Chris Brown has been arrested again, and he looks bad. It's a particular kind of bad. The singer does not look like a celebrity fresh from a chaotic night of partying - the kind of TMZ leading man whose physical state leaves fans both stunned and concerned. He doesn't call to mind a heartthrob in the throes of acute immaturity. Nor a tough guy with a swagger as fierce as his anger-management problem.
He looks vacant and sad. But mostly he looks resigned.
Fresh from the stage of his current concert tour, Brown was booked Thursday in the Palm Beach County jail on a felony battery charge from a 2017 incident in which he allegedly attacked a photographer in Tampa, Florida.
The sad trajectory of his life - astonishing talent, youthful fame, narcissism, misogyny, domestic violence, multiple assault allegations and public temper tantrums - was wholly captured in a single sorry mugshot. He not only is stripped bare of the accoutrements of celebrity, he is devoid of distinction, standing in front of an institutional green backdrop with his corner-barbershop haircut and his black crewneck. No jewellery. No fashion. Even his neck tattoo is a blur of murky ink. Brown doesn't look defiant or angry; he simply looks tired. He looks a decade older than his 29 tumultuous years.
Every mugshot has something to say. Most speak volumes. This one communicates like a long, mournful sigh.
