Jens Lekman Discusses MySpace Entrapment

The Swedish singer-songwriter tells all about his online social networking habits, courtesy of his official journal (thanks for the heads up, TLOBF!): *Jens Lekman is now 23 years old and lives in the United States, he’s single and his starsign is Taurus. I finally cancelled my MySpace account some time ago and someone grabbed it instantly. Get to know the younger American me: www.myspace.com/jenslekman

I abandoned MySpace back in February, or rather kidnapped it to my own domains. I felt it was an insult to everything I loved about popmusic. Everything that is unique and personal. I really tried to do something with it, I tried an audio diary, I tried communicating with people, but in the end the communication just felt so stupid and meaningless. And I can’t help but feel like it’s really designed for this purpose. I mean you don’t sell cellphone signals to people who are discussing something creative or intelligent. I started feeling like a stock trader rather than a human, watching strange faces flicker by and clicking on the add button, add, add, add…. I have 12.442 friends how many friends do you have ? Maybe I was aiming a bit too high, maybe MySpace simply is what it is - a giant billboard where you can write your name in the corner. I’m not too concerned with it, the whole Rupert Murdoch deal and all that, I just decided it was the opposite of Jens Lekman and so I left, I didn’t even slam the door behind me. But something so uncontroversial turned out to be extremely controversial as my inbox filled up with angry e-mails. The site was still up there but it was empty, I didn’t wanna give it up cause I thought someone would take the address and make it a fake Jens Lekman. Like they’ve done on Facebook and Friendster etc. And people kept clicking the add button, add, add, add… why the hell don’t you add me ? What is this anti-effort you’re engaging in ?

As soon as I had cancelled the account and been replaced by the 23 year old me I realised how lovely it was to have all these replicas of me wandering around the internet. Just like I’ve lately embraced all the misinterpretations in media, all the misquotings, the rumours and misunderstandings. It’s beautiful. It’s out of my control and it’s such a central point in me and my music. She said it was make-believe, I thought she said Mapleleaves… Actually I would like to encourage you all to create as many fake Jens Lekmans as you want. But don’t send them to me, send them off in a new direction. I’m here, always. If you want me to add you, send me an e-mail and I’ll write your name on the back of my hand.

With flavour of passionfruit,
Jens Lekman*

View all dates on Jens Lekman's upcoming tour here.

MP3: Jens Lekman - And I Remember Every Kiss