It's kind of hard to deny that kids are just too good these days. I mean just look at this:

Before Willow Smith I can't remember when a bra- I mean child came across as so in control of her faculties concerning "adultness". I mean kiddie groups remained childlike in nature, and dare I say a bit amaturish, no matter how entertaining. But Willow came across as someone twice her age, giving someone like Rihanna a run for her money in the stage presence department.

No 9 year old should be THIS "good". And honestly it leaves many adults conflicted and indifferent. How can we take a 9 year old seriously after all?

Then I came across something recently that had my jaw dropped; Diva Davanna!

Who is Diva Davanna you ask? She's only the worlds youngest (And I say greatest) supermodel. Remember those? Since celebrities started getting top billing on magazines the the Naomis and Cindys became yesterdays news. And the models seemed to roll over and die, seemingly refusing to be interesting. Then comes Diva, who has been modelling since age 4! (ridiculous!) and who now has the poise and attitude that puts ALL OTHERS TO SHAME!

The thing is Diva is a fixture on the drag ball scene, which makes her have the coolest parents on earth or the least responsible. Who takes their kids to perform in drag balls? Her career seems textbook "Toddlers and Tiaras" but despite that she remains acting surprisingly her age. Modelling is obviously a performance for her, and she learned a lot from the balls, things current models seem to be clueless about.

But are the kids just too damn good these days, or should we rightly disregard them? The gay in me LOVES Diva and "Whip My Hair", but what about everyone else? If there's nothing a tween can tell us as adults, should they be ignored, or praised for their professionalism?

Showing up EVERYBODY!

The Belle of the Ball!

As far as Willow Smith is concerned, I grew up in a time where, as far as music was concerned, you judged based off of what you heard, not what you saw. To me, Willow has no substance in her voice whatsoever and the song it silly. In comparison to someone like say Tracie Spencer back in '88. Not only did Tracie have a very good singing voice, she was recording strong material. And about time her second album came out a couple years after that, she sounded more like an adult woman. Can you picture Willow singing "Imagine" with the same emotion Tracie performed it in? I can't. Willow is more of a visual artist, if you will. A singer with substance, she is not. She could be one day but that's not the audience she's going after.

When I was a kid, one time the top song in America was a bunch of dogs barking out "Jingle Bells".

In other words, there have always been gimmick songs.

These images of parents letting their kids grow up too quickly are disturbing. I would say that if I were 23 or 43.

Stymie said:

These images of parents letting their kids grow up too quickly are disturbing. I would say that if I were 23 or 43.

TD3 said:

Stymie said:

These images of parents letting their kids grow up too quickly are disturbing. I would say that if I were 23 or 43.

Sometimes the stuff posted in this forum makes me wonder what is wrong with me.

Never heard that song until now.

Michael Jackson, The Sylvers, Gladys Knight, Stephanie Mills, Brandy, New Edition ...

The current situation is that in a post-BSpears world parents and corporations are promoting marginal and as-young- as-possible talent into "just too good these days" status. And today's "stage mother" seems to be pushing a more adult-like product out of children rather than putting out kid acts. It is so weird to me. There really doesn't seem to be a real and true component of serving the consumer, but rather how can I serve myself. I could cry thinking about how Chris Browna and Justin Beiber and Rhianna and Taylor Swift might be impacting younger talent.

10 seems to be the new 16. It's wrong, plain and simple. Kids should be able to be kids and not worry about their body image, or how cool others think they are.

Let's wait and see how stable Willow is 10 years from now. Can you say "Lindsay Lohan"???

yes, I'm old ... at least my taste in music.
I'm 20 years old, but most of the music I listen to, was released in the 60s - 90s.

I am afraid of 9-10-year-old little kids who look and act like 16-17 year olds. This is absolutely not normal.

kitbradley said:

As far as Willow Smith is concerned, I grew up in a time where, as far as music was concerned, you judged based off of what you heard, not what you saw. To me, Willow has no substance in her voice whatsoever and the song it silly. In comparison to someone like say Tracie Spencer back in '88. Not only did Tracie have a very good singing voice, she was recording strong material. And about time her second album came out a couple years after that, she sounded more like an adult woman. Can you picture Willow singing "Imagine" with the same emotion Tracie performed it in? I can't. Willow is more of a visual artist, if you will. A singer with substance, she is not. She could be one day but that's not the audience she's going after.

THIS!^ And so you know, I miss Tracie Spencer.

Never mind th fact that I'm age 38 in 2012.

Three years ago, I was age 35. At that point in my life, I was "too old" for most of hip-hop/rap and "not old enough" to listen to the blues on a full-time basis.

I'm one of the youngest member of the generation of people known as "Generation X". And my childrood was funk, hard rock/metal, soft-rock, hip-hop/rap and damn nearly all sub-genre with synths such as synth-pop, synth-funk, electro, (Chicago) house, (Detriot) techno, and so forth.

My life as a music fan is at a crossroads. I can either give into the hype that "I'm just too old" OR I can stand my ground and say "I'm too wise AND mature to lower my musical standards in order to condone wack ass/bullshit/mundane tracks that are part of the current pop music culture".

I choose the latter.

I blame that pill popping Britney.

allsmutaside said:

And today's "stage mother" seems to be pushing a more adult-like product out of children rather than putting out kid acts. It is so weird to me. There really doesn't seem to be a real and true component of serving the consumer, but rather how can I serve myself. I could cry thinking about how Chris Browna and Justin Beiber and Rhianna and Taylor Swift might be impacting younger talent.

Yea I definitly agree with this but the sad part is, people suggest that today pop stars dont hold no responsibility. I mean I agree with this but obviously this is something that is impacting today's youth so either parents need to step it up or these kids pop stars parents could maybe mold them into having a more age appropiate image. Its really really sad either way.

So are these kids talented, or does their inappropriateness negate such suggestions?

CynicKill said:

So are these kids talented, or does their inappropriateness negate such suggestions?

There not talented. They use their gimmicks whether its looks or a certain trendy image to market themselves. Any attactive 12/13 year old kid can pretty much have a successful career with minimum talent in todays industry let alone adults.

For myself, I never used to buy music from an artist that was younger than I am with some exceptions here and there, I bought a cassette of The Boys in 88 cause I actually liked Dial My Heart, If the talent and maturity is there a minor teen ( under fifteen ) will shine through. I think its pretty easy to find out what happens to many child performers when they reach eighteen, some are OK and some are burnt out and more. I'll refrain from speaking about the Smith children because I honestly don't care.

I know she's not music but what do you guys think of Diva Davanna?

Talk about inappropriateness (Drag balls at 6, a veteran in modeling at 12!). My mind says no, but my heart says "You WALK Girl!"

It's an extreme version of youth being pushed in the wrong direction. You can't get any younger then modeling at 4.

Another example is Tavi Gevinson. She's this tween fashion blogger that had the fashion world drooling with her "insightful musings", but real fashion writers who had been doing it for years weren't impressed. One such writer (Hillary Alexander) said, "What's next, toddler bloggers?"

I wouldn't be surprised.

I believe that Dina Davanna is an extreme case of too much, too soon but the case of putting a minor in an adult situation is not new , Brooke Shields was twelve when she acted in Pretty Baby and the singer for Bow Wow Wow, Annabella Lwin was fourteen when she posed nude in the recreation photo of Manet's painting, those incidents caused a lot of controversy.

Oh yeah I remember the Brooke Shields controversy well.

Then there's Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver" and who could forget Linda Blair.

TonyVanDam said:

Never mind th fact that I'm age 38 in 2012.

Three years ago, I was age 35. At that point in my life, I was "too old" for most of hip-hop/rap and "not old enough" to listen to the blues on a full-time basis.

I'm one of the youngest member of the generation of people known as "Generation X". And my childrood was funk, hard rock/metal, soft-rock, hip-hop/rap and damn nearly all sub-genre with synths such as synth-pop, synth-funk, electro, (Chicago) house, (Detriot) techno, and so forth.

My life as a music fan is at a crossroads. I can either give into the hype that "I'm just too old" OR I can stand my ground and say "I'm too wise AND mature to lower my musical standards in order to condone wack ass/bullshit/mundane tracks that are part of the current pop music culture".

I choose the latter.

I guess Im been old my whole life,because I never liked current music,with the exception of eurodance music in the 90s.Im 32 now.I remember in highschool taking "music appreciation class"this was around 1996.Our teacher told us to bring music cd's.most kids brought their rap and grunge music.Teacher even played the explicit rap cd's with the door shut and played it on cd player.I brought Donna Summer cd and the class laughed.I was grooving back of the class by myself.

iaminparties said:

TonyVanDam said:

Never mind th fact that I'm age 38 in 2012.

Three years ago, I was age 35. At that point in my life, I was "too old" for most of hip-hop/rap and "not old enough" to listen to the blues on a full-time basis.

I'm one of the youngest member of the generation of people known as "Generation X". And my childrood was funk, hard rock/metal, soft-rock, hip-hop/rap and damn nearly all sub-genre with synths such as synth-pop, synth-funk, electro, (Chicago) house, (Detriot) techno, and so forth.

My life as a music fan is at a crossroads. I can either give into the hype that "I'm just too old" OR I can stand my ground and say "I'm too wise AND mature to lower my musical standards in order to condone wack ass/bullshit/mundane tracks that are part of the current pop music culture".

I choose the latter.

I guess Im been old my whole life,because I never liked current music,with the exception of eurodance music in the 90s.Im 32 now.I remember in highschool taking "music appreciation class"this was around 1996.Our teacher told us to bring music cd's.most kids brought their rap and grunge music.Teacher even played the explicit rap cd's with the door shut and played it on cd player.I brought Donna Summer cd and the class laughed.I was grooving back of the class by myself.

Congrats to you for daring to be true to yourself.