Does pop exploit children? Ex-boy band superstar Liam Payne has died suddenly after a struggle with celebrity lasting 15 years. Some say that this tragedy could have been prevented.
The boy band star with the X factor
Does pop exploit children? Ex-boy band superstar Liam Payne has died suddenly after a struggle with celebrity lasting 15 years. Some say that this tragedy could have been prevented.
What do you want to be when you are older? In childhood, many of us secretly nurse hopes of becoming stars - celebrity singers, dancers, actors. A life of celebrity promises glamour, popularity and riches.
But for those exclusive few who live the dream, the spotlight can too easily become a prison. Stalked by paparazziPhotographers who take photos of celebrities as they go about their normal lives to sell to newspapers and magazines. and hounded by the gutter press and fans, there is no turning back to a normal life.
Liam Payne, who rose to fame as a teenager after turning heads on the British talent show The X Factor, was one of fame's victims.
He dreamed of celebrity from a young age in his Wolverhampton bedroom with bunny rabbit curtains. On Wednesday, he died falling from the balcony of his hotel room after a long struggle with fame.
Payne was a member of the superstar pop boy band One Direction. Music executive Simon Cowell created One Direction by bringing together five young singers to compete on The X Factor: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne.
They played more than 300 shows, sold out four world tours, made four albums that hit No.1 on the Billboard 200, and won 28 Teen Choice Awards. They inspired a vast fandom made up of millions of - mostly teenage - devotees.
It was the kind of success that Payne, as a bright-eyed 14-year-old taking a taxi to The X Factor auditions, could only have dreamed of. But fame had a dark side too. It made heavy demands. The tabloids were ruthless, and the pressure to release new music was intense.
Payne later revealed that at the height of the band's fame he had struggled with substance abuse and mental health problems. After his rise to celebrity he struggled with agoraphobia - the fear of leaving his house.
Payne is not the first victim of early celebrity. Britney Spears1, Demi Lovato2 and Justin Bieber have all opened up about the harmful effects of becoming famous as teenagers, from exploitation by studios to harassment by fans. Child stars are treated as commodities to generate as much profit as possible, they say.
Does pop exploit children?
Yes: Children in the pop industry are treated as cash cows, made to work long hours and undergo huge stress to make a profit. There needs to be far better protection, and studios and press alike need to undergo more scrutiny in their treatment of child celebrities.
No: There are plenty of happy and well-adjusted former child stars who have continued their fruitful careers long into adulthood. There will always be people who struggle with fame, and people in their close circle should ensure that they are safeguarded, but it is not an endemicCommon to a particular place or community. fault in the industry.
Or... Child stars in every industry should be banned. Children's brains are not fully developed and they cannot make rational decisions about what level of fame and scrutiny they want to live with for the rest of their lives.
Keywords
Paparazzi - Photographers who take photos of celebrities as they go about their normal lives to sell to newspapers and magazines.
Endemic - Common to a particular place or community.
The boy band star with the X factor
Glossary
Paparazzi - Photographers who take photos of celebrities as they go about their normal lives to sell to newspapers and magazines.
Endemic - Common to a particular place or community.