More About Personality than the Music
M.I.A has caused quite a stir with recent comments regarding pop-darling Lady GaGa in an interview with NME Magazine.
“None of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is,” M.I.A. said. “She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-year-old Ibiza disco, you know? She’s not progressive, but she’s a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I fucking do!”
I embrace the GaGa, however M.I.A has a solid point. I don’t think she necessarily knocking down GaGa, just pointing something out: These days it’s more about the personality than the music.
Before she was Lady GaGa, she was just Stefani Germonatta. A dark-haired NYU student with a passion for music. Several videos have surfaced on YouTube of her early days playing piano and singing. You’ll see in those videos, she was less GaGa-ish, and more the conservative-looking, laid-back Norah Jones-ish.
Several people have actually come out on record saying she never was an outcast or socially awkward like she tries to imply through her image. By switching the persona and wearing odd-looking clothing and acting socially awkward in a large social group that is the music industry, she manages to attract a lot of attention, and fans start clinging on.
Her personality definitely engages a lot of people out there, seeing she has sold over ten million records; but M.I.A is right – her music doesn’t match her.
The truth is, GaGa makes generic pop music. Her music isn’t revolutionary, but her persona kind of is. I mean, I don’t recall anyone else ever wearing a dress made of Kermit the Frog dolls. But I do recall plenty of easy-to-follow songs about dancing and broken love.
We appear to be entering an era where an artist is considered good and popular by not the product they put out – but their own personality and how they act.
One could point to Mike Posner in this case. He is by no way a phenomenal singer, yet is on the rise to become pop music’s next darling. His ability to write and produce catchy pop music is an easy aide for his rise to fame, but what’s really getting him there is his extremely-likable personality.
People love Posner because he comes off like a regular person. He’s very appreciative and loves to interact with his fans. I remember at a show where after sound check he went right outside the venue and starting talking to his fans waiting in line.
Like GaGa, Posner knows how to market himself. He could be the first artist to gain mainstream radio-play and popularity through his own use of social media. Facebook and Twitter were easy ways for Posner to connect with fans. Just the other day, Posner wrote a Facebook status saying he was warned by Facebook to quit sending messages or he’ll be kicked off and how all he was trying to do was reply to fans’ messages.
He just doesn’t want you to listen to his music, he wants that interaction. He understands by doing this his fans in turn become marketers for him, and they’ll recommend his music to other people because he interacted with them. There’s a good chance that minor interaction with fans can shoot an artist up to the top of that fan’s list of favorite artists. People love when they get attention from an artist whose music they listen to and enjoy.
Just try and imagine someone like Bob Dylan trying to make it in today’s world. People started listening to him back in the ’60s because he had something to say through his songs. Outside of his music he was known as something of an asshole. He was brash, deliberately messed with people (especially the press), and just didn’t really care if people were listening or not. People who’ve been to his shows know he hardly ever acknowledges the crowd. You’ll never get a “hello (insert your city here),” while he performs. He does his thing, and walks off the stage. He doesn’t interact with his crowd, which is the exact opposite of what almost every new artist these days will do.
It’s become apparent that fans more than ever want to feel appreciated and want to feel a connection with the artists they chose to listen to. Through this, artists can successfully use their personality to drive their music forward. The actual music has taken a backseat to personality.
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You can contact Brad at brad@theurbanian.com or follow him on Twitter.
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