I didn't mean to, okay? I didn't mean to cause any harm or pain or suffering or anguish. And I pray that I have not contributed to anybody's therapy bills, but it is what it is.

Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you are doing well. It seems that I have a big sorry to give here today on the channel to one particular artist. That would be modern RnB and pop legend Sza. Yes, I have to apologize directly to Sza. I am sorry because she recently took to Instagram in the comments on a Reel.

So yes, I guess in Sza's Reels algorithm, turned up this video of me being 'sung at' by social media phenomenon, Harry Daniels, who was getting revenge on me for the Swift community for giving Taylor Swift a negative review on her latest album.

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Very interestingly, in the comments of this reel, Sza turns up saying that I dragged and scarred her into being a better artist and that Harry should get me again, maybe sing at me twice, maybe at some point in the near future with a Sza song, who knows?

But yes, this Sza comment, even if it is partially in jest, is one of the most interesting public statements an artist has ever made about me, because the idea that through my reviews, I have scarred and traumatized and beaten and torn down an artist into improving their work is crazy. An incredibly high honor to hear from somebody who is as talented and as impactful as Sza is, especially off her latest full-length LP, SOS, which, looking for my writer's credit on this album, I'm sure that's coming very soon.

This comment has made me think about the significance of criticism in the modern day when it comes to the contemporary music landscape and the range of opinions that I see about criticism out there every day, as you really have a wide range of perspectives on the issue. I mean, not just Sza here, taking my reviews in a way that aren't necessarily intended.

I mean, I don't make my criticisms per se for artists to take them in and essentially get pointers off of them. Not that they couldn't be used in that way, but my audience, the one that I have in my mind when I make my reviews, it's really more for just general music fans who are looking for some new stuff to listen to, or maybe an alternate dissenting or validating opinion on something they've already heard that hopefully, and I've said this many times before, gives them some pause when it comes to what it is they're listening to, why they're listening to it, why they like it, why they dislike it.

So there's Sza. Then there's what I see as the vast majority of people enjoying what I do on a regular basis and just getting whatever they get from it very silently, very chill, engaging in what I do in a very low-key way, who are obviously using my work on some level to give them some, I guess, guidance through this very wide world of modern music. Because right now there is a ton of saturation out there when it comes to new records and songs and singles. And I imagine for anybody who's not knee deep or neck deep in this stuff, it can be pretty overwhelming.

Like, what the heck do you even listen to? What's prevailing? What's trending? What's actually hot and interesting? And what's just astro-turfed out there? Because the algorithms these days push a lot of stuff in people's faces that actually isn't all that good or popular. And sometimes putting an actually discerning human with two brain cells to rub together in the mix can actually allow for separation of the good stuff from the bad, the stuff that's organically catching on from the stuff that has a push that is more artificial.

So I would hope on some level for these people, I am cutting through the noise a little bit. At least that is my goal, and I think that could or should be the primary goal of a music reviewer music critic these days to give a sense of curation. Again, a bit of a guide for listeners to essentially tell them what is worth their time and maybe what isn't so much.

So there's that group of people. Then there are the fans who are much more passionate and sycophantic about what I do, who will very quickly come to my defense or the defense of my opinions on various things, which love you and appreciate you and it's cool that you do what you do. But it is important to remind you guys that I'm just literally one guy with an opinion. You don't need to take anything I say as gospel or anything like that. I'm not the be all, end all when it comes to music thoughts.

And the only thing I truly am an expert in is just what I like and what I don't like. Sure, that doesn't take away from the fact that there's a lot of effort and focus and research that goes into what I do on a regular basis. But still, much of the time, I would rather you obsess over the artist I highly recommend as opposed to me.

And then finally, there is another very loud vocal group of people out there who, especially on Twitter, will regularly tell you that all my opinions are trash, my videos are horrible, my takes are the worst thing to ever happen to music, and most importantly, I'm completely irrelevant, and there's nothing important about anything that I do, and maybe I've even fallen off. Which is an interesting take because that would mean that I was, I guess, at least relevant at one time.

I feel like this particular group of people is important to acknowledge because out of all of these subsections, they are the most incorrect. By what metric I'm actually having less impact, I don't know. But also a lot of these individuals tend to run pretty young and often Stan rappers and pop artists that they're not even going to be listening to once they graduate high school. In fact, over and over and over and over, the groups of people that I hear this opinion from the most, that my music opinions are not relevant, that music opinions generally are not relevant, are those who have just dug themselves into the trenches of a super specific Stan niche for either an artist or a trend that is going to crest eventually.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, you don't have to vibe with or agree with my opinions, but let it be known that opinions and takes and criticism of music, I think, is more important and more significant than ever. Not to say that we are living through a time and through a culture where it is supported well or facilitated. Obviously, music publications are struggling. It's more difficult than ever to actually make it as a critic in a lot of respects.

And the voices and those commentators who do actually get a bit of momentum, a lot of them end up taking offers from record labels to help support and promote certain artists or our album cycles. A trend that is getting increasingly, increasingly more popular, and in my view, is making it more and more difficult to actually take a lot of opinions that I see out there seriously because these conflicts of artists aren't really being considered in the ways in which I think they should be.

But with all that being said, there's a lot of opinions out there, and there's a lot of people consuming those opinions, be it through a tweet, a TikTok, a podcast, or or even a YouTube video essay. Just because music reviews and music opinions predominantly aren't taking the same format form they were at one time when it was Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, ruling at the top of the hierarchy, now everything is a lot more broken up, decentralized, a lot more individuals, attaining some guru status on social media as opposed to a faceless publication.

Just because it's more difficult to keep your finger on the pulse of all of it because there's more to keep track of, that doesn't mean that music reviews and music criticism and music takes aren't still significant and important and still don't carry weight and still don't gain momentum. I mean, the world of music itself is fragmented in a lot of similar ways, too. But even with that being the case, we don't look at music and say, 'Oh, music, it's just not as relevant as it used to be. Nobody cares about music anymore.' That's just a silly take.

With that being said, again, Sza, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scar you personally, but I am happy to have had some positive impact if I did.

And of course, thank you guys for watching. I really appreciate that. Let me know down in the comments what your current day thoughts on the importance of music reviews and music criticism are. Are you an artist? Have I scarred you through my reviews of your work? And also, as a music fan, have I scarred you with any of my reviews on a various artist's albums? Let me know. I'm sure you will. You guys are the best.

Anthony Fantano, scars, forever.