ex-directory is a new weekly newsletter for artists and the world’s music industry. Curated by a group of friends and colleagues in cities across the world, we are sharing dispatches from emerging and established markets, underground collectives and virtual reality to inform and guide the next generation of artists and industry talent.
Our first month is dedicated to Rebirth: a look ahead of the first pandemic year to see how the music world has changed and, in some cases, stood its ground. Later this month, photographer James J. Robinson shares photos from some of Melbourne’s most exciting queer parties in a city largely untouched by lockdowns and, in Taipei, Brian Hioe speaks to local club collectives on reclaiming their space and flourishing in the void left behind by international touring DJs.
Today, for ex-directory #001, writer and editor David Renshaw meets the teams behind two of the UK’s most talked-about artists — Rina Sawayama and Pa Salieu — to find out how they forged their way through a year of seismic change and emerged as nominees of the BRITs’ Rising Star award.
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The task of breaking a new act has never exactly been easy.
New artists hoping to one day land a rare spot in the public’s consciousness are presented with an ever-changing list of priorities and opportunities that just might be their ticket to success. With the first pandemic year cancelling everything from sold-out tours to entire album campaigns, a generation of artists found themselves in uncharted territory without the benefit of precedent to guide them. Still, two of the UK’s brightest new talents forged a path through the noise: Rina Sawayama and Pa Salieu, who were both shortlisted for the coveted Rising Star award at this year’s BRIT Awards, finishing runners-up to winner Griff.
With all three artists entering the pandemic year at relatively early stages of their careers, how did they adapt to an unknowable landscape? Can pushing forward with a traditional media campaign still cut through or are there better places to spend your resources? Here are three points any would-be Rising Star should consider…
What kind of artist am I?
When it comes to financing a new artist project, one size does not fit all. From the high cost of polishing up a would-be pop star to the comparatively cheap process of DIY video production, artists should first ask themselves: what kind of artist am I and where should I spend my resources?
One artist who enjoyed a great deal of attention in the past year is Rina Sawayama. Her stunning debut album, a pop tour-de-force that revels in nostalgic influences as disparate as J-pop and nu-metal, proved a critical and commercial success with Sir Elton John becoming a collaborator along the way. Sawayama’s manager Will Frost (House of Us) says wanting to present as a major popstar from day one, and taking on the costs that can entail, helped lay the foundation for what was to come.
“We put lots and lots [of finance] into touring and styling,” Frost says looking back to Sawayama’s unsigned days. “I saw managers as well as artists focusing heavily on streaming and digital marketing and actually making a return at the same time as we were taking thousands of pounds in losses. I was definitely like 'what the fuck are we doing?” Regardless of a temptation to switch route, Frost and Sawayama stayed on the same path. “I come from a PR background so what I know is helping to show an identifiable profile and a personality, which Rina has in abundance.”
While Sawayama and her team were looking for an entry point to the notoriously expensive pop world, Coventry-based rapper Pa Salieu generated an early buzz through low-budget videos for songs ‘Frontline’ and ‘Dem A Lie’, premiered on trusted platforms like GRM Daily and Mixtape Madness. By investing smart money on inexpensive visuals he was able to share his music with millions of rap fans across the world. This is the model followed by every major new artist from the U.K. rap world in the past five years, with Dave, Headie One, and AJ Tracey all employing the method.
Publicist James Cunningham, co-founder of August Agency who represent Pa Salieu, points to the fact that the rapper carried this policy through to the videos for ‘Betty’ and ‘Bang Out’, lead singles from debut mixtape Send Them To Coventry, as evidence of its effectiveness. Both were filmed lo-fi fashion in front of a green screen yet have picked up millions of views online. “It’s not necessary to have crazy budgets early on,” he says. Adding to his point that growing audiences on digital platforms needn’t cost huge sums, he adds: “My advice to any new artist would be to get yourself an incredibly well thought-out and structured TikTok account.”
Nobody is going to claim that you can earn a nomination for the BRITs’ Rising Star on a shoestring, obviously. Pa Salieu, who is signed to major label Warner Music, worked with brands including Fendi and Burberry during 2020. These collaborations proved beneficial both financially and in terms of positioning him in the fashion world. Sawayama, meanwhile, has worked with an agent since her days as a model. Money secured through her commercial projects was then funnelled back into the music, a bonus for an artist who remained unsigned until she required financial assistance to finish her album. Both artists, like the majority in the public eye, employ publicists, radio pluggers, marketing teams, and other costly experts. “Rina’s been very open about the fact that things did get hard to sustain towards the end, but we had to keep it hidden,” Frost says of the period preceding her joining the Dirty Hit roster alongside The 1975 and Wolf Alice in 2019. “We were adamant to not make any rash decisions because of money. It was super risky but when you were at shows and just the swell of support online you could see it paying off. We needed the label when we signed though, you can't sustain that kind of business without financial help.”
Find your fanbase
Generally associated with global superstars (think Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters or Beyonce’s Beyhive), Sawayama put herself in line with the pop elite when she dubbed her fans ‘Pixels’. Serving this fanbase at all times, Frost believes, has led her to where she is today. “Rina only ever thinks in massive popstar terms, even from the very beginning. So having a small but defined fanbase just made sense. When they're a really lovely fanbase like the Pixels it's incredibly beneficial, but the artist has to have that genuine connection with them for it to become that. She regularly speaks directly and checks in. They can see how important they are to her.”
This active fanbase came into its own when promoting an album during a time of no live shows and when Zoom became every musician’s new home. “When the pandemic meant everything had to be cancelled the attention quite rightly shifted to making sure the album was really well marketed with what we had in place,” Frost says. Early on their attention turned to “what we could do to keep the conversation around SAWAYAMA going. Trying to plan for anything that couldn't be done from home for a good few months was a bit of a losing battle.” Throughout the year Sawayama and her team rolled out extras including a remix EP, behind-the-album mini documentary, and limited edition merch drops, all aimed at maintaining her position in the spotlight. Frost adds to the suggestion that audiences have become more alert to what is happening online, noting that success via digital channels can bring with it widespread success. “With people in quarantine consuming a lot more online, lots of people found lots of different things they liked and then would share it with their friends. [SAWAYAMA] felt like a real word-of-mouth bit of culture.”
With Pa Salieu, August Agency co-founder Ebi Sampson faced a different challenge - how to take an early buzz in the rap world and develop it into a wide ranging press campaign. “2020 was a big moment for him and we wanted to make as much noise as possible,” she says. “We did all his online coverage in the space of a month,” pointing to key coverage with NME, Red Bull and i-D, and The FADER in the early days of lockdown. Sampson says that things would have moved at a slower pace under normal conditions but that “by the time the summer came round he was getting offers for magazine covers.” Publications to put the rapper on their cover in 2020 included Dazed, Mixmag and ES, something she credits to a mixture of style, story, and music.
“The people who are a little awkward or weird in the music stand out right now,” she says, referencing Pa Salieu’s idiosyncratic music. “But we see the value of being able to pull off the fashion looks, too. Not only in terms of profile and positioning but opening opportunities outside of music, like brand deals and business connections that lead to other streams of income. Having a compelling story is the icing on the cake. The music grabs people and it’s the story that sells them on why an artist is exceptional. If you have these in place early on then you’re in with a good chance of going further.”
This combination of music, image, and story might seem obvious but there is a parallel universe where Pa Salieu made different choices and presented himself and his music in a more straightforward fashion. Following a similar path to Slowthai and J Hus, artists who have similarly balanced musical credibility with fashion-forward looks and street cred, served Pa Salieu well in 2020.
Moving forwards, Cunningham paints a rosy picture for emerging acts looking to secure press coverage. “I don’t think you can go too hard on a new artist anymore,” he says. “It’s something we’re seeing a lot with artists we work with. If you’re new and exciting then that path is wide open. The old advice used to be to wait for a cover feature until there’s an album to release but a lot of new artists don’t know when their debut album will come out. [The industry] is at a place now where you can position artists as cover stars and priority acts much earlier on.”
Showcase your skills
The way in which live music and the internet have intersected in the past year seems to be a change that will stick around. For all of the anticipation of a much-needed return to sweaty small venues and big arenas alike, there have been some undeniable advantages for artists in the early stages of their career being able to livestream performances. Pa Salieu had never played live before he streamed a performance on YouTube in October to celebrate the release of Send Them To Coventry. He was able to promote the livestream alongside the mixtape release and Sampson believes the opportunity worked to his advantage. “It was a really nice trial for him,” she says. “He’d never played live before but now he’s gained all this confidence and fans from towns and cities he might not have visited were able to see him perform.” Pa has a full U.K. tour booked for 2021 is looking ahead to a busy summer of festivals with appearances at All Points East in London, Rolling Loud Portugal, and Manchester’s Parklife all in the diary.
Clearly, the IRL experience is still vital but going forwards there are more options available when plotting the live section of a campaign. It could be a Colors session, where U.K. artists including Mahalia, Enny and Jorja Smith have grown their following. Perhaps, however, TikTok is more your vibe and you want to use its interactive functions to collaborate with friends and showcase your music and personality side by side. Zimbabwean-UK rapper S1mba’s infectious Rover launched the #mulachallenge in 2020. The viral moment helped propel Rover to number three in the UK charts, making the 21-year-old one of the first British artists to experience the power of the social network in full.
While Rina Sawayama and Pa Salieu’s inventiveness has won them each a spot at the front of British music’s latest wave, it was 20-year-old Warner Music signee Griff who claimed the Rising Star award at this year’s BRITs. Employing a more traditional mix of big TV syncs, lavish live streams at London’s TATE Modern and a chance co-sign from Taylor Swift, Griff’s swift ascension proves that a tried and tested approach can still win over UK music’s gatekeepers. But the diversity of thought and approach across these three campaigns proves that even in a pandemic year there are new routes to success waiting to be discovered.