'Almost Famous' is not real life

Big Day Out held a media accreditation competition with the prize of interviewing the artists and in the description they said "like Almost-Famous style". With this film reference, I assumed they were allowing 16-year-olds to enter since the protagonist of 'Almost Famous' was sixteen and writing for Rolling Stone. The requirement was to write a music review of Arcade Fire's 'Afterlife' and at that time I knew nothing about Arcade Fire but I thought I may as well give it a go. I worked hard on this review with 'Afterlife' continuously on repeat.  I also delved into the background of Arcade Fire through wikipedia, youtube and other magazine articles. There were moments where I just thought, "do I even bother?", and I hadn't even finished the review by the day entries were closed. On the day I planned to submit it, I read the terms and conditions where I discovered I didn't meet the criteria. I wasn't 18 years old and I wasn't living in Australia. I was conflicted, "Do I or do I not send it in?", but I realised it would have been a waste if I didn't submit it. 

Heres my review:

Afterlife - Arcade Fire

The veterans of alternative music have effortlessly revived the Internet hype once again with their dance-rock fusion, Afterlife, clocking more than 1,000,000 youtube views in less than 2 weeks of its release. There’s been immense pressure for Arcade Fire to meet the high expectations of fans and critics after the release of the Grammy award winning album, The Suburbs. Patient fans shall be in for a pleasant surprise with the unpredictability of Afterlife and its genre-bending disco beats, Haitian inspired rhythms and resonating 80s synth. The song’s energetic pulse is complimented by the angelic backing vocals and Win Butler’s hushed voice that could easily be mistaken for Morrisey’s.  The ascending sequence of punchy French horns leads to the pinnacle before it suddenly dies down to the outro.  As Afterlife closes, Arcade Fire cleverly mimics a heartbeat as if someone is on life support, relating back to the song title. Butler’s melancholic singing comes into play, “its just an after life”, while he comes to terms with death over the minimal instrumentation – leaving a haunting impression on the listener. In 2013, we live in a culture obsessed with dance music for some unexplainable reason and Arcade Fire has showcased their ability to adapt to the current market in order to remain competitive and relevant. They have done this without selling their soul to the devil but with integrity as they remain loyal to themselves and their fans.

Almost a month later, I received an email informing me that I was finalist for the competition but I had to give them my details. 16 years old and living in Auckland. Obviously ruined my chances of winning but I'm proud that I was even a finalist since the entries would have been works of university students. They haven't announced the winners yet but I'm kind of hoping/wishing that they think my review is too good to dismiss and then they would give me the opportunity to be 'Almost Famous'.

- freak out

p.s. I know music journalism is dying.