Sound Brand
Because I have a deep rooted love for music and branding, it only made sense to start a blog on my views of the music industry, the overall publicity surrounding music artists and the continual development of their brands!
These are my thoughts on developing and/or maintaining a solid (sound) celebrity brand.
- Shervin Bain
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It seems that celebrities have been linked to just about anything scandalous since the day of my birth up to today. Yet, gossip, like everything else, has to progress and sex scandals, while still relevant, are just not enough to tidilate the ears of gossip folk anymore.
This is probably why “The Illuminati” has become the new black for celebrity gossip! Personally, I blame Tom Cruise and Madonna when they started the whole Kabbalah and Scientolgy craze (fad).
Top artist like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Madonna and even the oh-so-humble Beyoncé have all been linked to the Freemasonry secret society.
Very little has been said by these artist to extinguish these rumors, but some have been bold enough to comment on their alleged association with the Illuminati.
Jennifer Hudson, who was associated with the Illuminati in the past, and has more recently been said to take Whitney Houston’s place in the society, was quoted saying:
“That is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard in my life. And it’s offensive because basically what? The people that are here today don’t deserve to be where they are? What, we didn’t work for it?”
Other artist, like Lupe Fiasco, who is in the industry himself, has all but confirmed the conspiracy theorists’ talk by stating his belief in this inner circle of the Illuminati within the industry.
“…they control the world, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s already there…”
Now, with all these accusations and rumors flying around, I can’t help but wonder… Why do these music artist insist on playing into any of the Illuminati gossip by adding any of the imagery to their celebrity brand?
From music videos, to magazine spreads, it seems like all these top artist play into the symbolism as though it was in high demand.
From simple eye covering which almost all major artist can be seen doing, to the more blatant Baphomet ring worn by Beyoncé, or the insane exorcism performance by Nicki Minaj (or Roman; one of her many personas). Jay-Z, well known for his association with the Eye of Providence/the All Seeing Eye, stepped out of the box with his “On To The Next One” video. Lady Gaga fueled blogger talk about her (and her lack of a grasp on reality) when she released her “Marry The Night” music video/short film. Oh, and let’s not forget the issues that Rihanna was going through during her “Russian Roulette” debacle.
Does it relate back to the old farce that “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”? Is it good to be associated with this inner circle of elite celebrities? Does it create a sort of iconic status that these music artist strive for?
Or are these music artist really part of the Illuminati, gaining their success through extreme personal sacrifices to the well connected?
I have no answer as to why, I am simply aware of the fact that these celebrities (and their publicists) are privy to the rumor mill and continue to let the associations be made with them. I think it’s unnecessary, but if it is all a ploy to gain publicity, then I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more ritualistic music videos, dark/gory photo-shoots and an ever intrigued/confused fan base.
