Blogger Voice Critique

Whitney Pastorek is a writer for EW.com’s Music Mix blog, which is updated multiple times a day by a handful of bloggers. The main areas Pastorek covers are music festivals and the country and indie-rock genres (her favorite band is Pearl Jam, fyi).

Pastorek is currently conducting a “Guilty Pleasures” contest/bracket, and as of 9:25AM this morning has Styx up against ABBA (Dancing Queen, obviously).

She posted a news blog back in July that I thought was a great example of her voice: concise and personality-driven.

You get a sense of what tone the blog will take from the get-go with the title “Open Happiness: Best Supergroup ever! Except for the product placement!” There’s a hint of good-humored sarcasm, conveyed by the sentence fragments appropriately separated by exclamation points.

Pastorek begins her post with a single word – “wow.” A continuation of the title, and to the point. She delves into the news item, explaining who the collaborators involved are and describing the single as having

“Flaming Lips guitars and a catchy singalong chorus buoyed by verses from each of the members, all of whom are totally capable of selling American-Idol-winner’s-single-worthy lyrics like ‘the bridge between us is a rainbow.’”

By using an American Idol reference to describe the chorus, Pastorek instantly creates an image and a sound in the readers’ mind, making it relatable to millions. and millions. and millions.

Pastorek continues her exploration into the single… until she makes a tiny little realization

“Wait.

Is this a Coke ad?

Crap.”

Effective. Emotions conveyed. Minimal words used.

Her use of single words, definitive punctuation and the 3-paragraph layout is a smart and concise way to translate this thought sequence onto paper (screen?).

Another post of Pastorek’s that showcases her voice as a blogger and writer is from May when she covered the Sasquatch! Music Festival. She begins the post with a touch a humor and a genuine opinion.

“I learned while on vacation last year that Sasquatch (exclamation point!) was the best undiscovered music festival in the country, and I’m happy to report that’s still true.”

Using the words “exclamation point” and the actual punctuation after it makes the sentence more personal, reaffirming that there is in fact a real person behind those words.

Her descriptive use of simile in describing the weather as “the kind of weather I’d like to imagine God has running up in heaven,” in addition to her diction provides the reader with detail to imagine what the beautiful evening was like, and is far more effective than just stating that it was a “lovely evening.” Pastorek also throws in a tidbit about how the weather probably prompted “the couple having sex on the ridge in full view of 25,000 people at sundown on Saturday.” This interesting and funny anecdote is part of her personal experience and contributes to her unique perspective on the festival.

In the next paragraph Pastorek describes “the first breeze of the day” as “the sonic equivalent of being wrapped in cool cotton sheets and laid down for a perfect nap.” I thought this was a great use of metaphor to relate to her readers, much like her American Idol reference in the other blog post.

Pastorek makes an effort to include her readers and create an interactive environment with her blog. She posts

“Finally, as those who regularly follow my festival blogging know, the mark of a good set is if Aunt Whittlz gets peed on, but still doesn’t leave. I’d like to thank the girl who squatted and let loose on my feet during Kings of Leon for reinforcing how much I enjoy that band.”

Embedding the link into the text “if Aunt Whittlz gets peed on, but still doesn’t leave” is a subtle and effective way of linking to another one of her posts – she defines her audience but also includes the first-timers.

She ends her post by posing a question to her readers “Were you out at The Gorge this weekend, Mixers? Weigh in on your experience!”

This is a smart way to get her readers to comment and get involved, and a good way to encourage readers to return to the page to see what others have said and her responses to comments.

Pastorek’s voice very nicely complements the subject matter of her blog about music and music festivals. The detailed descriptions of her personal experiences at the festival, like getting peed on, is what makes this post unique and a worthwhile read. The music industry is fairly casual as an industry on the whole, with music festivals in particular often a free-for-fall in many aspects (sex drugs rock n’ roll anyone?). Formality simply isn’t rock and roll.