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Life is happening
And I've been practicing
But hype and packaging
Are always trapping me

Hype and packaging - the permeating loud glittery grease of any capital exchange - can be hard to escape. We are constantly made to participate in the process: first dates, interviews, album releases, campaigns, news feeds, family reunions. Our social / artistic / political / occupational successes are less and less a result of quality and innovation, and more and more a derivative of hype and packaging. What do artists usually wear to an opening? Did my shoes make an impression? Do I look good on a tiny screen? What hashtags will expand my base?

At their best, hype and packaging are necessary evils: wheels for the smooth, consensual delivery of content. But left to their own bloated devices, hype and packaging become bookends with no books, artists' statements with no art, singers with no songs, icing with no cake, beautifully presented nothingness. In the immortal, agonized words of Bobby Hill, "My sloppy joe is all sloppy and no joe!" Without the meat, we land on unhealthy extremes like focus group-bred artists, career clickbait writers, eternally unresolving politics, competitive quote culture, crowd-funded trust fund babies, and self help sequels. --JD