anyone, but, I’m digressing from my point here. 

I’ve been reading a lot about how people are assuming you’ve put yourself on a pedestal and how they assume you are extremely arrogant. Most people know you are not. However, I have come to discover that there is a certain arrogance that is associated with celebrity that many people just can’t escape from. It’s the ‘oh, he’s famous, he must be an asshole!’ syndrome that everyone - maybe not everyone, I’m just generalizing - seems to get the impression of when they are discovering celebrities. It’s a natural reaction from most people to assume that because someone is famous, that person must be smarter than they are, they must be mean and snotty and diva-ish and they must not give two fucks about their fans. It’s a pretty good assumption, I’ll give them that. 

However, that being said, it’s also a very stupid assumption. And now for my reasoning on this subject. One, celebrities have no shot at anonymity anymore. They are trapped in the lime light for the rest of their lives or until people lose interest. Paparazzi follow them everywhere. They have fans who are stalkers. They suddenly find that they have no privacy at all. So, many become assholes to make the paparazzi go away. That is not a reflection of how they treat their fans, it’s not a reflection of who they are. It’s just a reaction to the sudden evaporation of any semblance of personal privacy and anonymity they might have had. Self-defense, if you will. 

Now, you are a different breed entirely. You haven’t let fame really get to you. Yes, you have learned to live with it, even use it advantageously to advertise what you might be doing next. For that, I commend you. You have never deviated from who you are or what you want to say. You come across as intelligent, talented and outspoken. You aren’t arrogant. You actually do treat your fans very well - I have a friend who has met you a few times and she told me you were very, very kind, which is more than I can say for some. You get defensive when people try to knock you off the pedestal they put you on; they forget you’re a person too, just like they are. It’s just something people tend to forget. It’s like a switch flips and suddenly, celebrities are no longer people. They’re now your favorite soap opera, and honestly, that isn’t how anyone should be treated, so I thoroughly applaud you for not letting it get to you - or at the very least, not letting it show that it does. 

I sincerely hope you continue to stay true to your own path and to who you are, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing the songs that say what I have wanted to for years. You truly are a hero, and I wish you the best of luck. 

-Ari.