R&P Post 16: My Band or Artist

Artist name: GiGi



Background information:

Meet GiGi, a 18 year old British solo artist. GiGi started singing when she was 7 years old and has won plenty of awards from talent competitions. At the age of 14, she was scouted by Glass Ceiling Records and was promptly signed to the label. In 2016, she will come out with her self-titled debut album.

GiGi's background:

• She likes to listen to the rock genre and can play the guitar
• Her inspiration comes from many various artists including Bon Jovi and Boy George
• She is a feminist and supports female empowerment with family ties to some of the original suffragettes
• She is an animal lover and is an advocate for animal rights. She opposes animal testing and only uses cruelty free products
• She is also a vegan and deplores the killing of animals

I was inspired by Ke$ha's video which supports The Humane Society of the United States’s #BeCrueltyFreeUSA campaign to end animal testing of cosmetics.

“The power lies with us and we don’t need to harm animals to be beautiful!” -Kesha.

Identity: GiGi will hopefully be a good role model for young girls. She does a lot of charity work and is considered to be the "Girl Next Door" but with a rebellious streak.

Taylor Swift's charming and charitable personality largely influenced me when I crafted GiGi's personality. She has donated a lot of money to charity and has personally helped her fans.

Spending time with a cancer patient

Donating money to charitee

Sound: The music that she releases would involve pop music mixed with a bit of rock or trap music. Her rich vocals would complement any genre but she is going to release synth-pop or EDM songs in order to take advantage of the popular trending music at the moment

Inspiration

I have compiled a list of artists who have inspired my decisions and ideas about GiGi. These artists are similar to GiGi in terms of style, sound or background.

I used information about the existing female solo artists in expand my knowledge and understanding of Richard Dyer's star theory and have been able to apply it to my own artist. I was able to see how existing artists are examples of icons manufactured for financial gain and the ways that institutions have made them appear relatable to audiences. The audience relate to the star because they have a feature that they share with or admire about the star.

Our ideas for GiGi has been approved by our target audiences of female teenagers who say that they can understand and relate to her. However, they have mentioned that being an animal rights activist and a vegan does not seem to compile with her supposedly rebellious attitude. I would argue that it makes her stand out and is one of the reasons why she is different from others as she has a different view from the majority.