Teenage fandom is one of the most important building blocks of an artist’s career. If your music—and good lucks—strike an emotional chord, you may have a lifelong fan. Millions of young women remember those moments when a particular heartthrob captured our hearts. The obsession that comes from a crush manifests in the best ways: posters decorating our bedroom walls, the name of the crush written repeatedly in notebooks with hearts, the crush’s image as a cell phone screensaver, their music on repeat. These behaviors are a rite of passage for many women. We are discovering our sexualities and finding subjects to fuel this burgeoning element of ourselves.
These crushes subside, as they usually do because often they are fantasies. But for those who do meet their idols, their fanaticism can often make them vulnerable and sometimes leave them at the whim of these artists, especially if they are aspiring artists or musicians themselves.
In the six-hour-long docuseries executive produced by dream hampton and others and aired on Lifetime, "Surviving R. Kelly", we meet a few teens who are seemingly in that predicament. One woman, Lisette Martinez, and the other is Azriel Clary, whose parents speak in proxy for her absence. According to the documentary, both of these women were aspiring singers who hoped that R. Kelly would groom them for stardom. Both of these women allegedly found themselves sexually abused and manipulated while Kelly continues to walk around without a charge or an impending trial to account for the list of accusations. (R. Kelly has denied accusations against him.)
There has been much discussion surrounding R. Kelly’s impunity and ability to avoid police intervention. After all, his victims are young black girls, some argue they are "choosing" to spend time with him, not to mention the cohort of people that have enabled him. In addition to law enforcement and the larger justice system not being geared to help rape victims and especially not young, black ones, what's often left out of the conversation is how teen girls' seemingly innocent infatuation of male celebrities can open them up to manipulation or worse.
One of the most glaring elements to R. Kelly’s persona is his nickname as the self-proclaimed “Pied Piper.” The label dates back to a thirteenth-century German legend called the “Pied Piper of Hamelin.” The story goes that a piper was commissioned to remove the rats with his music but after he accomplished his task, the adults of the town refused to pay the piper the initially agreed-upon sum. As revenge, the piper played his music and bewitched all the town’s children to follow him out of the city where they were never seen again. According to a 2016 interview with GQ Magazine, R. Kelly claims that he never heard of the urban legend in its entirety until the reporter told him so. He thought that an animal led people out of a village and it inspired him because he incorporates the flute at times in his music. Whether or not one chooses to believe his story is a moot point. Once he was informed of the real origins, he did not appear to disavow himself of the moniker even when outlets, such as BuzzFeed and TMZ, have published stories on his ongoing predatory nature towards underage women.
In the chilling docuseries, each of the women is introduced with their name and the age at which they met R. Kelly. Lisette describes how she first saw R. Kelly at the Aventura Mall at 17. It was there when she pointed R. Kelly out to a friend, he heard her, and turned around: “I was kinda starstruck, you know? There’s this person in front of me who I think is, like, the world and he walked up to me and gave me a hug and I was frozen.” She says her friend nudged her to call R. Kelly after his bodyguard gives Lisette a number because it could lead to her big break. If Lisette had not made a vocal expression of who R. Kelly was, he would not have heard her and she says would not have proceeded to make a pass at her.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Teenage idol worship is nothing new in the world of music. As veteran music journalist, Ann Powers says in the documentary, “When you think of girls who are going to shows, attending concerts, becoming completely hysterical and their heroes….this is a situation ripe for men taking advantage of young girls.” R. Kelly may have one of the longest-running careers with mounting evidence for alleged sexual crimes against young women but the story of musicians and underage girls is not unique. Elvis Presley preyed on 14-year-old girls while on tour. He met and dated his ex-wife Priscilla when she was only fourteen herself. In the ‘70s, Lori Mattix, one of the most well-known underage groupies of the decade, lost her virginity to David Bowie when she was 14 and became the girlfriend of Jimmy Page, guitarist and founder of the rock group Led Zeppelin. One of her closest friends, Sable Starr, another groupie, who spoke of her sexual trysts with Iggy Pop when she was a young teen.
Teenage admiration is a different kind of affirmation for an adult male musician. It’s full of much more optimism and faith in one’s good character. The naivete is what those like R. Kelly depend on to ultimately afflict the young girl and therefore take advantage of the situation. The behavior remains consistent when R. Kelly would allegedly frequent Kentwood High School in Chicago and nearby basketball courts and fast food restaurants where young girls worked, according to the docuseries. He seeks out young girls who he assumes will be more inclined to believe in his benevolence because of his music.
Jerhonda Pace, another woman who R. Kelly allegedly victimized, and her story, marked another graphic turning point in the series. At fourteen, she says she showed up to R. Kelly’s trial with images of the singer on her person as a way to support him. Often when he would pass by her on the way to the courtroom, they would exchange small talk until he invited her back to his home. Pace says, “I went to his trial because I was a superfan at the time. I didn’t believe he was guilty and I didn’t want to believe that he was guilty. I was a freshman in high school. He was old for me to like him but I fell in love in with his music. After Robert’s trial, his friend sent me a message and invited me to R. Kelly’s party and in the middle of me texting him back, Rob--he actually called my phone....I was shocked. I felt like I was on top of the world.” The older journalists who were present at the trial, such as Kathy Chaney, say they noticed his scoping out of young girls. As Chaney puts it, “You’re on trial for this [child pornography] and you’re allowing yourself to be enamored by young girls.”
Teenage hero worship is not only used as bait but an established tactic far after R. Kelly has gained control over another young woman. Azriel Clary says R. Kelly pulled her on stage during one of his concerts, he invited her backstage where he asked her to sing in front of him. An aspiring singer, Azriel, then an eleventh grader, jumped at the chance. Her parents, Alice and Angelo, say they were aware of Azriel’s ongoing conversations with R. Kelly. When they tried to retrieve their daughter from a nearby hotel where she was supposedly auditioning for R. Kelly, Azriel’s parents say she lashed out because she believed that they were messing up her chance to have a successful career. According to the docuseries, it’s been three years since the Clarys have seen their daughter. Their contact with her has been minimal at best. Whatever help he may or may not have given here, there is no outward evidence, such as an album, much less a single.
Rich and powerful men across many different industries have taken advantage of girls and women by either promising or creating scenarios where professional advancement is a possibility. But what is distinguishable about Azriel’s story is that her parents wanted to believe in R. Kelly’s goodness as well. In spite of the rumors throughout the years, they wanted to believe that R. Kelly was going to help their daughter make it because he was successful in his own right.
These men appear to target teenage girls because they know they fan over them with all their hearts. They may be banking on a young teenage girl not knowing which situations are safe and which ones are dangerous. And when fame and fortune are also crucial components to understanding how a young woman is victimized, the addressed boundaries get murkier. No one wants to believe that the person who creates the music that they enjoy is a monster. No one wants to believe that someone can be an ingenious yet a terrible human being.
Get the Teen Vogue Take. Sign up for the Teen Vogue weekly email.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: R. Kelly Is Reportedly Under Criminal Investigation
