The story of the pop-flop is all too common. A former member of a popular group ventures out into the world of solo careers, only to find that their talent and muse was entirely dependent on the group and image they used to associate themselves with. Soon after, we see desperate attempts at singles and maybe a full album, until the only potential money-gainer in their career is an email begging for a supergroup reunion.
The has-beens populate our reality and talk shows because it is their livelihood to impose themselves in anything that will allow their name to live on. Meanwhile, there are musicians from those same groups that have been quietly honing their craft past their fame, and when the time is right, break from their cocoons to reveal an entirely different artist.
On Jan. 15, former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard put out Blackheart, an album that put her among the ranks of experimental R&B artists like FKA twigs and How To Dress Well. The project follows the similarly named yet sonically different Goldenheart of 2013. While Goldenheart was working towards her current sound, it was only with Blackheart that, according to a recent Billboard interview, Richard “really wanted to prove [she] had a story to tell.”
The most basic definition of R&B is the only strand that connects a song like Danity Kane’s “Damaged” to Richard’s “Swim Free.” Catchy hooks and half-baked metaphors have been completely removed from to make way for dark minimalist drums and a lingering bassline coupled with whimsical melodies. I think it’s no coincidence that Richard was bent on creating a brand new type of sound after being part of a supergroup that was birthed from the MTV reality show “Making the Band.” Being part of a project that had TV ratings as a primary objective would be enough to drive a certain type of artist mad with aspirations for a more authentic sound.
Richard has many a good role model to base her new direction off of. Beyoncé has had such a successful career that people in my age demographic barely associate her with Destiny’s Child. Her most recent self-titled effort is also more experimental than most give her credit for. In addition to releasing the album out of nowhere, Knowles took the repetitious trap-influenced sound of the current pop atmosphere and molded it into a dark and mysterious style thinly laced with the sexy-pop gold that she’s forged after being in the music industry for over a decade. In fact, R&B has recently been the most prominent genre to turn out pop artists gone experimental. Neneh Cherry went from writing “Buffalo Stance,” a pop song practically soaked in ‘80s hip-hop, to having one of the most profound changes of any of the artists mentioned in this article. Along with drummer RocketNumberNine, her 2014 album Blank Project combines jazzy licks and socially conscious lyrics with the glitchy electronic production of Four Tet.
This R&B revival trend is what I would categorize as the “second wave” of ex-pop star resurgence. The first wave came with the boy bands of the ‘60s. Creating insanely catchy and harmony-filled hits with the Beach Boys wasn’t enough for Brian Wilson; he carried on his vision in 2004 with Smile, a compilation of scrapped Beach Boys songs revived with newly recorded instrumentals and vocals. While the sound itself doesn’t take as profound of a leap from the source material as some of our R&B stars, Wilson’s newly discovered works represent an immense accomplishment in pop music, and really music as we know it in general. Each song feels like a short story, and the average music listener will be able to easily recognize Smile as significantly different from Pet Sounds, and just significant in general.
One can’t mention pop-turned-artsy without uttering the name of at least one Beatle. The name that most mention is John Lennon. In all honesty, The Beatles started off in a similar place as One Direction: cute, likeable boys that make lovey-dovey music which swoons the throngs of young impressionable females that attend their shows. Lennon himself said that their concerts had turned into “bloody tribal rites.” This new attitude led albums like Sgt. Pepper’s, along with even more avant-garde works by Lennon and Yoko Ono alone. With the rise of ‘60s psychedelia, I don’t blame him for wanting to ditch the money-making bubbly pop songs for something more relevant and, in the end, very important.
The most shocking leap from this wave of artists came from Scott Walker (not the governor), who took only one thing with him from his ‘70s easy-going outfit The Walker Brothers, that being the word “Walker.” While less known than other pop rogues on this list, Walker has created some incredibly challenging and avant-garde work over the last ten years compared to his ‘70s band, whose LPs are sure to be found in the discount piles of record stores along with every other band who thought a family-portrait style picture of their shaggy-haired selves would make a good album cover. What we have now is shrieking violins battling with quivering and dissonant vocals in a competition for which sound can most shock the aged listeners of The Walker Brothers.
The trend apparent in these reincarnated artists is the original motivation of profit. Most of these artists started in boy bands, supergroups, girl groups, etc., many of whose main goals are to entertain the masses as opposed to challenging them. Behind every one of these groups is a member or two that wants more; they’ve grown tired of the massive sold out stadiums and the endless devotion from vapid fans. While other members of the group are quite happy with their fame and success, the true artist will bide their time, honing their talent and using their stature to help release a work that is truly worthy of the rabid praise that their more popular acts garner. So can we really be mad at the frosted-tip boy bands of the ‘90s for perpetuating boy band culture if twenty years from now we have an avant-garde masterpiece from Harry Styles?
Who will break away from their band and go solo next? Let Jacob know at jakey.witz@gmail.com.
