børns: can we separate the music from the musician?

On Monday, October 1st, a friend and I attended Børns' show in Royal Oak, supporting his most recent release "Blue Madonna". We had seen him perform twice before, once at a free acoustic event where we met the singer early on in his career, and the other time at MO POP Festival in Detroit a year or so later.

Now it's 2018 and the singer has gained a substantial amount of followers and fame. A Grand Haven native, he has always received a warm welcome in Michigan. We showed up to the venue around 3pm and by the time doors opened at 7pm there were two massive lines that wrapped around the theater venue.

Around 6pm a Channel 7 News van pulled up and a cameraman and reporter popped out.

"What on earth is Channel 7 News doing here?" I asked out loud.

Covering the controversy, is what I found out. My friend and I had been clueless, hearing absolutely nothing before that moment. Starting around September 25th, multiple girls around the age of 18-20 have come out in saying that Børns had engaged in sexual misconduct with them. Confessions reveal that he preyed on multiple young fans and took advantage of them with his position, knowing they would do anything they want for him.

Børns was even accused of grooming girls around the age of 16, waiting until they had turned of age to initiate a sexual relationship. Although most of the girls admitted that their sexual relationships were consensual, they still believe they were taken advantage of by the pop musician. One report claims that her experience was not consensual. I have read all of the confessions and reports, but I will not dive into detail about them here, but you can read them with a quick google search (which is what I did after the concert).

I discovered all of this information after attending the concert. Before the concert we heard news of the controversy and vowed to look into it after. We had rail near center stage, Børns held my friend and I's hand at one point and we were euphoric. As a performer, Børns is quite the star. Giving off vibes of both Michael Jackson and Elton John with his stage presence and antics.

The set lasted about two hours, vastly covering tunes off of both of his albums and even fitting in two Elton John covers and a beat heavy take on Bowie's "Let's Dance". After the show ended, we returned to our car in a post-gig high. We let the feeling hang for a while before I turned to Google to get an answer for our concerns.

With an easy search as I suggested before, I fell upon the multiple harrowing allegations and was disappointed to say the least. Someone that my friends and I had enjoyed listening to for years and had many good memories tied to was now causing harm to girls and fans around our age. We felt guilty and ashamed for enjoying his concert an hour before, but it really wasn't us to blame.

In today's day and age, it is becoming more and more clear that we can not put our idols and celebrities on the pedestals that we often catch ourselves creating. They are human, and they can be responsible for wrong-doings just like we can. People who defend celebrities when they are accused by multiple individuals are missing the point. This level of power and lack of accountability is what led to the sexual misconduct in the first place.

Now, some people claim that they can separate the music from the musician, meaning, still listen to and support the music of an individual that you don't like, or refuse to support their personal actions. Is this really an answer to the problem? Is there an actual way to separate these two aspects of the music we love? Refusing to stop supporting music that is made by harmful individuals allows them to continue to reap their success and escape the consequence for the actions they have taken.

As hard as it is to give up on music that fans hold very dearly to their hearts, it is time for us to make a stance; this behavior is harmful and you will lose fans because of it. I will no longer be supporting Garrett Børns, until any proof comes out verifying his denial of these allegations. I believe the victims. I can't and won't separate the music from the musician.

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All pictures taken by me.