Today's post, I'm afraid, is little note regarding the Justin Timberlake devotees who have been getting their fangirl panties in a twist and, more annoyingly, cluttering up my inbox. A lot of you have been stamping your feet in a petulant tantrum over my JC Chasez review. I wasn't going to respond, since obviously people who say things like "she wants to have his babys (sic)" aren't likely to be engaged by multi-syllabic arguments, but then I realized this can double as a general point about what I blog and why.

1. I am not of the 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it' school of cultural commentary. Just as it's the artist's choice to make an irritating prat of themselves with falsetto warbling and inane ballads, so too is it my perogrative to express my intense disdain at the whole spectacle. Saying I "shouldn't" criticize an artist or their output moves us into a criteria of eligibility and, even worse, poses the question of my 'right' to hold and express an opinion. From there on in it's a whole messy region of censorship and justification and... Yawn. Go read some Mill, and challenge my right to expression when you've formed a proper opinion that doesn't consist of "But I don't like it!"

2. or, On Why I'm Entitled to Mention Justin in Reference to JC.
No pop song exists in a vacuum. I write these pieces on anything that inspires my unerring devotion, the reasons ranging from lyrics to bridge hook, video or red carpet antics. So you think a "proper critic" should be able to talk about one artist without "dissing" another? Well boo hoo. Considering their comparative shift into the post-boyband era, it's more than legitimate to deconstruct JC through analysis of the dichotomy existing between the respective career arcs of he and Justin. And furthermore, since they both prattle on about the topic so much, it's not such a mind-boggling leap that I should base my review on a speculative comparison of their sexual prowess.

3. Critic or Fan?
This seems to matter an awful lot to you all; apparently it being a devastating injustice if the review is circulated under the guise of my being a 'real' critic rather than this simply being a fan blog. Well, I'm both. This blog is where I muse on pop songs that I adore, that lift themselves from the barren wastelands of the charts and into my vibrantly beating heart. By very definition of their inclusion, I am necessarily a fan. Yet I am also a published critic. Wow, it seems that they aren't mutually exclusive terms!

And finally...I really won't loose any sleep over the general consensus that JC would hate that review. My writing is for my own enjoyment; any feelings provoked on your part is simply a bonus.

There. To the rest of you, I apologise for the temporary raising of tone. You can rest assured I won't do it again, since the entire reason I began this blog was to escape from the need to intellectually justify my enjoyment of pop in every damn review.

Happy Holidays.