It’s a crisis nearly every popular musician encounters: they’ve enjoyed some success, their record has enjoyed some worldwide attention and a strand of their hair is worthy four digits on eBay. But then something happens, a little something called time. Time passes, the zeitgeist moves onto the next big ‘thing’ and suddenly they’re left in the wake of their former buzz. The market for their hair follicles crashes and they realise something needs to be done to either completely resurrect their career or to simply spark more interest. Over the years there’s been a number of artists who have successfully come back from the dead, and we decided to take a look at exactly how they managed to do it. This is the ultimate drawing board for struggling musos.
1. The Rebrand
How it works:
The music industry is cruel and what might be considered “cool” one day can quickly become stale the next. (Remember when dubstep happened? Yeah.) This means artists often have to change who they are and/or sell their souls to ensure they stay in the basking glow of the limelight. This is where the rebrand comes in. Essentially, this involves embracing an entirely new image and sometimes a completely new sound – in other words, surrendering to the zeitgeist and compromising morals for marketability. Desperate times call for desperate measures, etc.
Example of it done well:
Gather around, children, and hear the tale of a young singer by the name of Lizzy Grant. Playing in bars across New York City in the hope of catching her big break, Grant eventually released her debut album but no-one really seemed to care. Something wasn’t working. However, she was then picked up by major label Interscope and underwent a head-to-toe transformation. She was given a new hipster-friendly image, possibly one or two collagen injections in her lips and finally, a new name. This, kids, is how the chart-topping Lana Del Rey was born. Nothing changed to the music itself so all Lizzy Grant ever really needed was a makeover montage.
Honourable mention:
Miley “Hannah Montana to twerking popstar” Cyrus, anyone?
2. The Publicity Stunt
How it works:
Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of controversy to spark the people’s interest. This one is a timeless two-step process: an artist will do something that shocks and offends the public and the incident then gets picked up by the news cycle and becomes the most talked about topic of the day. The best publicity stunts are the most bizarre, the most controversial and usually occur “coincidentally” in time with a new release or announcement.
Example of it done well:
While it’s still not clear whether this one was scripted or not, one of the most well-known publicity stunts in recent times – perhaps of all time – was Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Female Video of the Year at the 2009 VMAs. The image of West snatching the microphone from a doe-eyed Swift instantly became immortalised in viral memes, quickly becoming an iconic moment in pop culture. In the aftermath of the mic-snatch, West became music’s most love-to-hate figure and Swift, who was only at the beginning of her career, shot straight into the stratosphere. President of Big Machine, Swift’s record label, said at the time “the Kanye incident brought attention to Taylor, to an audience that did not really know her or her music”. If by some chance it wasn’t scripted, they both owe each other massive thanks.
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Honourable mention:
Johnny Rotten’s outburst on The Project with Carrie Bickmore is another perfect case of a mutually beneficial publicity stunt. Claiming Bickmore was “screaming” too loud for his ear-piece, Rotten quickly dropped one-liners like “when a man is talking don’t interrupt” and “I’m Johnny Fucking Rotten and I’m telling you the truth”, immediately going viral and giving him more attention and The Project more ratings than if it were a smooth-sailing interview. It’s a sweet message: when in doubt, go on a misogynistic tirade.
3. The Disappearing Act
How it works:
Based on theory that absence makes the heart grow fonder, this one involves an artist entering retirement or simply going quiet before announcing a comeback and making people lose their shit in a frenzy of nostalgia. This one is based on the theory that absence makes the heart grow fonder. An artist goes into retirement or simply goes off the radar for a while, disappear for a long period of time (the longer the better) and people eventually start to become nostalgic. Then the artist announces their comeback and people lose their shit.
Example of it done well:
Remember that time Elvis disappeared from music and made a series of shitty B-grade Hollywood films? Sitting out during the Brit invasion of the ‘60s, it had seemed that the King of rock’n’roll had left the building for good. However, this fall from grace would eventually be the set up for one the greatest comebacks in music history when he returned in 1968 with the one-off televised event, ’68 Comeback Special. Aired across all of America, the recorded concert went on to become the most-watched television special of the year and gave the King the momentum to sit back on the throne with a brand new album From Elvis in Memphis released the following year.
Dishonourable mention:
Warning: if attempted too many times, the disappearing act can wear a little thin. Looking at you, John “Goodbye Tour #19” Farnham.
4. The Go Solo
How it works:
In every group there’s a natural-born leader. They’re not too hard to pick; usually they’re the main vocalists, they’re slightly more photogenic than the others and they’re always standing front-and-centre. Their name also may or may not be Beyoncé. Time and time again, history has foretold the story of the group leader realising their inner strength and rising from the ashes of their former group, going solo and enjoying greater success alone than they ever did with their bandmates. Evidently, shaking off the deadweight and seizing the glory for yourself is always a viable career option.
Examples of it done well:
The Police, The Smiths, The Beatles, The Stooges, Destiny’s Child, No Doubt and N*SYNC – believe it or not – all have one thing in common: they’ve all had a leader who went on to great solo careers. Ever heard of Sting, Morrissey, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Iggy Pop, Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani or Justin Timberlake?
5. Death
How it works:
Die. Literally. Granted it’s a bit extreme, death has consistently made great artists into legends – especially those that die at 27.
Examples of it done well:
According to Billboard, Michael Jackson generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year after his death. This includes the profit from his documentary Michael Jackson: This Is It and the surge in sales that saw 34 singles from his back catalogue enter the ARIA charts including four in the top 10 – that’s more success than he ever experienced alive. The same trend can be seen with Amy Winehouse, whose sales jumped by 37 times following her untimely passing. It’s a sad irony: death is ironically the best career move in music.
