Feedback on our indie artist

Today we received feedback on the work we had done on our Indie artist, here are the responses from members of our class + target audience.

Positives
+ Good Market Research (twice)
+ Lots of Piccys! :)
+ Good work on tour artwork
+ Love the use of inspiration
+ Nice highlighting & images
+ Awesome detail.. So much detail.
+ You've really gone all out!
+ Good CD artwork and photo stuff. :)
+ 8/10, would read again
+ Very nice
+ Good Research

Negatives
- Not an Indie name
- Too long
- Mainstream idea (name + logo)
- Doesn't have an Indie feel

Although mostly positive feedback, I am disappointed with some of the negative feedback as I don't feel they are justified.

Music video concept

Music video concept

After researching into the music video market for this genre of music, it is clear that there are some stereotypes that we will need to use in order for our artist to appeal to the niche market that is indie music.

The first thing we will need to use is lots of colour. A good example of this is Swim Deep's song Honey ( picture from that video). Colour is something our band has used throughout their portrayal so it is is key we carry this through to our music video's to ensure that fans of the band get a constant feel of their musical style and personality. This will appeal to our target market as it gives a thematic feel to our band and carries through key ideas about our band through their media portrayal

Another thing many indie bands use in their music video's is performance. Close-ups of instruments and the singer(s) are used a lot, to show that the band is more about the music than the image and show they have raw talent. This is something our band should also try to fit into our music video, as it will help show this and appeal to our indie niche target market.

The music video

At the start of our video, a background of a wall will be shown, and the name of our band will appear on it, this is something used by many indie bands to give them an individual identity and allow people to recognize the band as soon as the video is shown.

During every chorus the video will then show the band performing to a small crowd, to show they are independent   with lots of coloured clothing and a coloured backdrop to keep up the thematic imagery throughout our media portrayal of the band. There will also be a lot of close-ups of instruments being played to reinforce the fact our band is more about the music than the image.

During the verse and slower parts of the song, the video will cut to a more narrative part showing the band rolling lots of colourful bouncy balls down a hill in slow motion. This is used to make the video stand out and make our band have a different look to them. It also keeps up the thematic use of colour in our band's representation.

This music video, whilst only being a basic concept, will be very good as the breakout song for our indie band because it shows our band as being both talented and artistic. It also maintains a thematic use of colour and clearly displays Jumpstart as different and independent, something crucial to an indie band

Cover of an original song

Cover of an Original song

Jumpstart will be covering "Lovesick" by Peace.

Why it is suitable for our artist
We have chosen this song, because, as you can see above this song is quite new. This is essential for an indie band as the indie genre moves very quickly with trends, so picking a reasonably new song will ensure they appeal to the small niche market that many bands are also trying to hit. The song also fits into the "Indie-pop" genre, which is the niche that we are trying to appeal to, as it uses some catchy tunes and a repetitive chorus to appeal to the target market.

Another reason for picking this song is that it has had previous musical success, as Peace are a popular indie band and have been nominated for the NME New Music Award. Picking a song that has had previous success is also essential, as we need to know we have a solid base to work on and that we can potentially improve upon the original song and make it appeal to the target market more, hopefully making our band more successful.

How we will adapt it to appeal to our target market

Jumpstart will adapt this song firstly, by changing the vocal sound. Because our band is more northern than Peace, the song will have a different sound as the regional accent is different. This will provide a fresh sound for indie fans to listen to, and hopefully our version will appeal to them more than the original. We will also try to lengthen the song,a little, as it is quite short at only just over 2 minutes, so if we add another chorus or verse then we can make the song longer and hopefully this will help to appeal to our target market, as the song will be more catchy and infectious, and this is something our target market likes.

Press Release Photos

Press Release Photos

Press release photo's are another key area that needs to be specifically tailored to display our band in the exact way that we need them to be shown in. This area is key to making sure our artist seems to be more for the music than the image, and are different to the rest of the music industry.

Gigs

Our band needs to be shown as one that gigs a lot and performs at small venues in their hometown. This is key to their portrayal as it shows them as a band who have risen from their hometown and have not been simply picked up and manufactured. It also makes people want to see them as they have shown that they are good live, and have some natural talent which will be worth them going to see. Having them at small venues also shows that they are an indie band, as it shows that their music is intimate and means something to them, rather than the manufactured music played frequently on the radio and not as much live.

Band Photos

Our band also needs group photo's to portray them as an indie band. This is something nearly all indie bands do, as it allows them to show all the band members together and give them some artistic freedom to show what they are about. Jumpstart would need to use lots of colour in their band picture, as it is a running theme throughout their media portrayal and needs to be reinforced through their band photo. The photo could also be used for magazines etc, such as NME and other indie music magazines.

Daily Life

The band also need some photos in the press of them in their day-to-day lives. This is because it helps to make them relatable, as if they seem detached and "above" everyone else, they will seem too mainstream as this is something mainstream artists do. Indie artists need to be shown as more about the music so pictures of them normally will help to show them as people who don't care about what photo's go in the press.

Press Release Stories

Press Release Stories
As part of the publicity for our band we decided to do two press release stories, one which is aimed to be bad publicity and one which is the opposite. We have decided to do this because upon my research, I found that although bad press gets the band noticed, it doesn't encourage the reader to read it as it is already what you would expect from an indie band.

The good publicity story will be that a few weeks after announcing their debut tour "The Homecoming", that the proceeds for said tour, will actually go towards the "Help for Heroes" charity. When the band are interviewed about this, the lead singer responds with "We're doing this not to show that we're true indie and get fans through admiration, but because this is something that means a tremendous deal to me personally in particular losing my dad from his injuries after he returned from Afghanistan." This type of charity work for a band has only really been seen before within a single song towards the end of the year. Perhaps this ultimately shows that Jumpstart are a "real" indie band and are not touring for the money in it.

The bad publicity story is one that is very typical for indie bands with the majority of the bands members being arrested at a party for possession and use of drugs (as demonstrated on the right by the band "I See Stars"). Our band will be caught at a big after party after the 3rd night of their tour "The Homecoming" with possession of Cannabis and will be put in HMP Wakefield prison.
Similar to the image of the left, the female member of the band will tweet out about her experience after being arrested followed by a formal apology to their fans.

Marketing

Marketing

As part of our marketing campaign for our indie artist, We have decided collectively to create some album artwork. This is the album artwork that I have designed for our indie band.
The design is meant to be quite personal for the band but still be quirkyand eye catching. The backdrop that we have decided to use is actually a photo that we have taken of where the band all grew up as friends, this being their debut album shows their roots and that they are proud of them which is a common convention for an indie bands such as the Arctic Monkeys. We have also decided to use a bright coloured filterover the top of the backdrop because it is a typical convention of the indie pop genre that we are targeting, this has been seen in many bands within this genre such as Walk The Moon to show their quirkiness. We also decided that the bands logo should be in a paper cut out so I designed this accordingly to create a raw feel for the album with the use of easy to come by materials and the fact that it's not about the bands image but the music inside, which has been shown with us not including an image of the band but instead their home town (showing that they have not being changed by any success they may have had).

As an extra part to our marketing campaign for our indie band, I decided to create a UK tour for them and the marketing for that tour. Due to this being their first tour after the release of their first album I decided to carry the same theme from the album artwork onto the tour poster. The idea of this being that after the album has being released the tour is now as appropriately named, their homecoming in which the tour slowly gets closer to their hometown of Halifax (which is seen in the album and poster artwork). Again as with the album artwork, the tour poster shows none of the band members within it, showing that they are less image based and more about the music.

The venues that we have chosen for this short tour are some of the smaller venues, we have chosen to do this due to the fact that the band are indie and we feel shouldn't be performing huge sellout arena tours.

Costume, Props and Hair

Costume, Props and Hair

Costume
The costume that our band members will be wearing, although varied from each other, will follow one central style. This style will be particularly inspired by the other bands we researched in the beginning (Walk The Moon and Chvrches).

One style in particular that will be common with our band is the clothing choice of double denim. We feel this style of clothing will be suitable for our indie band as it is a common convention within the indie pop genre and in general with indie bands (as seen with the arctic monkeys on the right).

As well as using the style of double denim we will use a common convention for indie pop bands of colour, by using bright colours in the costume itself we feel that it puts our band in with other indie bands already out there and makes them stand out from the sea of black, white and sepia bands that are popular within the indie market at the moment.

(Right, Walk the Moon with bright coloured clothing)
In terms of specific items of clothing that the costume for our band will entail, we have looked to current indie bands and fashion trends for inspiration.
From this research we discovered that skinny jeans would be an item of clothing that we would like to use due to its popularity in both of these areas. As stated before within the costume section, these skinny jeans could be any colour due to the bright colour style we would use, but also allows dark colours with hitting the double denim style.

Hair
The hair of our band members will play a fairly major part in their appearance as a key part of the costume. In general the band members will have fairly long natural hairstyles that don't seem to be maintained very well as seen quite commonly within indie bands such as The Kooks. With the band consisting of three male members, two of them will have just mid length scruffy hair and the other will have naturally curly hair.
As far the female member of our group, she will again just have a natural hairstyle such as the one on the picture below.

The hair colour of the band members will be very plain with the majority having their hair a very dark brown or a complete died jet black colour. However for diversity within the band one of the males with scruffy hair will also have a ginger coloured tint within his hair such as the one seen in the picture of The Kooks above.





Props
As another part of the appearance of our band, we have decided to use some props, some of these are typical of an indie pop band and some are not so typical.

The first prop our band will have is an acoustic guitar, although acoustic guitars are a common prop within indie bands, ours will be brightly coloured to follow the theme of the band throughout and the conventions of an indie pop band. As well as the guitar being brightly coloured, it has a unique twist of LED lights around the rim of it making it again much brighter, much more effective for concerts in the dark and making the band more recognisable.

Another prop that our band will have will be a giant train carriage, this will work effectively as a stage prop for "The Homecoming" tour as the train symbolises a method of transportation bringing them back home. This prop will be near full size so that the band can use it to perform within for some performances of their songs but also creates a great stage prop center piece.

Target Audience

Jumpstart (JuMpstaЯt)
Jumpstart are an indie band that me and my media partner Tom have created as part of our media coursework. The branding for the band as shown above, is something that I designed, we felt that to fit the conventions of an indie band, the name had to be stylized in some manner so we flipped the R in the logo. Having already created a mainstream artist we have incorporated the feedback we received from that into this one. The band consists of 4 members, 3 boys and 1 girl and their genre of music is indie pop. This layout is the same as ones seen in researched bands such as "Rilo Kiley". (below)

Target Audience:

The target audience for Jumpstart will be slightly older than our mainstream artist Phoenix Sargant's market , around the ages of 16-20, this is the typical market for the indie genre and is the market that the bands we have researched into, such as Walk The Moon, Chvrches and Peace, all attempt to hit. They are also particularly appealing to hardcore fans of the genre, as they try to appear to be more about the music than their media portrayal. They have all also grown up in a small town and still play very small venues, so this will help to hit this market too as many fans of the indie genre like seeing their favorite bands in small, intimate shows.

Other Bands and how they address their target audiences

From Wikipedia:

Walk the Moon (stylized as WALK THE MOON) is an indie rock band based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lead singer and Saint Louis native Nicholas Petricca started the band in 2008 and went through several member changes before finally coming together with current members, Kevin Ray, Sean Waugaman, and Eli Maiman sometime in 2010. The band derives their name from the song "Walking on the Moon" by The Police. The group independently released their debut album, i want! i want!, in November 2010, receiving airplay for the track "Anna Sun" . In February 2011, Walk the Moon signed with Mick Management. They signed to RCA Records and released their first official album, Walk the Moon in June 2012.

Walk the Moon are a band which we can take some good inspiration from for Jumpstart. They are an indie-pop band from the USA who target a very specific niche market. They also use a lot of colour in their media representation, something that we have taken on and want to try and implement into our band. This is used to show individuality and quirkiness, something that is good for an indie artist as it shows them as different to the rest of society. They appeal to a small market of people, usually around the age of young adults and they bridge the gap between pop and mainstream and indie-rock, which is a lot more heavy.

In this music video by the band we can alot more clearly see how they are portrayed and how our band will be influenced by them. The band use a lot of colour and face paint in the video, which makes them seem quirky and against the mainstream, something we want our band to do. Also there is a lot of creative ideas being shown in the video, such as the red hands and the dancing background dancers, which again are used to show the freedom of the band and how they have complete creative control over their music. Overall I feel that our band could take a lot from Walk The Moon, as they are extremely quirky and individual and hit the key gap in the market, bridging the gap between pop and indie-rock. Jumpstart will look to use lots of colour in our music video concept and advertising, such as our album artwork.

From Wikipedia: 

Chvrches (pronounced as "churches" and sometimes stylized as CHVRCHES) are a Scottish electropop band from Glasgow, formed in 2011. The group consists of Lauren Mayberry (lead vocals, additional synthesizers), Iain Cook (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Martin Doherty (synthesizers, vocals).

Chvrches are another band that we can take inspiration from for Jumpstart. They are a scottish band who have risen from a small area into a mass appeal, and are very focused on their own music and not on their image. Although not as colourful as Walk the Moon, they are also very good at bridging the gap between pop and indie-rock, and this is the gap we are also looking to hit. They hit a small target market of people who enjoy this type of music, normally young adults. Their music is also very different, and stands out from other bands in the indie genre, so this helps to give them an individual musical identity.

From this video we can get some more information on the techniques used by Chvrches to appeal to fans of the indie genre. This video is still simply a performance, however there is a big use of odd editing style and colour throughout the video which makes it stand out as an indie video and not a manufactured band. The fact that the video is so odd shows that the band have a lot of artistic control over how they are portrayed, and are not manufactured or made to look a certain way. This is something we definitely need to show with our band, and Chvrches are a great example of how we can achieve this.

  

From Wikipedia:

Swim Deep are an Indie rock band from Birmingham, England consisting of Austin Williams (vocals), Tom Higgins (guitar), Zachary Robinson (drums) and Cavan McCarthy (bass). Swim Deep formed in 2011 by Austin Williams, Tom 'Higgy' Higgins and Wolfgang J Harte. Harte left the band in late 2012 and was replaced by Cavan McCarthy. They have often been identified as part of the emerging Digbeth-based B-Town scene

The band began to record in Brussels in the last few months of 2012 of what would soon be their debut album During their career, they have released five singles which have received critical acclaim. They are due to release their debut album Where the Heaven Are We on August 5, 2013. It was originally meant to be on 29 July, but it was moved to a later date for unknown reasons.

Swim Deep are another indie band who Jumpstart can take inspiration from. They have also done the "indie" thing of rising up from their hometown, as they have come from Birmingham and became popular in the indie scene. They also have a symbol that represents the band, as shown above, and this helps to distinguish them as different  They also hit the same "indie" target market as the previous two bands- a small target range usually between the ages of 16-25.

This is one of Swim Deep's music videos, which has many similarities to the previous two videos. It uses lots of colour and paint, something used in Walk The Moon's video- as you can see this is a key feature in the indie-pop genre and something we need to use as much as possible in the creation of our band. It also uses a quite sexualised woman to help appeal to a male audience more, which is probably more common in mainstream music.

Lana Del Rey Case Study- Manufactured or Indie?

         Write a word analysis of the construction / representation of Lana Del Rey as an “indie” artist. Your analysis should include:
·         Some textual analysis of her music videos
·         The identification of recurring themes / images in her music videos and lyrics
·         Some analysis of the effect of media “hype” on the construction / representation of Del Rey
·         Links / quotes / images from articles, interviews, reviews etc.

·         A personal opinion on the success of Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey- A Brief Summary

Lana Del Rey was born on June 21, 1986 by the name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant  in New York City but grew up in Lake Placid, New York.  At the age of 19 she was signed up by an indie recording label, however the label went bust shortly after.

She released an EP called "Kill Kill" in 2008 under the name Lizzy Grant and then a full-length studio album in January 2010 as Lana Del Rey a.k.a. Lizzy Grant. It was with her father Robert Grant's help, a multi-millionaire,  that the album reached the market. This is where a lot of the controversy around Del Rey stems from and something I will explore in much more detail later on.

Del Rey wrote "Video Games" with a composer called Justin Parker and uploaded her performance of the song on YouTube in July 2011. The song catapulted her into the limelight and she was promptly snapped up by recording label Interscope. They then re-released the song to a wider market and Del Rey began making appearances on TV shows and performing her single. This caused major backlash on Del Rey, as many critics said that she was awful live and was a manufactured star who couldn't pull off the kooky vocals with which she had hit fame with. These critics also dragged up her past, exposing her as the daughter of a millionaire who had tried (and failed) to hit it big and had not risen from a trailer park to where she was today.

She released her album "Born to Die" in January 2012 and it released to a wide mixture of criticism, with some critics absolutely slating the singer and others coming in with a more balanced approach.

Del Rey is a great artist to analyse as she was much media controversy around her and her music video's and appearance are clearly manufactured to appeal to a certain market.

Appearance

Photoshoots

In photoshoots of Del Rey, she always seems to have a 60's vibe about her. In this first picture, her makeup and hair are both typical of the 60's era, and her clothing again helps to represent this. Clearly this 60's vibe is being used to represent Del Rey as someone who is new and fresh, as she is different to mainstream artists as they wear much more modern clothing.

In this second photo we see another side of the portrayal of Lana Del Rey. In the photo we see that Del Rey is bleeding, this is a recurring theme throughout all Del Rey media, as she often attempts to portray herself as a naive girl who gets hurt often. We will see much more of this in both music video's and lyrics. Also in this photo Del Rey wears white, a symbol of purity and possibly connoting her as heavenly and a "good girl".

This photo is in black and white, which again brings back the 60's representation of Del Rey, her hair is typical of the era too with the "beehive" style. She is also again wearing white, and this again gives her the "good girl" representation. As you can see there are quite a few recurring themes throughout Del Rey's press photographs, especially the 60's feel about her to reinforce her as an "indie artist" and the use of white to represent her as angelic, along with the use of blood and violence to show her as a girl who "likes the bad guys"

Lyrics

Lana Del Rey's lyrics also often carry many meanings and themes that recur in all of her media.

A first example is Blue Jeans:

I will love you till the end of time 
I would wait a milion years 
Promise you'll remember that you're mine 
Baby can you see through the tears? 
Love you more 
Than those bitches before 
Say you'll remember, oh baby, say you'll remember 
I will love you till the end of time 

He went out every night 
And baby that's alright 
I told you that no matter what you did I'd be by your side 
Cause Ima ride or die 
Whether you fail or fly 
Well shit, at least you tried. 
But when you walked out that door, a piece of me died 
I told you I wanted more-but that not what I had in mind 
I just want it like before 
We were dancin all night 
Then they took you away- stole you out of my life 
You just need to remember... 

In these lyrics we can see the recurring theme in the majority of Del Rey's lyrics- That she is a naive girl falling in love with a bad guy. With the line " I will love you till the end of time" we are shown that Del Rey is naive, as despite all the things this man has done to her she continues to love him. The line "He went out every night" also shows that the guy is a bad guy, as he plays with Del Rey's feelings and leaves her alone. Clearly these lyrics are engineered to appeal to a very wide target audience, as they are reasonably vague and address very general problems, something that many mainstream artists also target.

Another good example of Del Rey's lyrics is National Anthem:

Tell me I'm your National Anthem 
Ooh, yeah, baby, bow down 
Making me so wow, wow 
Tell me I'm your National Anthem 
Sugar, sugar, how now 
Take your body down town 
Red, white, blue's in the skies 
Summer's in the air and 
Baby, heaven's in your eyes 
I'm your National Anthem 

Money is the reason 
We exist 
Everybody knows it, it's a fact 
Kiss, kiss 

I sing the National Anthem 
While I'm standing over your body 
Hold you like a python 
And you can't keep your hands off me 
Or your pants on 
See what you've done to me 
Give me Chevron 

These lyrics are quite different to some of Del Rey's other lyrics, as the song is a lot more towards the hip-hop genre than usual. The use of the line "Money is the reason, We exist" is an interesting one as it is a comment on todays society, something that indie artists tend to do a lot more than mainstream artists, showing Del Rey has some indie influences. Another recurring theme comes up in this song, the theme of patriotism and the USA. The song is titled "National Anthem and "Red, white, blue's in the skies" is used. This theme is used to make Del Rey appeal to America, the key audience she is trying to hit. These lyrics are also very sexualised, with "You can't keep your hands off me" being used to show her as desirable and wanted, a key attribute for mainstream stars of the music industry.

A final example of Del Rey's lyrics is Diet Mountain Dew

You're no good for me 
Baby you're no good for me 
You're no good for me 
But baby I want you, I want you, I want you 

Diet mountain dew, baby, New York City 
Never was there ever a girl so pretty 
Do you think we'll be in love forever? 
Do you think we'll be in love? 

These lyrics are another example of the recurring themes of "Bad guys" and love in Del Rey's songs. "Baby you're no good for me" immediately shows this recurring theme, as Del Rey directly references the fact that the man is not good for her, however she still asks "Do you think we'll be in love forever?". Clearly these recurring themes in her lyrics are used to relate to the target market she is aiming at and make her seem like a young, naive girl, someone who listeners can sympathise with and feel sorry for, something that helps her representation and makes her likable.

Music Videos

Another aspect of Del Rey's representation in the media is her music videos. Del Rey's music video's are seen to be quite powerful and are very effective. They seem to have a kind of narrative and many recurring themes running between music videos. Below I will analyse some of these music videos.

Summertime Sadness

This music video is quite different to some other Del Rey music video's, as there is no male antagonist involved. The video uses two different types of video quality, one of a homemade feel which uses old school flickering to help portray Del Rey as an indie artist, however it also uses a more manufactured look in some parts to ensure Del Rey appeals to a wide target audience. It also has a very fast editing and cutting speed in the video, this is odd as most slow songs have very slow cutting speeds to help convey emotion, however this video uses fast cutting to show the frantic nature of life and death. Symbolism is also heavily used in the video, with lots of symbolism of suicide and death used throughout to keep a serious feel about the video. The video maintains a 50's/60's vibe, a recurring theme throughout all media portrayal of Del Rey and it helps portray her image of being like a singer of the time. The shot variety isn't very much, as shots are repeated and the majority are front or side-on shots of Del Rey in slow motion, an editing effect which has been used.

Blue Jeans

Blue Jeans is a music video which begins to build on common themes in Del Rey's video's. For starters we can notice that this video is much more polished than other video's- it seems much more manufactured. This shows the transition as Del Rey changes from an indie to manufactured artist. The entire video is in black and white, an editing effect which tries to retain some of the retro feel to her music video's, a common portrayal throughout all Del Rey's media. Del Rey is also highly sexualised in the video, as long shots of her body are used and sexualised costumes are utilised to make her seem desirable and help her appeal to the male audience more. A long running theme is also used in this video, with the use of an abusive male  antagonist. The male is represented as a crocodile, and at the end he appears to drown Del Rey. This is another attempt at showing Del Rey as a girl who likes the "bad guys" and is sexually naive. The use of editing effects like the ripple are stylistically effective and help to add to the feel of the video. The shot framing is also very professional and well done, with some interesting shots of her and the male antagonist being used to show him as dominant and her as naive.

National Anthem

This music video is extremely effective as well as being highly controversial. This video has an extremely strong 1950's vibe, whilst being professional and manufactured it still is all about the 1950's and that time in history. In the video Del Rey is represented as Marilyn Monroe, who happens to be JFK's wife. This is something Del Rey uses a lot, as she often represents herself as other celebrities. The representation of JFK used in the video is also extremely controversial, as he is black, and seems very typical of the hip-hop and rap genre's (The artist acting as JFK is A$ap Rocky, a rapper who is big in America). All of this seems to be a comment on american society, a convention typical of indie artists who are against society and the norm. This video also has a lot of narrative and is very thematic. The narrative shows Del Rey with JFK until the moment he dies, a controversial yet powerful topic. Recurring themes also return, such as male abuse towards Del Rey, as the black JFK seems very abusive and again this is used to show her as sexually naive. There is also a lot of white to display purity, and finally there is a recurring use of the american flag and imagery of America, another theme ripe in Del Rey media.

Media Controversy

Lana Del Rey has had a very tough time in the media, but whether this is justified or not is still up for debate. The main criticism began after Del Rey performed for the first time on Saturday Night Live. Although nobody can deny this was a pretty bad performance, the backlash was huge and critics and celebrities alike took to bashing her like she was a murderer.

Celebrities such as actress and musician Juliette Lewis who wrote a scathing review, “Wow, watching this ‘singer’ on SNL is like watching a 12-year-old in their bedroom when they’re pretending to sing and perform #signofourtimes.”

After this controversy, the critics quickly began to dig up more and more coal for the Del Rey hate train, with them uncovering things such as the fact that her real name was not Lana Del Rey, and was instead Lizzie Grant, the name which she had tried and failed to release herself under previously. On top of this, it was discovered that she had a millionaire father, and suddenly all the indie "built from the bottom" feel about her was lost- clearly Del Rey seems to be somewhat manufactured, and many fans were angered at this fact as they had liked the "indie" version of her. Also it was later revealed she had had plastic surgery on her lips, and this also caused backlash as it seemed as if she had been completely manufactured to be prettier and more attractive, making it seem more about Del Rey's appearance than her music, something that is a lot more typical in mainstream artists rather than indie artists.

Interviews

In this radio interview, Del Rey seems quite down-to-earth and normal, something we rarely see from her due to her media portrayal. She talks about normal day-to-day things such as her musical inspirations, and these make her seem a lot more normal than the media will have us believe.  However, she does seem to still retain a kind of 50's feel, as she lists quite old singers as her inspirations and just seems very old-fashioned. Overall this is quite a positive representation of Del Rey, as she is shown as down-to-earth and normal.

In this video interview with NME however, Del Rey seems a lot more manufactured as she seems made-up and wears clothing typical of her usual representation. She seems much more sexualised and the interview seems to be a lot more manufactured, with no questions and only basic answers from Del Rey. This again seems to shroud some doubt onto just how "indie" Del Rey is.

Live Performances

Both of these performances are clearly better than her first performance on Saturday Night Live, showing she does have some actual talent and can perform quite well, so it seems she certainly is slightly better than critics completely taking her apart think. However, she still doesn't seem to have the talent that she showcases in her singles, and this is something that shows she is quite manufactured. It seems some music industry tricks have been applied to Del Rey to make her seem a lot stronger performer than she actually is, such as the use of autotune and audio editing software to make sure her songs are in tune and sound as good as they possibly can. In both these performances she also maintains her image, with the use of 1950's-esque clothing and white to show her innocence and purity and someone that can be looked up to by younger listeners.

Personal Opinion 

My personal opinion of Del Rey is overall quite biased towards her being manufactured, as there seems to be overwhelming evidence that she is infact a very well manufactured artist who has been modelled as an indie artist to appeal to that market, whilst generating as much profit as possible. The controversy she has gained through her performances and scandal such as the plastic surgery have all clearly contributed to her success, as the saying goes "No publicity is bad publicity", and I certainly feel Del Rey is a fantastic example of this. Clearly her image has been tailored to ensure that she appeals to the "indie" market as much as possible, and whilst critics have hit out hard at her, clearly this didn't matter as she topped the album charts in over 10 countries. However, I do feel that her music video's are extremely well done, and this is something I certainly can give credit to Del Rey for doing. Her video's are very thematic, and I feel that this style of music video will be extremely popular in the future, as it allows artists to set themselves up an image and stick to it, appealing to a wide market of people.

Overall I still feel Del Rey is manufactured, however critics have been slightly harsh and her music video's are something which should certainly be taken into account by other artists.