Blog post 7: My pop artist

I researched the star personas and styles of pop artists as well as distinct style and how their identity is used to promote their music and sell merch. The pop style is constantly evolving and often pop artists are looked up to in regards to what is fashionable.

Artists fashion in music videos are often much more bold than their everyday wear. They often wear more comfortable stylish street wear out and about as well as their own merch.

Casual outfits

Casual outfits 

So for casual wear which will be seen on my website and platforms I will dress comfortably but fashionably. Also I want to have photos for my website where I am wearing my own merch as it is conventional. Try and make my artist seem like an aspirational figure that people look up to for fashion.

Performance outfits

For my performance outfit I want to look more flamboyant and bold than my casual, street wear. I want to have a memorable, fashionable outfit that attracts the eye.

Conventions for pop personas:

• promotes latest pop culture and popular trends
• fashionable
• have a human side- help with charities and humanised by social media posts- insight into life
• music video builds star identity and pop persona
• affluent with aspirational lifestyle
• strong brand identity
• use social media to create a sense of community through fandoms
• created by cadet to sell music and merch/tour tickets
•  charismatic

Case Studies:
 This researched allowed me to see how star personas are created and adapted over time to ensure a pop star remains relevant to fans and pop culture.

 I like Harry's style and confidence and want to integrate that into my own artist. I also learnt the importance of a strong brand image and how influential it can be on someones first impressions of the artist. Harry's dress instantly makes him likeable and charismatic. Want my performance outfit to reflect this.

I like how Shawn Mendes markets himself as a down to earth, relatable guy and how its reflected across all his platforms, his fashion and his real world iterations with fans. I want my artist to have a consistent brand image like Shawn Mendes. I also liked how he worked with a body image campaign. I want my artist to be involved with a charity or campaign in order to make my artist seem caring.

Initial ideas:
- want my artist to seem genuine
- involved in a charity
-charismatic and confident
- identity beyond the song in order to get a fan base beyond  the music video- more loyal community
-upcoming British artist
-male
-heterosexual
- already had big following
- switched on to current issues facing society

influences for my style

Influences:
-Harry Styles
-Shawn Mendes
-McFly
-Ezra Miller
-Tierra Whack

I decided to call my artist Oli Orsen because it is catchy and memorable. I have to use a variation on the name Olly because the first line is 'Hi, my name is Olly'. So I decided to use the name Oli.

He is a 19 year old pop singer and actor from North London who moved to US when young,acted and moved back with fans from his acting coming with who are called the Orsoners- fan base name- conventional. He was then signed to Sony music when he decided to try out singing , supported on by his fan base. Oli writes all his own music and wants to focus on giving back to his fans and community.

Star persona mind map

Fashion influences

Bold colours on all of the clothes with heavy influence from street style. 

For my performance bed costume, I decided to have a double denim look with a bright coloured shirt/ jumper underneath. in the end I decided to go with a red polo neck. Harry Styles Gucci suit esque clothing- bold and aspirational. Not something you would wear out- extravagant and stylised. Show my artist puts in effort.

outfit plan

outfit used in shoot

Follows trends as double denim is fashionable at the moment. Celebs in double denim:

For my costume for my studio shoot I plan to convey a stylish, fun, aspirational figure.
Retro style and fun as bright, bold colour used with double denim. Slightly wavy hair but not too overdone to suggest a laid back artist. originally was going to do yellow but it wasn't as special as the red turtle neck and the outfit looked like something someone would wear in the street. For the performance bed of music videos, artists tend to be more extravagant in terms of their appearance and make it less casual than their normal wear.

In my studio performance bed I want my artist to be conveyed as relevant in fashion, following current trends and aspirational to the audience. This is conventional to pop artists as seen in my pop genre research.

I want to partner with a charity to show my artist has morals and cares about his audience. So i want to partner with a charity that focuses on mental health in young people. Lots of my target audience will know someone who has this problem or might have experienced it themselves, as it is such a prominent issue facing society today. My artist will use his platform to raise awareness about the cause and raise funds through the selling off merch. My artist is seen as a good role model and also someone that is tapped in to the problems facing his fans, and wants to do something about it.

So I will be an ambassador/ partner for YoungMindsUK. They have a successful campaign called #HelloYellow  which is all about showing young people that they aren't alone. I want to focus on this campaign. Could make merch that is yellow .

My research has shown me conventions and important aspects of star personas. My main take away is that a constant brand image is important and that fashion and how our star looks is hugely important. This then helped me create my own persona which is used to attract and appeal to my target audience. Shown me what I need to do to have the conventional traits of a pop persona.

Blog post 6: My chosen track

To find my track, I looked at some prospective tracks and then narrowed it down from there. I then researched my chosen track before analysing the lyrics in order to find interpretations of the song. I did this before watching the original video for the song so that my interpretations wouldn't be affected and so that my idea was original and hopefully not clash with the original music video.

Prospective track ideas:
My shortlist was composed of six songs. They were all chosen because they are all recognisable, fun and in the pop genre. I also wanted the voice to be believable when sung by me so that my artist was authentic and the video seemed as realistic as possible and so the mismatch doesn't distract from the video. So the singer had to sound like he was early twenties/ late teens. The song also needed to be appropriate and meet regulation for an audience as young as 16. So the song could not have reference to drug use, violence or explicit activity.

Just My Type- The Vamps

She's So Lovely- Scouting For Girls

Cake By The Ocean -DNCE

Grace Kelly- MIKA

Heartbreak Girl- 5 seconds of summer

I listened to all the songs individually and thought about possible interpretations of the lyrics as wwll as how well it met the brief and the message and meaning I could spin with the visuals and narrative in a possible music video. 

'She's So Lovely' is a mix of both the pop and rock genre and so I rejected it because I wanted to be sure my song met the brief which states the song must be in the pop genre. 'Cake By The Ocean' is very pop and did well in the charts but has inexplicit sexual references and so I wasn't sure if it was appropriate. I rejected Mika's 'Grace Kelly' as it wasn't as upbeat as I wanted and I had seen the video so many times before that it was harder to think of other interpretations. I then rejected 'Just My Type' and 'Heartbreak Girl' as I struggled thinking of strong interpretations for the song. 'Heartbreak Girl' is also not as fun as I wanted my song to be and also was influenced by the rock genre quite a lot and I wanted a more pop song.

My chosen track is 'Dance With Me Tonight' by Olly Murs.

Why?

-chart success- reached number 1 in the charts 

-very upbeat, positive and fun

-solidly in the pop genre- follows conventions such as it has hook, repeated choruses and a verse- chorus structure

-easy to dance to

-lots of possible readings

- close to 3 minuet mark

-suitable to brand identity

-catchy

-recognisable

Facts

• By English songwriter- Olly Murs
• released on the 18th November 2011
• pop with doo-wop influence
• written by Murs, Claude Kelly and Steve Robson
• number two in the UK for two weeks before reaching number one single in December 2011

What Olly Murs says about the song

Lyrically he said that the song was inspired by his frustration with modern-day dating, in particular the  use of social networking websites:

"I'm sick of Twitter and Facebook, you know, I want to meet a girl in a club or in a bar. Every time I meet a girl they're like 'Just add me on Facebook, or Tweet me', and it's like why don't we go out on a proper date like we used to back in the early 2000s, go for a proper drink and get to know her? So I went into the studio and just went, 'OK, I wanna write a really old, classic song about seeing a really fit girl in a club and taking her out on a date.'

Existing Music video:

Narrative of original video:

The video starts with Olly going through a police station and pulling funny poses at a mug shot camera, after being arrested with his friends and another girl. Five hours before the incident, he drives around London in a Peugeot 504 Cabriolet, picking up his best friend and supplies for a street party along the way. In the process of getting the supplies, Olly also invites two young clerks to come along with him. Together they set up the street party with the aim of Olly wooing the girl who was with him in the police station. They dance as a display of fireworks goes off behind them, whilst a more senior female citizen looks out disturbed by the noise, and calls the police. As the video ends Olly and Jamie are arrested by the police revealing what they were arrested for was obviously disturbing the peace.  

I had seen the  original music video before, but not in a long time so I listened to the song without looking at the original music video, so that I was able to create my own interpretation of the lyrics.

I printed the lyrics and then wrote possible interpretations and themes on to the lyrics.

I wrote the 4 main interpretations out in a notebook which allowed me to fully develop the ideas and see if they were actually possible and if they met the brief. I highlighted and circled ideas that I really liked and wanted to use in my music video.

My favoured interpretation of the song was of a couple dancing throughtout the decades, with different set ups, costumes and mise en scene for each decade. This developed into a couple dancing in different set ups that were intertextual with iconic dance scenes from iconic films such as Grease. I also took ideas from other interpretations, I would have the girl seem grumpy at first and gradually become more loose and happy as the video goes on. 

This research was beneficial to me as it allowed me to pick a suitable song that met the brief and that will allow me to have a authentic and realistic artist and that fits into the pop genre conventions. It had allowed me to pick out interpretations, develop them and pick parts out in order to create one that I can use in my video and meets the brief. I have also been able to look at existing readings which help me understand certain readings and themes that I could pull out. Most importantly it has helped me develop an interpretation that I can use in my music video that will reflect the intended representations and readings to the audience. 

Blog post 5: My target audience

Our target audience is described as fun loving 16 - 25 year olds and we are supposed to attract a mass market.

UK Tribes is a project commissioned by Channel 4 and created by Crown DNA, whose aim is to understand the 16 - 25 year old demographic.

Their aim:

The 5 different tribes( demographic) which 16- 25 year olds were categorised into:

Out of the 5 different tribes the main ones who are listen to the charts and mainstream music are the Mainstreams. This is the tribe that I will need to appeal to the most.

Mainstreams

The Mainstream forms the backbone of tribal society – where most young people start out. The key is in sticking with what you know – chart music, prime time TV, local nights out and booze.

Looking to commercial entertainment channels for influence, Mainstream Tribes prefer to stick with what’s safe. There’s little desire to hunt down underground fashion and music – they are more than happy with readily available ‘high street’ influences.

There’s a strong emphasis on conformity across all Tribes and ages. Siege mentality makes Mainstream Tribes wary of those standing out, anything that’s too ‘out there’ is sure to elicit disparaging remarks – nobody likes a show off! Yet, Mainstream Tribes are among the most loyal of all – both to their friends (often keeping the same group from school) and family.

This is my target audience and demographic. I will use familiarity and mainstream pop convention to appeal to this group because this is what they look for in media, anything that strays from the conventions too much might be seen as too ' out there'. My pop artist will have to be someone that follows trends and commercial. My social media and website will have to reflect this as well as try and be fun and exciting. My mainstream target audience will be very loyal, and so want to support my artist and so buy merch and music rather than pirate. 

I found out that 57% of 16-24-year-olds listen to pop and the majority of them belong to the in the 'mainstream' category which are fans of popular culture.

Aspirant

Aspirant Tribes know the look, music and lifestyle they want – and will spend big in order to get it. Attuned to what’s happening in Leading Edge circles, it’s about keeping up with what’s cool but without all the hard work of creating it themselves. These Tribes will be found in Student Unions across the UK.

Social butterflies, they are spending summer holidays hitting the festival circuit. Whether it’s the latest pop-up, food truck, concept store, art gallery or nightclub, they want to be the one to have seen it first – and post it on social media. Experience seeking drives the Aspirant segment, and introducing the newest fashion and music to their friendship group motivates Tribe members.

From the ubiquitous gap year alpaca jumper, to the MacBook Pro, Ugg boots and Hershel backpack, Aspirant Tribes are big consumers with strong brand affiliations. Brands trying to crack the Aspirants need to work hard to prove their cool credentials. They need to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people – although appealing to them may be challenging, those who do are rewarded with surprising brand loyalty.

Even though my main target audience is the mainstream category it is important to try and attract as large an audience as possible-mass market.  Through presenting an aspirational lifestyle within my video and on my website and social media, which is conventional for a pop star. They will want to interact with my brand to stay relevant and updated on popular trends.

To research this more in depth, we conducted a survey within the 16-25 year old demographic as so to understand consumption and what they want from their music

Biggest peaks seen in pop and hip hop in both 16- 19 year olds and 20 -24 year olds.

We recieved a range of feedback from thorughout the deomgraphic with almost 50-50 split on female and male perspective. So we got a good range that covers our demographic meaning it gives an accurate insight.

Shows to me that music is very important to our demographic as none listened to 0 hours of music a day and the majority listened for more than one hour. Because it is such an important thing they are more likely to want to connect with the music and artist and so I will need to take this into consideration when planning.

Individuals listen to music that gives them the pleasures they want. So from this data it seems our demographic is mainly looking for music that cheers you up, distracts you, allows you to escape and creates an atmosphere. I plan on choosing a piece of music that cheers you up and creates a fun, positive atmosphere in which people feel they are escaping the worries of every day life.

This showed that Pop was extremely popular in our demographic already and so I need to stick to the conventions of pop to make sure it is recognisably assured in the pop genre. Not the number one favourite, but still popular and easy to appeal to a mass market as specified by the brief.

This shows the importance of linking my website to streaming platforms and making sure to emphasis that my song is available on these platforms. It also shows people in our demographic still buy physical copies and so I will create physical copies you can buy as well. It also shows that music videos matter to our target audience as YouTube is the second choice.

There is a wide range of answers and so I need to include lots of different forms of merch. Also shows I need to target fans that will be loyal (mainstream tribe) as they are more likely to buy merch in order to support their favourite artists. I also need to push my merch and other sources of revenue across all my platforms as lots of people said they don't spend money on the music industry or artists. Would be beneficial if they felt rewarded when buying something and so I might link a cause to my merch and identity so that fans feel good when buying my merch and so are more likely to than say merch without a cause.

Shows the importance of social media presence. Instagram and Twitter seem especially relevant so need to make both for my artist. This shows how my target audience finds out about music and so I need to be able to attack as many as the large bases as possible in order to get a mass market audience. I will post my music video to youtube, as well additional content such as interviews with established, well known brands like Vogue. This will inform more people about my artist/ 

I did this research to understand my target audience and their consumption habits. It has allowed me to identify components that I will need to implement on my website, in my video and additional platforms in order to promote my music successfully, get fans to buy merch and ensure engagement with my branding and get traffic on my platforms.

It has helped me identify the main groups that I need to target in order to meet the specification as well as get the type of fanbase I am looking for- loyal and engaged audience. The research has shown me how to appeal to these tribes in order to attract them, such as being an aspirational and familiar figure.

The researched has helped me identify key ways to appeal to my demographic and so give me an edge while meeting the specification, adhering to conventions and create the content that my target audience is looking for.