The other day Kreayshawn’s debut album dropped. Kreayshawn is an artist that deftly used the internet, her colourful personality, an active web presence, and one smash hit song “Gucci, Gucci”+ video to create a career that had her fighting for “Best New Artist” at the MTV VMAs.
Within days of posting “Gucci Gucci” it spread virally across the internet and within weeksa she was signed to a major label and work was started on her debut album.
I have been watching Kreayshawn’s career throughout the last year and when I saw that her anticipated debut album got a 3.0 on Pitchfork I realized that her abysmal rating on the hugely powerful website doesn’t really matter. It’s true that although a large part of her original fanbase won’t be interested in her debut album she STILL will have an audience. This is because in the age of the internet the idea of a one hit wonder is gone, disappeared. At least in our traditional definition.
You see, One Hit Wonders of yesteryear were limited and stifled by the Record Industry, not by their songwriting skills. Either the record label, or radio, would not let their next song reach a larger audience because essentially their careers, the way the artists music reached his/her fans, was something that they could not control because the gatekeepers said no.
BUT because Kreayshawn had enough sense and value to invest in:
She’s reaping the rewards and now has a fanbase that is listening…more or less. I’m not saying she’s as big as she once was, but I am saying that as a modern “One Hit Wonder” she now has the capacity and tools to at the very least to keep her “artistry” going (keep her content coming). She can use the fans she still has to get noticed on a bigger scale and as a previous One Hit Wonder she will still be able to get people interested because of what she once acomplished. I would argue a similar career path is in store for Gotye, Carley Rae Jepsen, and maybe even Cee-lo…. The age of the One Hit Wonder is dead now the One Hit Wonder just has the capacity to build on what they’ve already created. We’ve now entered the age of the “One Hit Starter”….. mmmkay maybe the name needs some help but you get it right?
Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments.