Artists like to reinvent themselves. It’s what they do. Compare the Beatles’ music and the way they dressed between the early 1960s versus 1970. Or how David Bowie changed his musical direction, his look and even his persona every couple of years like clockwork. Ditto peak Madonna.
And we saw it again recently at Coachella, with Justin Bieber headlining via a stripped down, minimalist, almost austere performance, devoid of all the teenybop razzle dazzle of his earlier career. The big story turned out to be not so much about Justin’s appearance per se, but people’s reaction to it. It was very mixed. Some fans loved it, some fans just scratched their heads.
But this is really no different to Bob Dylan “going electric” in 1965. Leaving what no longer serves the artist behind in order to make room for the new, even at the risk of alienating the old fans. Justin is just the latest; which makes sense, he’s not a kid anymore. Of course he’s going to mature.
On the other side of the musical spectrum, another act currently setting the internet on fire is an obscure band from Quebec called Angine de Potrine, a Dada-inspired act that look and sound nothing like anything else. If you don’t believe us, go check out their break out video.
(Dada was a radical “anti-art” movement that started in 1916 Zurich at the Cabaret Voltaire, as a reaction to the horrors of WWI. It became the seed for punk rock, Surrealism, the Beatniks, and most of the anti-establishment art the art world has ironically revered ever since. Remember the ol’ “The purpose of art is to snap the bourgeoisie out of their complacency” idea? Yeah, it started with them.)
So what do a hyper-commercial aging pop star and a Dadaist Quebecois rock band have in common, besides music?
Both are reacting to the current culture.
Culture is organic, it’s a living thing. It must regenerate itself, or it dies.
Angine de Poitrine gets our attention because it sounds NOTHING LIKE the same old slop the music industry (and recently, AI) has been shoveling our way for years. Our brains need to experience new stuff, because in a complex world, it’s always on the lookout for new information to absorb. Our very survival depends on it. Justin Bieber’s recent rebrand is a reaction to the same organic human need, both for his audience and himself.
At some level, for any culture to flourish there needs to be a huge amount of effort, discomfort and risk. That’s as true in business and it is in art. All culture turns to slop eventually if you try to create it on autopilot.
Which is why we all, as people who design culture whether we realize it or not, need to keep thinking about where we’ve been, where we’re going, and perhaps most importantly, how not to get too comfortable with where we currently are.
