Instagram posts are already deleted, but even that illustrates the level of desperation: Ryan Adams is as lost as he is down. Considered one of the most talented artists in American music in the 21st century, the musician posted desperate messages on his personal account at the end of July, urgently asking for "a second chance to make music." The tone was alarming: he demanded that some label publish his records, he acknowledged that he was about to lose his house and his studio and go live "in his sister's basement," he asked to be forgiven for his "past mistakes" and he described himself as a "damaged product." Days later, he deleted it. The message was no longer visible. He must have realized the high degree of alarm it was transmitting or perhaps his lawyer urged him to remove it for legal reasons,but the only truth is that it can no longer be seen. And yet, nothing has changed for Ryan Adams: he remains in the deepest well.
Few times has such a sudden fall in the world of music been seen. Adams has gone from being a star, recognized with Grammy Awards, admired by many professional colleagues and acclaimed by music critics, to being sunk after the February 2019 newspaper
The New York Times
published a devastating article in which seven women accused him of sexual misconduct, abuse of power and mistreatment. Among them was his ex-wife, singer and actress Mandy Moore. There was also the songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, who had been his girlfriend, and a young anonymous whistleblower, Ava, who claimed to have been sexually harassed when she was still a minor, between 14 and 16 years old. The complainant provided evidence of more than 3,000 private messages demonstrating how Adams had had sex on the phone and Skype video calls.
Among the testimonies of all the complainants, the profile of a guy with toxic masculinity was shown, a being very emotionally unstable, obsessive, manipulative, controlling and tyrant towards women who broke up with him or were not willing to fulfill his wishes.
Mandy Moore, who was married to him from 2009 to 2016, accused him of belittling her and blocking her music career when they broke up.
Something similar claimed Bridgers, whom he had hired as an opening act for a tour, but he terminated the contract because she left him sentimentally.
Both said that he routinely threatened them with making it difficult to release their songs and that he engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviors.
Ryan Adams, in a video on his Instagram account last June.
Since the publication of that report a little over two years ago, Ryan Adams' career has gone downhill. First, his 2019 tour was suspended. Then, the publication of his three albums scheduled for that year was canceled and, shortly after, there was absolute silence on social networks. After the
New York Times report
and the investigation opened by the FBI, the hyperactive Ryan Adams, who was always fighting on Twitter and commenting on anything at any time, launched a message on his profiles in RR SS in which he acknowledged errors and said that “it was not a perfect man". “To anyone I have inadvertently hurt: I deeply and unreservedly apologize. But the picture this article paints is disturbingly inaccurate. Some of its details are poorly represented; some are exaggerated; some are completely false. I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage, "he wrote. Then he disappeared. No records, no concerts, no news.
The FBI investigation was closed for lack of conclusive evidence months after the New York newspaper report, which, even so, showed the pattern of sexual and sentimental behavior exhibited by the star in his more than 20-year career. It didn't matter: Ryan Adams was already sentenced in the music business. He has published two of the three albums that were pending, but he has done it himself, without the support of Capitol, his record company. In the fall of 2020, it launched
Wednesdays
on
streaming
platforms
, and earlier this summer it did the same with
Big Colors.
.
Two minor albums in his irregular discography, but, above all, two albums that have passed without pain or glory and that have come out without a record label to the desperation of the musician.
There was very little impact.
There is still a lot of ostracism.
One of the messages deleted when he desperately asked for help.
The message is deleted, but it was there. Ryan Adams screamed in despair, saying he had no friends and was "broken": “I'm 46 years old and I'm scared. I'm going to live in my sister's basement. If you are a label and interested, please let me know. For any label, I have
Blackhole, Exile on Meryl Streep
and two new albums ready. Also the double LP
Chris.
I know I am a damaged product. I know I am and it's not ideal, but I had an interested label for months and they wasted my time. I am months away from losing my label, my studio and my house ”.
Ryan Adams only maintains the Instagram account. He deleted his Twitter profile, where he was very active and had starred in good controversies against The Strokes, Father John Misty or different followers with whom he engaged on all kinds of issues. On Instagram, a social network less prone to anger, he uploads videos of home performances, images of when he goes for a run in Los Angeles - he is trying to regain his form - and photos of his cats, one of his obsessions. Try to be positive - when he does not erase the desperate messages - and to give a kinder image to the lazy guy of yesteryear. Also to the arsonist who, already on a tour in Spain more than 15 years ago, did not greet the public, went out drunk and suspended a concert in Barcelona in the middle of the performance because a shoe flew off and nobody returned it.
In his Instagram account, Ryan Adams is now recalling that this September will be the 20th anniversary of
Gold
, the album that elevated him as the great child prodigy of American music. He came from the wonderful Whiskeytown (where he already came out with part of the band) and released his second solo album after the excellent
Heartbreaker
. He was young and with
Gold
he surpassed himself and definitively opened a very interesting artistic path, although full of potholes due to his flammable personality. As he stated about himself in the last interview he gave to this newspaper in 2017: "You do not have to set fire to a brain that is gasoline."
Everything has always been excessive in Ryan Adams. His out of tune, his unstoppable production, his drug use, his mistakes and successes, even his talent. When his quality aligned with the stars, he seemed destined to be one of the greats in an exclusive Olympus. A guy who could rub shoulders with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, or Carole King. A guy who could reach the same sky, although he never reached it. Today, that sky has disappeared. It has vanished. It is a cartoon from another era. Because Ryan Adams has plummeted into hell.
