If you’re an artist with a longtime style and look, it may be tough to make a change. As individuals, that is one thing we’re typically fairly hostile to, particularly when it is our favourite musician who’s doing the altering. Many artists have modified their title, look, or style all through the years, however some have been way more profitable and well-accepted by their viewers than others. So what marks the distinction between a easy transition and a failed one?
Jojo Siwa
Former Dance Mothers star Jojo Siwa’s latest rebrand has made waves on-line, and never for all the suitable causes. Not lengthy after being accused of mistreating a younger lady competing on her present “Siwa’s Dance Pop Revolution”, Siwa has launched “Karma”, a music by which she makes an attempt to domesticate an edgier, extra grown-up model of herself. She’s appeared at occasions sporting a black skintight outfit and daring make-up to match, although the glitter and rhinestones of her bow-studded, colourful earlier aesthetic stay. This marketing campaign to create a extra grownup picture has met with criticism, corresponding to her assertion that she has invented a brand new style known as “homosexual pop”, which raised some eyebrows contemplating the lengthy legacy of queer artists corresponding to Pet Store Boys and Girl Gaga amongst many others. Regardless of claiming in a New York Instances interview that she is the primary baby star to go “from not a personality to nonetheless not a personality,” to many her new persona appears over-the-top in a pressured means.
Upon discovering that Siwa’s new music was not an unique, however first written and carried out by Brit Smith, listeners streamed Smith’s model till it surpassed Siwa’s on the charts. That is not precisely a supportive stance. Nonetheless, although she’s made claims on the contrary, Siwa is much from the primary artist to attempt to change the general public’s notion of her, and much from the primary to be disparaged for it. Solely time can actually inform if her rebrand will finally be accepted, or whether or not it can even be everlasting.
Miley Cyrus
An artist who exemplifies the transition between squeaky-clean baby star and grownup superstar is Miley Cyrus. Beginning out because the title character on Hannah Montana, Cyrus chopped off her hair in 2013 and launched her album Bangerz, in addition to partaking in a number of controversial stunts, to show to the world she was all grown up and now not below Disney’s thumb. That being stated, her sense of rise up did not emerge out of nowhere. In 2008, at age 15, she took half in a nude photoshoot for Vainness Honest that introduced on criticism and a public assertion from Disney. Her 2010 album, aptly titled Cannot Be Tamed, is filled with hints at her want to be seen otherwise – the music “Robotic” expresses a craving for freedom and independence, with out “any person else working” her. Cyrus’ transformation wasn’t in a single day, and due to this fact it appears extra genuine. Although she definitely confronted her fair proportion of scrutiny and hate, she has continued to be a profitable recording artist, most not too long ago successful a Grammy for her 2023 hit “Flowers”.
Garth Brooks
Not all musicians have that very same luck, although. When nation singer and songwriter Garth Brooks developed a soulpatch-wearing Australian alter ego named Chris Gaines and launched a rock album confusingly titled Garth Brooks in…the Lifetime of Chris Gaines, followers had been understandably puzzled. The character was initially meant for a film known as The Lamb which was by no means accomplished, although Brooks did launch a mockumentary about Gaines. With out the film or a lot different context, Gaines’ try to discover a departure from his ordinary music style got here off as a weird identification disaster. Although the album charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, it obtained middling opinions and gross sales had been underwhelming. In Brooks’ case, the unclear promotion and unusual execution thwarted his endeavor to rebrand – or quite, construct a second model – greater than the music itself.
David Bowie
Pulling off a number of rebrands and retaining a loyal following isn’t any straightforward job, however it’s definitely doable. David Bowie, for instance, stopped going by David Jones at 18 to keep away from confusion with The Monkees’ lead singer. All through his profession, he modified his private and musical model many instances, from the people rock tinges on his sophomore album David Bowie to the rock opera Ziggy Stardust and the glamorous accompanying character Bowie performed, to the clown determine of “Pierrot” that Bowie embodies on the quilt of Scary Monsters (And Tremendous Creeps). In every interval of his inventive journey, Bowie subverted expectations and explored new potentialities, making him an interesting and related artist all his life.
Taylor Swift
In a really totally different musical vein, however with an identical trajectory, is Taylor Swift, who has capitalized off of her “eras” that span totally different genres, aesthetics, and themes by embracing them with the record-breaking Eras Tour. Swift doesn’t deal with her previous albums and personas as one thing she’s left behind, however acknowledges them as part of who she is, permitting followers to determine extra with sure eras and select their favorites.
All rebrands usually are not created equal. Rebranding efficiently requires hanging a fragile steadiness between the true targets of the artist and what their viewers will recognize most. Preserving the listening expertise fascinating and recent, whereas additionally making it clear what the rebrand means for his or her profession, is a key a part of pulling off a change. Evidently an important consider whether or not an artist’s rebrand is extensively accepted, nonetheless, is a real want to increase horizons and check out the brand new genres, appears to be like, or identities that they’re actually keen on, quite than rebranding for its personal sake or purely for consideration. In spite of everything, as Peter Frampton as soon as stated, “I’ve by no means stopped making new music, and whether or not the viewers needs to listen to it or not, I will play it. As a result of I am an artist, and I create, and I’ve received new stuff.”
