Hating on What's Popular

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Hating on music that is very popular in the world is really really common. Scorning artists like Drake, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Morgan Wallen, Adele, Billie Eilish, Maroon 5, One Direction, The Weeknd, is so quotidian now that it in itself has become mainstream. 

Yet so many people listen to them. Drake is raking in 41 million+ streams daily, Taylor Swift is accumulating 64 million streams every day and is on track to overtake Drake as the most streamed artist of all time. So clearly people are listening to these terrible, art-destroying, world-ending, glass-shattering artists. 

Numbers don’t lie.

People do.

The numbers show that the 200 decibel loud hate these mainstream artists get is just noise. People bash them from the outside, but secretly? They’re pressing play. The music’s good. That’s why so many people love it. So why do humans do this?

Humans have a habit for rooting for the underdog. Always. No one ever roots for the king, they always root for the poor man who is about to kill the king and take the throne. As soon as the poor man has sat on the throne for 8 seconds, people start hating him. And why wouldn’t they? It always makes for a nice thrill when encouraging the person who has nothing and is going for everything. Cinderella, Oliver Twist, Aladdin. Stories everyone adores and admires and cherishes.

However, if Cinderella had a nice, loving family, the tale would be… quite stale.

So when Drake was on the rise in 2011, recently signed by Lil Wayne, releasing his magnum opus, Take Care, everything was sunshine and rainbows. Everybody loved it. Then he released Nothing Was The Same. Still everyone loved it. IYRTITL was released 2 years later, and it was deemed as an instant classic. Views a year later, and that album broke records. One Dance was being sung by every person you met on the street. Hotline Bling had turned into a viral meme. Everyone knew Drake, and everyone loved Drake. “He’s finally done it! One of the greatest rappers of our generation!”

The poor man had finally taken the throne.

After his 8 seconds, the king released More Life.

“Drake fell off.”

“Drake is a pop star.”

“Drake makes music for girls.”

A year later, he finds himself in a feud with a smaller rapper, Push. Guess who’s side everyone takes?

Drake loses the rap battle, and people are clowning him all around the world. His fans feel betrayed, his haters have found their new favorite artist in Push, and it just seems like it’s over for the man.

Quite literally a month later, Drake releases Scorpion, his new album. It set the record for most streams in a 24-hour period by an album ever. The record was broken in 2021 by — surprise surprise — Drake himself.

The hate and numbers just can’t seem to agree.


Whenever someone is on the climb, everyone cheers them on. Because it’s exciting. 

“I could be that guy. I could be the guy on the rise.” 

Because people see themselves in those underdogs. They could literally be the guy on the rise. Humans in general can relate more to the little guy. The little guy is one of the people. But when one person makes it to the top but the rest of us are still stuck down here? Can we feel happy for the king?

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