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Artist Reinvention In Contemporary Music

Jennifer Johnson
MUM340

Artist Reinvention in Contemporary Music

Contemporary music is a driving force in the lives of many people today. From movies, to television, music is simply everywhere and has become not only a therapeutic coping tool, but a way for people to identify themselves. But where does the music come from? How can so few people, the artists of this music, influence so many people in such astounding ways? Artists are faced with a harsh reality when their music becomes an icon of society, for their every move is scrutinized by the media and can either be replicated, adored, shunned, criticized or loved by the population. In these ever-changing times it is easy to see that we as a people, a society, and a culture are constantly in flux, and this is no exception for the artists who lead us in pop culture. This phenomenon is known as artist reinvention and has become more abundant as the years have progressed. Simply stated, as the world changes, society changes, people change and the only way for an artist to still be viewed as an icon is to change themselves; this can be for any number of reasons, such as trying to enhance plummeting record sales, make themselves appear unique and different from other artists or even just to genuinely want to change the direction of their life. Whatever the case, artist reinvention has become incredibly crucial to the development of contemporary music and the population who are influenced as a whole.
Influence is the key to how important artist reinvention is, for if the artist has little to no influence on the population then it would be of no consequence whether they reinvented themselves or not. But to key icons like Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, reinvention plays a powerful role in the development of the music industry and of the fans who take part as well. Preceding the turn of the century, Combs found himself involved in many controversial situations, such as the death of Tupak Shakur in 1996 (Wikipedia)....