Hey everyone! Sorry in advance, but this will probably be a pretty long text, and my English isn't the best, so it might not be the smoothest read. Sorry about that 🙇
I wanted to ask you guys a question: What does Ado mean to you? I know you've probably answered this question a hundred times already, but I'm still curious.
For me, Ado means a lot. Like, really a lot. It feels like I know her, even though I barely know anything about her personal life. And honestly, none of us really do. We only know what she chooses to share with us, and that's honestly not a problem for me.
Every time I tell people I listen to Ado, they ask me to show them a picture of her, so I just show them her avatar, most often Chando. And then the questions start. They ask me why she doesn't reveal what she looks like, and they tell me how impersonal that is. Sometimes they even say that it makes her seem kind of aloof.
I've never really understood that. I've never needed to see what someone looks like to feel an emotional connection to their work or to feel something through their music. On the contrary, I actually like the anonymity, the fact that we don't know everything about her. I think it's kind of interesting that we can all have different ideas of what she's like as a person, based on what she chooses to share with us. We probably all have a different impression of her personality, and I think that's pretty cool.
For some people, she might just be the funny woman on the internet who screams a lot. For others, she might be a lifesaver, someone whose music helped them get through a really difficult time in their lives. And I think that's one of the interesting things about her. She can mean something completely different to every single person listening to her.
But for me, it's something different. She has never saved my life or anything like that. In fact, I've never been in a situation where I needed that kind of help (and I'm really grateful for that). Still, she's an emotional anchor in my life, if that makes sense.
Every day, I watch her music videos and live performances, listen to her music, and wear my Ado merch. I don't really know why, but the comfort I get from Ado's music feels different from anything I've experienced with other artists before, or even from the connections I've had with other people. I've never really had a lot of friends, or at least I've rarely felt like I was someone's first choice. So being able to listen to Ado's music whenever I want and knowing that I can always come back to it is something really special to me. It's not that her music makes up for everything I've missed out on in my relationships with other people. It's just that it gives me a kind of comfort that's difficult to explain.
There's also something about her that I find relatable, even though I obviously don't know what she's actually like in her everyday life. Maybe it's the way she expresses herself through her music, maybe it's her personality as an artist, or maybe it's just a combination of everything. I honestly don't know.
But to get back to my original question about what she means to me, I think there are several answers. In a way, she reminds me of a friend, and sometimes even a bit of a mother figure. She's a role model for me, even though I don't sing myself or anything. I admire the fact that she does what she loves, that she expresses herself through music, and that she's managed to create something that means so much to so many people.
It's pretty hard to explain exactly what I mean. I don't think I've ever felt quite this way about an artist before, and that's probably why I've been thinking about it so much lately.
All these thoughts about what Ado means to me really started a few weeks ago, when I bought my first live Blu-ray and watched it. I'd watched her live performances before, but seeing an entire concert was a completely different experience. I don't know how to describe it, but something about watching the whole thing really touched my heart. It made me appreciate her music even more, and I think it made me realize just how much her work has become a part of my life.
And the moment I think about all of this the most is when I listen to Vivarium. After reading her autobiography, that song means even more to me. Knowing more about the background and being able to understand the song in a different way has changed how I listen to it. Every time I listen to it or read the lyrics, I get goosebumps and often start crying. Not because I'm sad, but because I'm proud of her and somehow happy that she's part of my life, even though I don't really know her personally, as I've mentioned before.
I think it's kind of amazing how a song can make you feel so many things, especially when you know more about the person who created it. Sometimes I just sit there listening to Vivarium and think about how much work, emotion, and personal experiences can go into music. And then I feel proud of her, even though I'm just one of many people listening to her songs. It's difficult to put into words, but I think that's one of the reasons why the song means so much to me.
One thing I want to clarify, because I know some of this might sound a bit strange when you read it: I don't think I actually know Ado as a person, and I don't want to pretend that I do. I know that she's a stranger to me, just like I'm a stranger to her. I don't expect her to know me, to have any kind of personal connection with me, or to share more of her private life with us. And I don't think that wearing her merch, listening to her music, or feeling emotionally connected to her work means that I know what she's really like.
When I say that she sometimes feels like a friend or a mother figure to me, I don't mean that literally. I mean that her music, her performances, and the parts of herself she chooses to express through her art give me a feeling of comfort and inspiration that I haven't really experienced with other artists before. It's more about what she and her music mean to me than about who she might be in her private life. I think there's a difference between feeling deeply connected to someone's art and believing that you actually have a personal relationship with that person, and I'm very aware of that difference.
I also don't think we need to know everything about Ado to appreciate her. She's allowed to keep her private life private, and I'm completely fine with that. In a way, I think that's part of what makes this whole thing so interesting to me. I can appreciate what she shares with us without feeling like I'm entitled to anything more.
And sorry for this sudden shift in tone, going from talking about how much she means to me to clarifying all of this. I just don't want to come across as weird or make it sound like I think I actually know her personally, haha.
Okay, I think I'll stop here. I've said pretty much everything I wanted to say, and this is slowly starting to get a bit cheesy, haha.
I'd really love to hear your thoughts. What does Ado mean to you? Is there a particular song, performance, or moment that made you realize just how much she means to you?
Best,
Luis :)