I decided to do some extra research on how artists get famous and create buzz, etc. I came across the theory of stardom which is essentially a journey some artists go through in which they change their image. This can be to create buzz to make more money or to change their target audience. Most of the time, management help co-ordinate this by changing how they look (with the help of stylists) or possibly changing their music content or style.
Theory of Stardom and Star Image
- The star is a real person - The audience can relate to the artist and sees them as equal. For example, an artist may have grown up in a single parent family and some people would relate to this.
- The star is a performer of public roles - The first encounter we have with the artist is through the roles they play. E.g. if they act in a television show.
- The star is a persona - This involves the roles they play merging with who they really are. For example, they might write songs that are linked to television show they are in and tour with those songs.
- The star is an image - The star as an image is normally the ball park that artists fall in as their image is always changing. However, audiences only see the mediated version of the star which is the star we see in videos and in the press rather than the real person. The star image is constructed.
Demi Lovato
1. Demi Lovato has been regarded as very relatable in her younger years as she was bullied and a lot of young audiences could relate to that. Also, her Skyscraper video was relatable as it was about the pain of heartbreak and a lot of people felt the same way. This is backed up by her crying in the video as it shows she feels real emotions and is a real person. It also makes the audience sympathise with her.
2. Demi starred in the Disney programme Sonny With A Chance from 2009-2011 which included 47 episodes and a soundtrack. The show followed Demi's character Sonny Munroe who manages to land a main role on a comedy sketch show. The female teenage and preteen audience felt like they could relate to her character more than any other group, especially with the songs from Sunny's point of view. She is originally shown as a normal teenager before getting her big break in actor.
3. The same persona was reflected in her role in the Camp Rock films of a normal girl hoping to achieve certain dreams. Her dream in Camp Rock was to be a singer. Her look in Sonny With A Chance was very similar to the one in Camp Rock and she stayed with that look for a while. She then had a part in Glee where she seemed to have matured a bit and took a different angle with her acting from playing a normal school girl to a part where the focus was more on serious relationships in a show that wasn't all comedy based. This widened Demi's target audience especially with her performance of Here Comes The Sun with her being blonde rather than a brunette like before. She did keep her iconic guitar playing though.
4. After SWAC, Demi took a break from acting and was revealed to be suffering from bipolar disorder and abusing drugs and alcohol. In 2011, she had an article in Seventeen magazine where she wrote about her mental struggles. She was recovering and living in a sober-living facility in 2012. This is where her career and image changed because she was previously targeting young audiences and seemed to be coping fine mentally and not have any underlying issues. She was taken a lot more seriously when her struggles became public and attracted an older audience.
Her image then changed again with her Confident album which showed her in a more sexualised way, especially in her Cool For The Summer video. So, as you can see, her image has changed a lot over the years.
Her image then changed again with her Confident album which showed her in a more sexualised way, especially in her Cool For The Summer video. So, as you can see, her image has changed a lot over the years.
