Niamh Sygrove Media Coursework Blog 2016: January 2016

Sunday 31 January 2016

Draft Article

Back in September, we optimistically emailed Ramsais a bunch of questions about life, love, Twin Peaks, Melanie Martinez and “intergalactic possibilities”. Three months later the answers turned up. Here they are in full.

What kind of place in your life were you at while writing ‘Paradox’? What was going on for you personally as you wrote these songs?

“I guess the first thing that was going on was that I really wanted to have one more record out that was able to speak for me, even if I wasn’t in a place where I felt like speaking about myself. Aside from that I was happy and not really feeling like the album needed to be too cathartic. It felt like a good time to have fun with some elements of psychedelia and surrealism, production-wise.”

“On Monday they destroyed me but by Friday I’m revived… I’ve got nothing much to live for ever since I found my fame,” you sing on ‘Paracosm’. Is life in the spotlight as crushing for you as it sounds? What are the most extreme situations you’ve found yourself in because of fame?

“There were unusual situations I found myself in that I didn’t know how to extract myself from, situations that needed more attention than me or the people around me knew how to handle at first. I think that song was a reminder to myself that if you don’t want the problems that come with being in the spotlight the best thing you can do is try and take yourself out of the spotlight when you’re not on stage. I think my two big goals with work are to make great records, and stay out of the press for the wrong reasons, so that song lyrically and melodically is especially poignant for me when I listen back to it. My family was traditional, and some of my extended family used to say a gentleman is only in the paper two times in his life: when he’s born and when he dies. Obviously, it’s a little too late for me when it comes to that sentiment.”

‘Copycat’ is maybe my favourite song on the new record – those bassy trap rumbles are something I’d not really heard in your music until now. What music were you listening to as you plotted this album?

“I really love Rae Sremmurd so that might be a surprise inspiration. Also Sage The Gemini. I really love listening to some of the people that came out of Atlanta in the last two years. I don’t think I was trying to emulate that sound, but I had elements of it in ‘Copycat’ and ‘High Times.”

Your music, this album included, has always had a Bond-theme kind of feel to it. You were hotly tipped earlier this year to record the theme song to the new film. Were you approached?

“I would’ve done it if I was asked but I wasn’t asked. I love all the Bond music that’s been put out over the years and I love soundtracks in general. There are a couple of songs on this record that have a Bond feel, like ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Flower Song’.”

There’s such a timeless, intensely personal, glamour fantasy element to your music. How plugged into ‘real life’ stuff are you? Did you follow what was happening in Ferguson [the protests and riots following the fatal shooting of a young black man by a police officer] last year, for example?

“There is a high fantasy element in the music, but I’m incredibly plugged into what’s going on politically, socially and pretty much in every way except pop-culturally. I’ve had a very real life, and there have been a lot of things that took a lot of strength and wherewithal to figure out… things I’m still figuring out. That’s probably why the music has such an element of escapism to it.”

David Lynch is making a new series of Twin Peaks – a show that seems to have had an impact on your music. Are you excited?

“I would love to do anything with David Lynch. I don’t know too much about what’s going on but I certainly love the original TV series and his movies since then.”

Your four Ramsais albums have been very Californian within both the sound and imagery. But Marissa Ball is from New York. Will you ever make a New York record?

“I feel like ‘Dreamland’ had a lot of New York in it because I was in New York leading up to the time that the record came out, except for the time I was in London while I was working on it. I find it very easy to go back and forth between a New York state of mind and a California way of being, so I could see me making another New York record. I think it would be different just because it would be a little harder, faster, more upbeat and less dreamy.”

You toured with Melanie Martinez earlier this year. How was that? Did you hang out much after shows?

“Touring with Melanie was great – we have some things in common that might not be visible from the outside. I did spend some time with her, and I still see her now and then. I think the most important thing I learned was that some people just have it when it comes to performing. She’s totally entrancing, a born performer.”

How close is the character of Ramsais to who you are off stage? Your songs are full of doomed heroines, hopelessly devoted to bad boys who treat them badly. Are you similar in real life?

“I guess the biggest difference is that when I’m on stage I’m the centre of attention and when I’m back at home I try to blend in. Obviously I’m singing the songs because they relate to my life. When it comes to guys, I haven’t courted bad guys into my life but I think because I was artistic I never settled for anyone who wasn’t completely enthralled with life or with being different, and that didn’t lend any clarity to my world, although it was enriching in other ways.”

Have you grown more or less like that character in the time since your first album ‘Dreamland’?

“I think sometimes as an artist it’s difficult to know where your unique aesthetic comes from… real life and imagination and art all bend in and out of each other to create your records. I’ve found, about five years down the line from writing the first song for that record, that I am surprisingly similar to the person in those songs – mostly in the way that I have a strong sense of who I am but not a clear idea of where I’m going.”

Are you that character full time? The character in your songs and videos and photoshoots is so fully realised that it’s hard to imagine you doing normal things – laundry, lazing around in front of the TV. Do you ever lead a normal life, doing normal things?

“I do lots of normal things, and I never feel different from the person I am on stage to the person I am when I’m driving or cleaning or talking to my friends… I guess I know what you mean about the world being so fully realised that it’s hard to imagine anything going on outside of it, but even with the highly stylised videos it’s my hope that my intentions and soul come through.”

Can you ever imagine releasing music without that persona? Returning to Marissa Ball?

“I definitely don’t need a persona to create music, it’s not a David Bowie type of thing necessarily (maybe that’s not a good reference, he may be completely as I imagine him to be). I just put music out under a different name with a fully realised sound and texture.”

You covered Nina Simone’s ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ on ‘Paradox’. What is it about Nina, her story and her music, that you’re drawn to?

“I love the song I covered and I love the song I covered of hers [‘The Other Woman’] on the last record… I’m drawn to her melodies and words. Personality-wise, we’re quite different. We may have had some of the same issues, but I picked that song just because it resonated with me.”

The song ‘Art Deco’ is rumoured to be about Halsey. Is that true?

“Definitely not. I have no idea where people got that from. I just don’t know what the correlation is. That song is actually about a group of teenagers who go out every night.”

You’ve expressed an interest in “intergalactic possibilities”. How serious is that interest?

“It’s not only intergalactic possibilities that interest me, it’s the exciting technological horizon we’re looking at right now. There are a lot of people I’m interested in, but I like what Sergey Brin, Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg are doing with the Breakthrough Prize Awards in fundamental physics and life sciences. I think it’s important to have the same amount of attention, focus and glamour (if that’s what’s needed) to bring science to the forefront of people’s everyday lives in the same way that politics or celebrity culture do now.”

Your live shows are powerful, emotional experiences – you sometimes seem to become overwhelmed by them, often leading you to the brink of tears. What goes through your head before you go onstage?

“Every show is different, I’m not always overwhelmed by my show, but sometimes I am. It’s not dependent on the size of the crowd, it’s just how I’m doing that day… Touring for six months out of the year is so different from doing anything else; it’s freeing, but there’s something strange about it in the way that it’s such a transient experience.”

You’re quite prolific – four albums in four years is some turnover. Do you worry about burning out?

“The best thing I can do is let the music speak for itself. So it’s probably time well spent other than the time I spend on the road. I’m pretty happy writing and recording.”

When writing, do you ever feel the pressure to deliver another ‘Video Games’-sized hit?

“Not really, I don’t ever even think about that actually. That song didn’t feel bigger than the album was or the experience continues to be for me.”

How long do you think you’ll wait until the next record? Any early thoughts on where you’d like to go with it?

“I do have early thoughts about what I’d like to do with it. My label, Universal, is pretty flexible and open to my records coming out at any time, so I don’t have that pressure. I’m just happy to be able to keep on making music I can stand behind. That’s enough for me.”

Read more at http://www.calyx.com/features/a-letter-from-ramsais-the-full-interview

Friday 29 January 2016

Survey Feedback

Thursday 28 January 2016

Test Shots - First Magazine Attempt

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Chosen Style Magazine Covers

After contemplating what kind of look and genre of music I wanted to focus on, I have decided to go for an alternative style. As alternative is a very broad genre and contains many sub-genres within it, it allows my magazine to reach out to a large audience, as it can feature many different types of artists, e.g. alternative pop artists such as Melanie Martinez and Halsey, alternative rock artists such as Paramore and The 1975, and alternative hip hop (combined with a combination of many other genres) artists such as Lana Del Rey.

I like these covers because they are quirky and incorporate bright and contrasting colours, some of which seem almost unordinary, fitting in with the 'alternative' theme, and use striking images or backgrounds which attract the reader's attention. A range of different fonts have been used which I think fit in with my chosen genre, and the amount of text on the pages differ, which will allow me to play around when creating my own magazine, as I can base my cover on any of these designs. I particularly like the M.I.A. cover of Clash magazine and will possibly choose a font along these lines and maybe a plain yet striking background of a similar style. I like the unique layout and placement of text used on both of the other Clash covers. The background image of the Fader covers are very artistic and colourful and gives the magazine a 'feminine' look about it, as well as its bubbly choice of fonts. i-D magazine also gives off a similar aspect towards the imagery and the fonts, therefore I believe a combination of all three of these magazines would work well when it comes to creating my own alternative magazine.

Monday 25 January 2016

Survey

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More Artist Inspiration

LANA DEL REY

LAUREN JAUREGUI (FIFTH HARMONY)

RIHANNA

Sunday 24 January 2016

Artist Inspiration And Style

For my Alternative music magazine, I decided to create my own solo artist to be the main feature. To keep my magazine fresh and new, my featured artist is going to be a "newcomer" to the music industry, getting their first big break from being on the cover of my magazine.

My Inspiration: Artists that I have been inspired by within my magazine are the likes of Alternative artists Lana Del Rey, Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Paramore's Hayley Williams, Fifth Harmony's Lauren Jauregui, and Marina & The Diamonds.

My inspiration comes from these artists because they are artists who I would personally listen to myself, and I feel that they all have a nicely fitting theme together that associates well with the Alternative name. Me being a massive lover of Alternative music myself, I have a rough idea as to what Alternative fans like and don't like music wise, and I believe that my audience would approve of these sorts of artists themselves.

Artist Look: I want to create a look for my artist that is a combination of both relaxed and well stood out, hence why I shall interpret an artistic background for my artists photoshoot that will be extremely eye catching within its striking colours, whilst the artist themselves is dressed out in casual looking clothing. Because of the use of a striking background, I am not going to use any props within my artist, as I believe it will take away the effect of the colours and the patterns that are going on around the photo.

Artist Name: I have decided to name my artist Ramsais, who's original name is Marissa, basing the inspiration of this particular style name off of the Alternative artist Halsey, who used an anagram for her own name, Ashley. The use of an anagram for my artist's name gives off a very unusual, but intriguing difference between what is classed as the stereotypical Alternative genre and what is classed as the mainstream, which is something that I aim to do throughout my magazine to maintain interest from my target audience.

Class Feedback To 25 Word Pitch

After the members of my class made comments on my pitch, it gave me some time to reflect on my work and look at the good aspects in comparison to the bad aspects of the work I created. This feedback is helpful because it allows me the ability to see whether or not I can suit my creation towards the target audience/market that I'm looking to attract, meaning my magazine can reach it's maximum potential if the feedback was successful (which overall, it generally was). My initial feedback from a majority of my peers said that I had to include the circulation figures within the pitch, so that all the information that was needed to fully understand what I planned to do with my magazine as a whole was there for them to see. Besides this one fallback, my feedback as a whole was positive, informing me that I had chosen a good song to represent my theme, alongside the use of moodboards, inspirations and similarities from other magazines in the same genre as mine.

Friday 22 January 2016

Update Post (As of 22/01/16)

Thursday 21 January 2016

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Colour Palettes

This colour palette contains a mixture of stereotypical male and female colour schemes. Whilst one would think these colours should clash and look slightly odd next to each other, the cover of Clash featuring the artist Lana Del Rey proves otherwise, as it provides a dark, but also neutral aspect towards the overall image, increasing its potential attention to attract people's eye line as they walk past this magazine in the store.

This colour palette contains a mixture of light and dark colour schemes. Whilst one would think these colours should clash and look slightly odd next to each other due to their unnatural pairing, the cover of Clash featuring the artist DJ Shadow proves otherwise, as it provides a unique and stylish aspect towards the overall image, increasing its potential attention to attract people's eye line as they walk past this magazine in the store.

This colour palette contains a mixture of stereotypical male and female colour schemes. Whilst one would think these colours should clash and look slightly odd next to each other, the cover of Clash featuring the artist M.I.A. proves otherwise, as it provides a noisy aspect towards the overall image, increasing its potential attention to attract people's eye line as they walk past this magazine in the store.

This colour palette contains colder, more neutral tones within the different browns and greys. Whilst one would think these colours should appear rather dull and unappealing, the cover of Clash featuring the artist Matty Healy from The 1975 proves otherwise, as it creates stronger emphasis of the artist and his facial features, increasing its potential attention to attract people's eye line as they walk past this magazine in the store if they so happen to like the artist, or potentially find him attractive.

This colour palette contains tones which connotate with nature and the outdoors, within the different greens. This would attract a male audience typically as green is conventionally associated with men, and the use of the artist Earl Sweatshirt proves this to be aimed more at a male audience as well, as his overall audience appears to be portrayed as dominantly males.

This colour palette contains a mixture of both cold/neutral tones with the use of browns, alongside warm tones with the use of blues. This colour scheme provides a calm feeling towards the magazine cover, and this is also emphasised with the relaxed looking featured artist Mac Miller. I believe this would appeal to both a male and female audience, due to the use of both muted and bright colours.

The use of dark, muted tones within this cover creates a mysteriously intriguing personality towards the magazine. The different shades of green blend with the mixture of greys and blacks, creating dark connotations as a whole. This colour scheme would work well with a female audience due to the use of the cover artist Banks, alongside a male audience due to the masculine greens that are used.

This colour palette contains a mixture of both cold/neutral tones with the use of greys and blacks, alongside warmer tones with the use of blues. This colour scheme provides a thrilling feeling towards the magazine cover, and this is also emphasised with the black and white photo of featured artist Metronomy. I believe this would appeal to both a male and female audience, due to the use of both muted and brighter colours.

This colour palette contains tones which connotate with nature and the outdoors, within the different greens and browns. This would attract a male audience typically as both green and brown are conventionally associated with men, and the use of the artist Tyler The Creator proves this to be aimed more at a male audience as well, as his overall audience appears to be portrayed as dominantly males.

This colour palette contains tones which connotate with both darkness and femininity, within the different pinks and blacks. This would attract a male and female audience typically as black is conventionally associated with both genders, and pink is associated with females. The use of the artist Woodkid proves this to be aimed more at a male audience as well, as his overall audience appears to be portrayed as dominantly males.

Existing Titles

Clash

Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published 10 times a year by Music Republic Ltd. after Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation. The brand's content alternates between modern bands such as The Horrors, Florence & The Machine and Jamie xx as well as hip-hop artists like DJ Shadow, Kanye West and Beastie Boys, who have all had cover spots in recent issues. It concentrates on music and fashion, and often their effect on surrounding culture, as well as film and technology.

i-D

i-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980.The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter. Over the years the magazine evolved into a mature glossy but it has kept street style and youth culture central.

The magazine is known for its innovative photography and typography and as a training ground for fresh talent. Photographers Wolfgang Tillmans, Mario Testino, Terry Richardson, Craig McDean, Nick Knight and Juergen Teller started their careers at i-D, as did Dylan Jones and Caryn Franklin. Other photographers that have contributed to i-D include Ellen von Unwerth and Kayt Jones.

People who have appeared in i-D include Madonna, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Kanye West, Helmut Lang, Franz Ferdinand, Chloë Sevigny, Raf Simons, Undercover, Veronique Branquinho, Lily Cole, Giles Deacon, Dizzee Rascal, Scarlett Johansson, Rick Owens, Selena Gomez , Rihanna, Pedro and Liv Fontaine.

VIBE

Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production in Summer 2009, Vibe was purchased by the private equity investment fund InterMedia Partners and is now issued semi-monthly with double covers, with a larger online presence. The magazine's target demographic is predominantly young, urban followers of hip-hop culture. In 2014, the magazine moved online-only.

The magazine owed its success to featuring a broader range of interests than its closest competitors The Source and XXL which focus more narrowly on rap music, or the rock and pop-centric Rolling Stone and Spin. As of June 30, 2012, Vibe has a circulation of 300,943, of which 202,439 was paid, and 98,504 was non-paid.

NME

New Musical Express (NME) is a British music journalism magazine published since 1949. It is largely associated with rock, alternative and indie music. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the edition of 14 November 1952. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. During the period 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism (self-involved reporting), then became closely associated with punk rock through the writings of Julie Burchill, Paul Morley and Tony Parsons. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s, changing from newsprint in 1998.

An online version of NME, NME.com, was launched in 1996. It became the world's biggest standalone music site, with over seven million users per month.[citation needed] The magazine's paid circulation in the first half of 2014 was 15,830, and has been in long-term decline. Due to continuing poor sales, the magazine became a free publication in September 2015

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the magazine's publisher, and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its musical coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content.

The Fader

The FADER is a New York-based music magazine launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The FADER documents a range of emerging music, style and culture.The FADER was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It has been credited with giving exposure to top artists ahead of mainstream recognition, including Kanye West, Bon Iver, The Strokes, Drake and The White Stripes