jUST before sunset on a glowing August evening, several boats pulling on the beachfront stage outside the beach Ocean World San Diego is a controversial theme park known for its dolphins and orcas show. Two people were idle on the boat. They are waiting for the music to begin.
Everyone sees Ginuwine here, and the R&B singer is known for Pony (1996) and these jeans (2003). But why did the 54-year-old late 90s sex ballad master title the show for children in aquatic theme park?
The previous SeaWorld concert clips were all the rage on social media throughout the summer, attracted by the deep chaos of the internet. In the past two months, participating in parades in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Soulja Boy and Bow Wow, Ying Yang Twins and Trina, including Soulja Boy and Bow Wow, have occupied the Seaworld’s Island stage in the past two months. The rolling stone is called “One of the most viral concert series in summer”, following Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar.
“Why is SeaWorld renamed the Blues of Spring?” asked a widely shared post. “I like it because it doesn’t make any sense,” another user admit. reddit user Rewrite lyrics To focus on the Pony of the SeaWorld: “If you’re shamu, let’s do it, ride it, my orca.”
Some viewers at the Ginuwine concert Saturday night were cynical about the show’s appeal, noting that the unexpected venue has long attracted the artist’s re-attention, or wondering if the concerts have been designed to bring more black families to Seaworld. (A park spokesman said no.) Animal rights group PETA calls it an attempt to reshape the park’s image and is subject to the image of the park. 2013 documentary “Black Fish”which raises questions about its treatment for orcas. “We hope artists can avoid these desperate abuse parks,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The clips on social media show numerous fans dancing and cheering, but I wonder if I’m personally Ocean World The performance may be more of a farce, or even a tragedy. What I didn’t expect was that the Seaworld concert at Ginuwine would be a masterclass of aging regardless of your surroundings.
My ocean world first
My trip to Ginuwine was my first experience with this sixty-year-old Southern California aquatic theme park that offers confusing attractions of chaotic attractions: with sea owners’ amusement park rides, carnival games, carnival games, encounters with live animals and all-powerful sea mammals and killer whales, all accompanied by exhausted parents and passionate kids and passionate kids. Advertisement with the number of extra animal contacts makes the park a bit like the ocean’s red light district. Do I want to agree to touch the shark? I don’t.
Seaworld, part of a publicly traded amusement park company, believes it has changed a lot since its inception in 1962, and its animal exhibitions are now focused on education, conservation and science rather than just entertainment. The company’s response to those who say the park’s conditions are cruel is to ask people to visit the park and meet in person.
Jackie Plaza, vice president of marketing and sales at Seaworld San Diego, said the viral hip-hop concerts don’t actually have any activity animals (for example, dolphins jump into the air during the climax of the song) because of the park’s core values.
“Everything we do with animals has an educational component behind it. Dolphin jumping during the concert doesn’t fit one of our pillars,” the square said.
Before the show, the park did invite its headline artists to experience the park with family and friends. “Trina met our dolphin, her backup dancer,” the square said. Bow Wow and Soulja Boy participated in the Orca experience. The park’s President Tyler Carter took baby Baby’s children to participate in the Penguin Encounter.
I thought I would be fully focused on the Ginuwine concert on Saturday night at Seaworld, but that’s far from it. A musical performance took place in one of the round plants in the park. In other water stages, the typical show continues: dolphins and whales swim in circles, smashing water with their tails, splashing screaming customers in the “soaking area.”
When I asked a park employee at Dolphin Stadium where to find the concert at Ginuwine, I was told: “Other side, orca.” I wonder how it feels to be an aging veteran of the music industry and compete with Shamu?
Ginuwine’s 6pm music concert has no music opening, which makes the de facto opening on the other side of the park on the other side of Melanie, who is a 650-pound dolphin who has done the trick for the fish. I found myself anxious as I watched the 35-year-old dolphin obey a little smiling child. Melanie is very good. All dolphins are good. As the music travels through the amphitheater, the three-person dolphin, soft and dazzled, jumps into the air and then jumps again. Audience Oohed. How can even the most powerful aging human artists compete?
Pony fan
I shouldn’t worry. Elgin Baylor Lumpkin’s stage name Ginuwine has attracted audiences for thirty years. Even the Ocean World couldn’t hold his gentle mucus.
Today, you may most likely hear Ginuwine’s music at a karaoke bar: the explicit pony (“If you’re horny, let’s do it, ride, my pony”) is a perennial favorite. Like sex itself, Ginuwine’s songs are ridiculous in every way, but still fascinating. “It looks delicious, it’s really delicious,” he sang. “Tell me: Is there more room for those jeans?” As I walked towards the concert venue, almost every park sign I saw sounded like a suggestive Ginuwine champion. Animal interaction? Jellyfish experience?
Although it’s been twenty years since Ginuwine’s hit songs (one of his sexy songs is about A two-way pager), many of the audience waiting for him in the Ocean World were enthusiastic.
Gloria Mean, 73, is a travel nurse from Nevada and comes to Ocean World with her cousin, Lorna Harbin, 63. It’s nice to learn that the appeal of R&B stars is spreading to the new generation: When she texted the daughter and granddaughter at the concert, her granddaughter asked: “What do you know about Ginuwine?”
It means: “They never thought that grandma would live her life before she became grandma.”
Shortly after 6 p.m., wearing white Ginuwine appeared on the causeway leading to the island stage. He waved on the boat first, then turned to the fans on the shore and smiled. He still had a MW smile.
The subsequent performance was simple but impressive: just Ginuwine and two gray backup singers who have worked with him for decades. No dancers, no special effects. Ginuwine rides real dolphins and even Shamu’s model, and doesn’t sing pony. (Don’t pay Beyoncé’s price, don’t expect Beyoncé’s effect.) Although he threatens to dive and swim to fans, he doesn’t.
But he’s still handsome, he can still sing, and for this 3,400-person audience in a bizarre venue, the R&B legend has absolutely nothing to bothered.
The concert people swayed their old favorites, waved their hands, and took pictures of themselves dancing on the water. The audience includes millennial friends and couples celebrating birthdays, mom friends groups with children and at least one local influencer. In the front row, Troyae Grant passes the concert directly to his mother via FaceTime. Ginuwine repeatedly told his fans how grateful he was for them and their support.
Although a Santiago couple told me that some very adult SeaWorld performances from previous years prompted parents to escape the arena with their children – especially when Ashanti performed in 2023, Ginuwine’s performance was restricted. He avoided any puns of the ocean world. He didn’t say, “Your panties are the soaking area.”
The only time he expressed any pain about his current status in the industry was that he thanked Seaworld for giving him a full hour of performance and said that only a few minutes at the recent concert would have frustrated him. “I’ve been in business for 30 years and 10 albums. Why do you give me 15 to 20 minutes?” he asked. The women around me feel angry.
In these times, it is refreshing to witness the dignified act of public figures – through their own self-esteem, seeing Ginuwine, transforming what could have been absurd performance into an elegant, even moving performance. Decades after his days at the top, he still believes in his artistic value and the joy of his performance and makes them real.
This contrasts with the youth and growing culture of the country: the aging vision, no sense of shame, seeing an older artist with smaller crowds, gentler behavior and less body is another different stage of a beautiful career, rather than the painful disappointment in the peak of young fame.
The small SeaWorld Stage offers a stunning view of San Diego Pier Bay to vintage performers, and that doesn’t hurt much. The water is framed with swinging palm trees, a sunny natural beauty that does not provide a larger, more prestigious place.
The travel nurse and her cousin, who didn’t expect to see the Ginuwine concert that day, were both satisfied. Ginuwine is “old school” and means: “He gave us a show.”
“That’s a bomb,” Harbin said.
Health & Wellness Contributor
A wellness enthusiast and certified nutrition advisor, Meera covers everything from healthy living tips to medical breakthroughs. Her articles aim to inform and inspire readers to live better every day.
