Chris (Brown) Breezy, the light-as-a-feather teen sensation, is done, and we all know why. When he pummeled/attempted to kill his (famous and beautiful) girlfriend, Rihanna, he surrendered the AIR and PLATINUM LUCK of the figure he cut. All through 2009, Brown appeared on Twitter and Larry King straight-crazy and pleading for forgiveness, lost, dumb, sore, still in love (?), A VILE DESPERADO--we knew him-----he was human (and full of failings)! Before news of that pre-Grammy night of violence, we only understood the Chris Brown of radio songs and photographs and dance routines; After, it was all Chris Brown the violent, Chris Brown the infamous, a man, not a boy, weak and reprehensible, no longer popstar-angelic and impervious.
I don't doubt that Brown will continue to make music and be heard, but in a flash, he's lost hold of an entire future life as an entertainer in good graces. In the eye of the audience, after the crime, he can only ever bear STRANGE FRUIT (....como Bobby Brown).
And, in a fascinating way, his old material, songs released before the battery, have been rendered heavier and sadder.
This morning I listened to "Forever" on a loop. I hadn't noticed before how he can't seem to finish a sentence, commit to a sentiment, get out the words. He says (paraphrased), "We only have one night for forever?" It's a lie. And it's a death...."It's you and me moving at the speed of light into Eternity!" Not a ballad, but a fizzy/confused/catastrophic prophecy.
There's a funny product placement too, the line, "Double yr pleasure/Double yr fun," a reference to his Doublemint gum sponsorship reneged in the fray of the scandal...STRANGE FRUIT