Image + Music: Pop's High Stakes Game

22 February 2011

by Jonno Seidler

The creative spheres of fashion and music have always been mutually beneficial bed-fellows. But with the frenetic enthusiasms of a new breed of pop stars, is style trumping substance or is it business as usual? Jonno Seidler investigates whether ‘the hook’ is now playing second fiddle to ‘the look.’

ABOVE AND BEYOND

At last week's Grammy Awards, Lady Gaga was carried along the red carpet and into the ceremony encased in a giant plastic egg. Spinal Tap references aside, for the multi-platinum megastar and shock ‘n’ awe mistress, this was actually one of her less-outrageous accoutrements.

GaGa, whose long-awaited single Born This Way arrived last week, represents a dizzying, dazzling augmentation of popular artists of old. In an era when crafting a resounding image is paramount, Haus Of GaGa, the ‘star’s revolving-door styling- squad and crack marketing collective, are almost as indispensable as the woman herself. Moreover, GaGa, and to a lesser extent, contemporaries Rihanna, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj, are not creating one-off visual stunts to boost their profiles.

This is not Britney’s diamond- encrusted bodysuit, Kylie’s hotpants or even Christina Aguilera’s lamentable Dirrty phase. To ensure continued success these pop divas seek to exist in a continual state of bleeding-edge flux; dramatically modifying their appearance with every release cycle, industry event and music video. These stars aren’t simply highlights of an event; they are the event.

Many wondered if this obsession with image is having an effect on the calibre of tunes being created. It’s the ‘eternal question’ asked of industry veteran Glenn A. Baker, one he believes is part of a larger historical trend.

“When Elton John went out on stage wearing giant stack heels, huge glasses and a boa constrictor, was that more important than the music he was playing?” he asks, “Yes and no. The balance between image and music does tip occasionally, and sometimes the style becomes more important than substance.” A heady comment considering Baker is well acquainted with the eras that also gave us Devo, Cameo, Gary Numan, The Skyhooks and Ziggy Stardust. “My feeling is that in the past ten or fifteen years, the balance has probably tipped more than it should.”

The question isn’t only whether the balance has tipped in favour of image, but what happened to the music? Music, Baker maintains, now competes for audience attention among a proliferation of tech and entertainment-driven stimuli, many of which simply did not exist forty or fifty years ago. Consequently, a renewed emphasis on image is necessary to distinguish one artist from another in an already clustered playing field.

GaGa’s self-creation has spawned worldwide legions of ‘Little Monsters’, diehard fans imitating her dress style with a zeal not seen since dare we say it, Madonna in the ‘80s. But Madge- mania, as ubiquitous as it was, was never as prolific (dare we say, twitterific). “The nature of popular music is that it must attract attention,” explains Baker, “and it must gain adherence culturally because fans want to be part of that image.”

But whereas The Who’s mod followers, Bowie’s androgynies and even the legendary KISS Army donned the dress of their idols to pledge their allegiance to the music, current fans are more frequently seen latching onto elements of the outfits, (lets face it, a lot of it isn’t prêt-a-porte) with tunes becoming a residual component of an overall lifestyle. Perhaps the real win, the real litmus test of cultural impact comes when we see the fashion houses picking up on the trends – not the other way around.

Have fashion and music surrendered their equal footing in the battle for the consumer dollar? “I think there’s been a shift in the credibility dynamic,” says Alyx Gorman, fashion editor at The Vine and former Associate Editor at culture- leader bible, Oyster Magazine.

“It used to be that dressing a rockstar and helping to mould their look was a big boost to a [clothing] label, but now it seems that more and more, musicians are at the mercies of fashion.” Perhaps not at the mercy of, but GaGa may well have created an insatiable reinvention beast she will have problems feeding over time.

At what point will she become a victim of her own outrageousness is yet to be seen. And although she’s blazing a trail, GaGa is certainly not the first chart-topper to utilise fashion for devastating, defining impact. “The Sex Pistols had a ‘Haus’ too,” says Gorman, “it was called Vivienne Westwood, and their costumer was dating their manager [Malcolm McLaren].” So what’s the big difference?

SIGN O’ THE TIMES

An answer may lie in the ephemeral appetites of the music listener. No longer invested in buying full albums, relishing sleeve art or blue-tacking posters on their walls, pop fans of the 21st century are an entirely different beast and demand entirely different celebrities, particularly musicians.

“When people are quite happy to download one track as opposed to a whole album, without any interest in the depth of an artist’s career, I think it’s inevitable that they’re going to be drawn to the peripheral aspects more than they are to the music,” says Baker. This type of approach has been particularly successful for Barbados-born beauty Rihanna, who has deliberately synced her new hair and wardrobe with every one of her singles that hits the radio.

Quickly transitioning from the loud pastels of Rude Boy to the bohemian flutter of Only Girl (In The World) and onto the hyper- sexualised bondage outfits of S&M Rihanna has, for all intents and purposes, become the Ipod shuffle of the R&B world with an ultra high-refresh rate. And that not only means more clothes for her to wear, but more styles for her followers to buy. Unlike Madonna who metamorphosed album by album, Ri Ri’s doing it track by track.

“There’s definitely more of an awareness of the relationship between music and high fashion now,” says Gorman, “the relationship is more accessible. It’s easier for people to find out that this or that musician is wearing Theirry Mugler or Louis Vuitton.” The cross-pollination and saturation of relentless promotional photo- shoots, magazine features, fan sites and film clips have enabled wannabe GaGas and RiRis to establish the wares being worn by their idols in literally the click of a button.

END GAME

Katy Perry is to candy-land what Ziggy Stardust was to outer space – but Ziggy (Bowie) is acknowledged as a credible musician and songwriter, as are fellow legends of image Gary Numan, Prince and, to an extent, it is what GaGa should be remembered for too. So it seems the prospect of music for music’s sake has become an increasingly distant memory.

“That fact is that fashion statements are now the only thing distinguishing pop stars,” says Gorman on the formulaic construction of most pop songs, “especially given how heavily produced these girls’ voices are; you can hardly distinguish one vocal from another anymore.” Returning to his theory of newly stunted attention spans, Baker maintains that whoever provides ‘a quicker hit’ of OTT style will reign supreme.

“I come from a generation when popular music was central to our existence, because it was all we had,” Baker says. “Every aspect of it was vital and important. Now I believe it’s more just one component of a lifestyle.”

Perhaps a literal example of this is the high-intensity touring which successful pop acts are increasingly reliant upon for revenue, as album and single sales ebb. Lady GaGa’s last Australian tour smashed records not only for ticket sales but for the sheer number of costume changes (15). “Live performance has become much more important than it’s been in a very long time,” says Baker, “and that is, of course, all about spectacle. If people are going to see this spectacle live, and the look of it is important to them, then the look of the artist will be equally important.”

CUTTING THE THREAD

So the real relationship between pop music and image remains the same, after all this time it simply seems there are less rules to break; they’re already broken. So long as music fans have functioning ears, eyes and index fingers to click on rapidly updating YouTube flicks, popstars will keep on hitting us with their flavoured brands of stunt- couture.

Just think of the potential spin-offs in the future; plastic-surgery apps to shape your Beyonce booty or websites that allow you to dress a fully naked Nicki Minaj from scratch like the whacked-out Barbie she already is.

This is how the millions are made. Besides, we all have to make concessions, and neither luxury fashion or pop music are what they used to be. “Honestly,” says Gorman, “I think a lot of brands would be happy to move away from clothes altogether and just have girls naked in heels and handbags.” Shocking? Maybe. But it’s also a fantastic marketing opportunity.... You could probably write the lyrics yourself.