For this branding case study, in order to have a holistic understanding, I will dive into the branding of Belgian Musician Angèle and Billie Eilish (our chosen song's artist).
ANGÈLE
Angèle Van Laeken is a Belgian artist who strives to address modern social phenomenons in her songs, often considering one situation from different angles, making her music very unique and relatable to people from different backgrounds. Moreover, Angèle is known for her ability to use dark humor and sarcasm to present her point of view on matters, this is reinforced by her music videos which she dedicates a great deal of time and energy to, often using abstract concepts as well as dance movements that are wonderfully weird, delivering a sense of freedom and attitude which attracts her fans even more to her.
Angèle is signed by her own independent record label 'Angèle VL Records', therefore able to produce songs she enjoys and believes in. This allows her the freedom and power as well as safety with her copy rights and events as well as presence on social media, even her own agent is her babysitter from her childhood.
Angèle's main platform of promotion and activism is Instagram, where she shares her daily life ranging from the making of her music to family moments and puns she enjoys to make. Angèle is considered to be very 'real' as social media calls it, this is considered to be a rare quality amongst celebrities as they are known to maintain 'perfection' and glamour at all times. However, this has changed over the decade as audiences in the postmodern age yearn for authenticity and are experiencing hyperreal inertia as a result of media proliferation and a flood of creation following one specific model, hence making authenticity impossible to find/keep. It is refreshing to see celebrities sharing the 'imperfections'(I am using this definition vaguely), therefore creating an approachable, humane image and generates a closer proxemic with their fans and audiences.
VIDEO ESSAY
This video essay covers some of Angèle's most well-known songs but also the style of her music, albums, clothing and importantly, her branding.
In 2021, Netflix released a documentary on Angèle, recording her quick yet complicated journey to fame. The documentary offers an insight into the struggles Angèle faced with her identity as well as other challenges throughout her adventure, it presents some truly personal aspects to Angèle's life and is definitely very inspiring to watch.
Official trailer of the Netflix documentary 'Angèle'
Angèle's first big hit was 'La Loi de Murphy', she released the music video on YouTube and received million views. This is a positive example of the power of media, based on Clay Shirky's theory, everyone are 'prosumers' of media. In the postmodern era, digital technologies combined broadcast and communications media effects as stated by Shirky, this allows artists like Angèle to create and post her work online and equally allows her work to have the ability to reach a large pool of audience globally.
Furthermore, Angèle's warm personality has made her fans very active in supporting her and she also responds to them by launching special sales with limited edition autographed vinyl records. Although selling autographed records is not a new form of fan interaction, it does combine traditional concept and modern technology by promoting the event on social media and carrying out sales online.
BILLIE EILISH
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell, commonly known as Billie Eilish is an American singer and songwriter. Billie’s first single ‘Ocean Eyes’ released in 2015 when she was only 14 years old and the song was very popular mainly in America. Her first studio album ‘ When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ released in 2019was a big hit and was one of the best-selling albums of the year also reaching the US Billboard top 200 and UK albums chart, the most significant being ‘Bad Guy’ which trended on Tik Tok for a long time and also reached the Billboard Hot 100 making her the first artist born in the 21st century to have a top-chart single.
Billie Eilish as one of the BBC 100 women in 2022
In 2020, Billie Eilish recorded the 007 James Bong theme song ‘No Time To Die’ written by her and her brother Finneas O’Connell who is also a musician and Billie Eilish’s all-time collaborator since her first song ‘Ocean Eyes’. The 007 theme song won Billie and Finneas an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2022.
‘Her subsequent singles "Everything I Wanted", "My Future", "Therefore I Am", and "Your Power" peaked in the top 10 in the US and UK. Her second studio album, Happier Than Ever (2021), topped charts in 25 countries.’ [1] our chosen song ‘GOLWING” is from her latest album ‘Happier Than Ever’ which feels quite as an experimenting album including metallic, Bossa Nova, Jazz, Church Hymn and Techno (GOLWING) a range of musical styles, but this does fit in Billie’s bold stylistic choices as well as curiosity towards all matters as demonstrated in her songs.
Early life
Both Billie Eilish’s parents are actors and musicians who truly inspired Billie and Finneas to express themselves through art and music from a young age. Unlike the majority of children, Billie and Finneas were homeschooled by their Mother Maggie Baird and the education and guidance provided was very much to inspire them to pursuit their own interests.
Global Topics Billie addresses
-Climate change awareness:
-Women’s rights
-This is a more personal topic: Billie Eilish suffering from Tourette syndrome since the age of 11 talked about her perception on this illness as well as how other people have reacted when Billie addressed it.
Billie Eilish’s image:
Billie is often associated with ‘weird’ which is interpreted in both positive and negative ways depending on the audience, but weird is Billie’s image.
Billie Eilish’s style stands out from the rest in the musical industry which is unlike what Adorno claims in his concept of Standardization that there will be the odd artist who tries to make different unique music but actually isn’t, this is pseudo individualization.
(The illusion of choice and differentiation in a cultural paradigm defined by standardized modes of production)
Billie Eilish’s vast genre of music styles arguably makes her more mysterious and unexpectable therefore often as she extends her song to another genre, she reaches again, a wider audience.
Unlike Angèle, Billie Eilish ‘In January 2016, Finneas and his manager arranged a deal in which Apple Music signed Eilish to A&R company Platoon, specializing in packaging emerging artists before they get a major-label contract.[31][10][30] Eilish then got a publicist, who connected her to the luxury fashion brand Chanel, and a stylist, both of whom helped shape her image.’ [2]
Like Billie’s music style, her fashion style also stands out, perhaps more distinctive when she first gained popularity. In 2017, she stated that she likes dressing out of her comfort zone to draw peopl’es attention on her and she tries to be "really different from a lot of people" and dresses the opposite to what others wear which nowadays, mass media ideology of female beauty is to wear clothing that are tight or falls on their body perfectly, so Billie went the opposite direction and wore entirely baggy clothes, aiming to "look memorable". In 2019, she claimed: "Over time it's kind of become a thing, 'Billie Eilish, the creepy, weird, scary girl.' And I don't like that. It's lame. I just don't want to stay one thing." This is very much reflected in her music.
Furthermore, Billie launched her own brand of fragrance perfume 'Eilish' in 2021 and has already introduced Eilish 2.0. The design of the perfume bottle represents a more feminine, elegant feeling as opposed to her usual maximalist style.
Henry Jenkins outlines nourishing fan bases to exploit the digital labour of audiences, media content proliferation lends itself quite largely to fans who repost, react, duet with celebrities and artists' works. Furthermore, the 'like' 'comment' and 'share' sections boost audience engagement and allows celebrities such as Angèle to promote and market products and music at minimal cost.
The connection between fan and musicians are very much two way nowadays.
Angèle has established a fan base consisting of mostly French-speakers ranging from teenagers to middle-aged people and even a small group of elderly audiences. However, her fans are now gradually expanding to some Asian countries and growing even larger in America. Angèle is able to radiate her energy and create a connection with her audience and is always able to induce personality and intimacy into global topics in concern, she is indeed a special and talented artist of the 21st century.
Billie Eilish equally shares a deep bond with her fans who are very international from Asia to the West and are mostly teenagers, however there are also quite a few middle-aged fan base in the West. Billie Eilish is adored for her authenticity, quirkiness as well as warmth and kindness to feel and resonate with the emotions her fans might be experiencing.
references:
[1&2]:
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