Post 7: My pop artist or band

The current look in pop is difficult to nail down, with so many different artists taking up the modern pop scene. Whether that be artists wearing surprisingly bright colours, artists wearing expensive jewellery and chains, tattoos on an artists body or even face or in some cases just looking the exact same as anyone else.

This very over the top bright aesthetic has been most popularised by Tyler the Creator

These different looks all seem to depend on the artist and the brand values they are trying to present, artists wanting to be seen as fun or eccentric will wear more unsophisticated, pastel coloured clothing.

Rapper Lil John's loud in your face performance is complimented
with his huge, $500,000 chain

Some artists will have a brand of being cool and rich, through their designer clothes and expensive jewellery. These are typically larger more mainstream artists who are presenting themselves in a more idealistic, aspirational way to their audience. This can in turn alienate some audience members due to the disconnect people often feel with these artists.

Artist Lil Peep blurred the lines between rap, pop and emo rock in
his music; with his grungy aesthetic showing these influences

Many artists like to present themselves as more alternative and edgy, getting various tattoos and dressing in dark clothing. This helps audience members feel like the artist is more genuine, not trying to fit the typical mould of a pop artist. It also means those that don't feel they align with the often over the top rose-tinted glasses positivity of many artists are more drawn to artists like this.






But on the whole, the most common style is one of these elements incorporated with a relatively normal outfit, most artists simply dress like everyone else but with a certain feature or part of their outfit accented to make them stand out just that little bit. This means they get the uniqueness of these looks without alienating their audience.

Pop artists who dress in the above 3 archetypes in a more typical, toned down way

An artists star persona is also a major part of their identity. Some artists wanting to be seen as cool and mysterious and so opt to hide their true identity under a mask. Some may want to be seen as "weird" and extravagant and so will do shocking things that garner media attention. Often artists will want to be viewed as unapologetically honest and so will say whatever comes to their minds even if it makes them come across negatively to the general public; whilst some artists will be very positive and will stay away from controversial topics.

A common part of an artists brand is the good deeds they do or charities they support. When an artist supports a charity it makes them seem more real and aspirational, it shows them to have real moral values and so audiences like them more.

I decided to go with the down to earth, colourful look artists like Rex Orange County have. I wanted to give my star this look to present him as a more normal guy whilst still giving him a bit of character. I also wanted to wear sunglasses and a small chain, to help my artist appear cool and aspirational without appearing too boastful. This can mostly be seen in the performance bed of my video but it can be slightly seen through my video where my artist tries on various ridiculous outfits before deciding on his final look. This relates to the idea of the song, being all about being yourself and not doing things just to look cool to other people, this is why I felt a more toned-down look would work well. The Vans & Converse shoes are also good as they present my star as someone who isn't entirely clueless about major brands but doesn't buy into the overpriced designer clothes many people wear for bragging rights.

The final mockup of my star's image

Me in my star clothes

My artist's persona is one of a non-controversial, cool, laid back guy; he isn't the kind of person who would do something simply to stir up drama or draw media attention. He's someone who makes music because he likes doing so and likes how much it helps others. 

This is reflected in the website colour scheme, the abundance of smiley photos on the website and social media pages and the involvement with charities featured on the website. 

Nate is a character who started out from a poor background with just him and his mother, creating both an underdog story that audiences would be able to sympathise with. As well this, it gives him a clear reason to so clearly feature the charity he is supporting, The Childhood Trust; a London based charity dedicated to helping child poverty. 

To plan out my star persona, I wrote an entire character profile at the start of the project and got feedback on it from my teacher and my class. I used this profile to guide my future decisions as well as for creating an artist bio on my artists "Extras" page.