I think Russ believes everything in life has some magic formula. Like if he says the right words to the right person they'll just be like "ok here's fame and fortune" and he'll get everything he wants.
I think it’s more that Russ believes somewhere there is a shadowy panel of powerful white men (no women or saggy thugs) who decide who becomes a celebrity and who does not. Like the AGT judge panel, but for Hollywood in general.
They gatekeep and refuse auditions to the Not Beautiful And Not Shallow People, only granting an audience to you if you’re a friend of some celebrity. You have to work for years to meet someone who knows them, and only THEN can you get an audition and be declared Good and Famous and have contracts rained down on you.
If Russ could JUST find a way to skip the unfair line and the pointless slog and JUST get his songs in front of this heavily-guarded panel, they’d see he was great and give him a Contract For Fame And Pussy. He just needs five minutes in front of them
to explain.
That’s been his mantra for everything. He just needs to EXPLAIN to the judge what really happened. Judge thinks he’s a sex pest? Obviously not the highest authority so he needs to find the BETTER more IMPORTANT judge to explain. Girl won’t give him the time of day? He just needs to EXPLAIN himself, he needs to get into her house and lock her dingus Chad bf outside so he can have a chance to EXPLAIN.
Russ thinks whomever is against him is just keeping him from finding the correct authority figure or ultimate person in a position of decision-making power to EXPLAIN himself. He thinks he’s being constantly held back by those who refuse to tell him who the Shadow Fame Panel are, simply because he has fishface.
It’s why he refuses to start local and small with his “music.” Russ has no fucking idea how the industry works...starting local, gaining valuable experience performing and testing your material, earning a following, learning the hard life of constant travel for shows, branching out to meet other musicians, getting slowly bigger and doing more shows while building a fanbase, eventually through all of this you prove to record labels that people already WANT your music, you’re a hard worker and you’re worth a deal...not because you say so but because the evidence is already there.
Russ thinks all small bands and musicians just play themselves in circles at the local level, until one of them happens to bump into a man who knows The Shadowy Fame Panel and can make an introduction, like joining the fucking freemasons. No local fans, no experience necessary, no ability to show you can work on a tough touring schedule, no evidence people LIKE your music and want to pay money for it...fuck, you don’t even need TALENT, according to Russ. nope, you just meet that rare man who knows the handshake and, much like Taylor Swift, fame is dropped into your lap with no effort at all.
He thinks it’s normal he wants to skip all that and audition directly for labels, because it seems like an unfair system. And yeah, it WOULD be an unfair system, if that was actually how it fucking worked.
Note he always says, “so and so tiktok video, why do they GET to be famous? Why do they get MADE famous? They’re rubbish!” He really thinks it has nothing to do with a million people feeling a connection to that video, loving it, faving it, passing it on, talking about it, that made it viral. No, someone
decided that person would be famous. Decided to MAKE them famous. The Shadow Fame Panel strikes again!! Why do they never choose Russ??
He also doesn’t see the diff between VIRAL and FAMOUS. He equates your name in the paper with A list celebs.
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