The Artwork of the Rebrand

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 adversarial to, particularly when it is our favourite musician who’s doing the altering. Many artists have modified their identify, look, or style all through the years, however some have been much 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 precise causes. Not lengthy after being accused of mistreating a younger woman comPeting on her present “Siwa’s Dance Pop Revolution”, Siwa has launched “Karma“, a tune wherein she makes an attempt to domesticate an edgier, extra grown-up model of herself. She’s appeared at occasions carrying 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, akin 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 akin to Pet Store Boys and Girl Gaga amongst many others. Regardless of claiming in a New York Occasions 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 compelled method.

Upon discovering that Siwa’s new tune was not an authentic, 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. Nevertheless, 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 would 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 mentioned, her sense of riot 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 stuffed with hints at her need to be seen otherwise – the tune “Robotic” expresses a craving for freedom and independence, with out “any person else working” her. Cyrus’ transformation wasn’t in a single day, and subsequently 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 just lately 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 have been understandably puzzled. The character was initially supposed 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 and discover a departure from his ordinary music style got here off as a weird id disaster. Although the album charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, it obtained middling critiques and gross sales have been underwhelming. In Brooks’ case, the unclear promotion and unusual execution thwarted his endeavor to rebrand – or fairly, construct a second model – greater than the music itself.

David Bowie

Pulling off a number of rebrands and retaining a loyal following is not any straightforward activity, 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 duvet of Scary Monsters (And Tremendous Creeps). In every interval of his creative journey, Bowie subverted expectations and explored new potentialities, making him a captivating and related artist all his life.

Taylor Swift

In a really completely different musical vein, however with the same trajectory, is Taylor Swift, who has capitalized off of her “eras” that span completely 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 establish extra with sure eras and select their favorites.

All rebrands will not be created equal. Rebranding efficiently requires hanging a fragile stability between the true targets of the artist and what their viewers will admire most. Maintaining the listening expertise attention-grabbing 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. It appears that evidently a very powerful consider whether or not an artist’s rebrand is extensively accepted, nonetheless, is a real need to develop horizons and check out the brand new genres, appears to be like, or identities that they’re actually excited by, fairly than rebranding for its personal sake or purely for consideration. In any case, as Peter Frampton as soon as mentioned, “I’ve by no means stopped making new music, and whether or not the viewers desires to listen to it or not, I will play it. As a result of I am an artist, and I create, and I’ve acquired new stuff.”