Ones to Watch: Musicians who are also creators
Curated by Megan Collins, GenZ expert, Cultural Insights Analyst and regular contributor to the MTD blog.
Gone are the days where musicians can just focus on their craft. In today’s world, a musician's social media presence has the power to make or break their career.
While social media has played a role in music with artists like Janelle Monae and Soulja Boy being discovered and growing their communities on Myspace, it’s exploded with YouTube and now TikTok. It’s almost guaranteed that if a song starts trending on TikTok, that it’ll soon appear on the Billboard 100, with 13 of the 14 No.1 trending songs of 2022 being driven by TikTok trends. Labels are even forcing their artists to post on TikTok and promote their music with the likes of Halsey and Florence + The Machine speaking out about it.
Regardless of where your opinion falls, it’s arguably crucial for young and emerging artists to have a strong social media presence in order to build the core fandom that will show up for them. Here’s a look at 3 musicians who sang and posted their way to the Coachella lineup:
Validates her fandom’s creativity
In the current social media landscape dominated by SFV, having a trend associated with your song is the holy grail. Some artists are trying their darndest to create trends while Rosalia is the trend. What’s more, she knows that the best thing she can do is validate the fans who are pioneering trends among her larger community so that she can focus on the music. One of my favorite trends is about her signature attitude. Her willingness to embrace her audience’s contributions have made her a TikTok personality independent of her music.
Is an online auteur
Controversial romance with the second youngest KarJenner aside, Bad Bunny is on top of the music world. He has a dedicated global fanbase in large part due to his success in streaming. In fact, Spotify famously presented him with Super Bowl style rings to celebrate his many successes. One of the driving forces behind his huge global success is his YouTube presence. He’s long posted high concept creative videos where he leans into aesthetics, shows off his personality, and make political statements.
Is a relatable shit-poster
In a social landscape full of musicians bemoaning the capital M marketing that they “have to do” on social media, Remi is shitposting her way into fans’ hearts and minds. “Shitposting” in its simplest terms is posting seemingly nonsensical, absurd, or deliberately provocative content on social media to grab attention. Gen Z has turned it into an art form, perhaps you’ve heard of the “photo dump.” Remi leans into this laissez-faire style of sharing, taking a break every now and then to market the music with much support in the comments. This anti-strategy perfectly aligns with her music sensibilities as well.