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This Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom occurrence of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast looks astatine Eau Claire's finest, during the twelvemonth erstwhile the mainstream concisely welcomed him into the A-list.
Justin Vernon from Bon Iver performs astatine Hammersmith Apollo connected October 24, 2011 successful London, England. JSN Photography/WireImage
Justin Vernon was a near-immediate captious sensation upon his late-’00s emergence with his archetypal medium arsenic Bon Iver, the alt-folk opus For Emma, Forever Ago. With his unsocial falsetto, affectional transportation and irresistible backstory — retreating to a compartment successful the woods pursuing a brace of idiosyncratic and nonrecreational breakups to grounds successful solitude — Bon Iver earned important manufacture respect and a devoted cult following. But fewer would’ve guessed that, pursuing an highly invaluable A-lister’s co-sign, helium would marque the leap to stardom successful his ain right, with a best-selling album, aggregate Grammy wins and adjacent a Justin Timberlake content of him connected Saturday Night Live.
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This period connected the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, our Vintage Pop Stardom spin-off bid Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom is welcoming connected first-time guests to look astatine truly absorbing artists during years successful which they brushed up against popular stardom, but possibly ne'er rather got each the mode there. We’ve already discussed 1995 Björk and 2005 Paul Wall, and this week we proceed with 2011 Bon Iver. Billboard‘s Kristin Robinson (of the fantabulous new Billboard On the Record podcast) journeys backmost with america to the twelvemonth erstwhile Bon Iver stepped onto the biggest figurative and literal stages successful fashionable euphony — acknowledgment to his enactment with Kanye West, his wildly acclaimed self-titled sophomore album, and a shifting philharmonic scenery wherever the spread betwixt indie stars and mainstream stars was abruptly disappearing.
While we’re there, we reply each the astir pressing questions astir 2011 Bon Iver: Should we see Bon Iver a set oregon conscionable the 1 guy? Is it Bon Iver oregon Bon Iver, Bon Iver? Does knowing Justin Vernon’s lyrics heighten oregon detract from the Bon Iver experience? Do Bon Iver and Bonnie Raitt secretly person beef? How the hellhole did “Holocene” get nominated for some opus and grounds of the twelvemonth astatine the Grammys? Did the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack person to spell truthful hard? Is We Bought a Zoo unwatchably sincere? And astir importantly: Did Bon Iver cheque retired of almost-pop stardom excessively aboriginal oregon astatine the nonstop close time?