GET YOUR SWAG ON
The other night, I was absentmindedly browsing through
YOUTUBE
SCOURING ALL THOSE OFFICIAL
VEVO CHANNELS
for a new artist to listen to
WORDS BY JAY DE BELEN
I
t’s probably one of the most effective forms of acquiring
new music, mostly because there’s always visual accompaniment. Blogs, publications and written music reviews
are all excellent sources for auditory deconstruction and
solid recommendations. But, all you’re really seeing are words
on a screen. Music videos work in a completely different way
– in a sense, the actual song is almost secondary to its video
counterpart. Case in point, Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda”: that
single would never have gotten that much traction had the
song’s image and music video been lackluster. Drake’s awkward
facial expressions only added fuel to the fire; his own image
and star power helps, too.
Which begs the question: how much does popular music rely
on its artist’s image? It’s an argument discussed throughout the
history of the entertainment industry. The idea of image and
celebrity versus art and hard work has been a hot button issue
since video killed the radio star (note: interestingly, I truly
believe that internet killed the video star). Image is generally
a blanket term for fashion, style, attitude, personality; in the
words of Mr. Justin Bieber, image refers to swag. As much as
the term is criticized, there no question to its legitimacy in
today’s pop music zeitgeist.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult to imagine a shiny new pop star breaking into the scene not looking the part. Would 90’s pop-R&B
revivalist Ariana Grande be as popular if she exclusively relied
on her pristine, Mariah-esque vocals? Likely not, but her doeeyed Audrey Hepburn meets Lolita image makes her artist package more visually appealing. If Torontonian PBR&B artist The
Weeknd didn’t perpetuate his mysterious persona and urban
street sense of style, would he have as much followers and fans
as he does? Again, likely not, though his first set of mixtapes
made rounds around the music blogosphere without anybody
knowing what he looked like. But, we can chalk that success up
to a stroke of great marketing – mind you, marketing falls heavily under the umbrella term of image.
Even the current slew of major pop stars keep their eyes and ears
open for anything that can brighten up their image. It’s not just
the up-and-comers that heavily bolster their image. It’s the reason why we see Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Ciara sitting front row
with high-profile fashion bigwigs like Anna Wintour. Pop stars
would be remiss to ignore fashion trends and runway looks;
fashion is one of the biggest components of an image conscious
artist. Click any six figure view count on YouTube, and you’ll
see what I mean – designer on designer styling. Clearly, today’s
generation of entertainers and viewers are living on a different
plane when it comes to sartorial image. In the 21st century rise
of social media, with the smaller windows of privacy and global
access to practically everything, coalesce into fashion and music’s current relationship.
At least within pop music, image and music cannot be separated. Most people are visual learners, and a barrage of pretty
colours and silhouettes are bound to catch anybody’s attention.
As mentioned before, the music almost becomes secondary to
style. It may not mean that style trumps substance, because an
unbearable song by an attractive artist and with a great music video is still an unbearable song. But, the power of a welldressed pop star can’t hold a candle to a musical slob.