On imagemaking: Artist activation for B. Smyth
Some years ago, I interviewed with Camille Yorrick, EVP of Creative Content at RCA Records / Sony Music. Her team has successfully imaged artists such as Beyoncé, Pink, and Justin Timberlake. Their mission: create influence by tying music artists with visual culture.
As part of the interview, she asked me to come up with activations for two lesser known RCA artists: R&B singer B. Smyth and girl group MUNA. Saying styling and music videos weren’t enough, she emphasized campaigns across live events, social, and other platforms. I was given a one-sheet on each and a few days of turnaround time. I was told that presentation matters at least as much as the ideas themselves.
Of the two submitted, I updated B. Smyth’s activation plan and am sharing it here. This was made in Keynote.
Click image to view PDF.
Copywriting, Strategy, Art Direction, and Design: Hanul Bahm
Photography and Illustration credits: please see PDF end notes.
My copywriting process:
1) Listen to the artist’s music.
2) Listen for personal voice / persona on social media.
3) Survey all the existing marketing / social media / web material.
4) Read interviews.
5) What picture does it paint: what’s present? what’s missing?
6) Who’s this person in real life? What obstacles might they face in gaining recognition and opportunity?
7) Identify the artist’s unique points of likeability.
8) Identify the ways artist is undervalued and/or overvalued.
9) Propose correctives the artist would enjoy working on.
Artist’s perspective: Being embodied on video
B. Smyth in real life is young, likely still figuring himself out, likely asked by handlers to perform a version of himself. He claims he’s shy. The industry, like social media, leverages our need for validation and likeability. Still, an artist’s ability to have an impact is tied to his/her/their ability to locate themselves. This is especially important when image-making with others. It’s so easy to have one’s personhood obliterated or displaced, to serve a projection.
Though I personally don’t crave the spotlight, I love performance art. Here, Emilie Sabath’s In This Earthly Garden. This was a single channel video installation to accompany a music composition. I played Lady in White, the main performer.
I wasn’t given much direction nor context. So I had to locate myself and self-direct. When faced with ambiguity, it’s your prep and tendencies that save you.
It’s prep like this that gave me a hint for what to say for B. Smyth’s activation. My thesis was:
Let the artists stand and deliver.
Give them low-key tools to shine (unless they want high-key).
Don’t make them into something they’re not.
Avoid prescribing and presuming. Absolutely lethal to trust-building.
Make sure disruption and displacement to their lives are minimal.
Get to know the artist and person. Take the time. Bring their embodiment into the role.
Generating influence is a ton of work. I shared my best thoughts and hopes for B. Smyth, aware of the industry’s long, inequitable relationship with Black musicians and capital. I didn’t get the job, but did end up with a thesis on image-making.
{Update: Brandon Smyth lived his dream as a recording artist. He passed away November 2022 at age 28 from pulmonary fibrosis. 💔 May he live on in the hearts of those who knew him.}