Wealth & Money Quote by Ronnie Spector

Ronnie Spector’s gripe lands like a three-chord truth bomb: modern fame isn’t earned in the room, it’s sold from above. “Up there” does double duty. It’s the literal stage she once owned, and it’s the perch of executives, streaming platforms, and brand managers who hover over music as a revenue stream. The repetition of “just” is the tell: she’s stripping the romance out of the story, reducing the whole machine to one motive and daring you to disagree.

The phrasing is pointedly unglamorous. “Packaged” evokes shrink-wrap and assembly lines, not sweat, risk, or invention. It’s a word that also carries a gendered sting coming from Spector, whose career was shaped by being marketed, controlled, and aestheticized by men with louder megaphones. When she says artists are “packaged and be gone,” it’s not only a complaint about authenticity; it’s an indictment of disposability. The industry doesn’t need a life’s work, it needs a moment. A hook. A viral clip. Then it cycles to the next face.

Context matters: Spector came from an era when a “group” meant chemistry, not a casting decision; when records were physical objects and touring was a proving ground, not a content pipeline. She’s mourning the loss of apprenticeship and community, but she’s also warning about power: when money is the point, artists become interchangeable, and the audience is trained to treat them that way too.