Mead in music

    Music is an activity that brings people of all walks of life together which means one bottom line for people who are in a space to assist with the marketing and production of the artist work, profit. Because of this many times we see a stark contrast between what an artist is prior and post record deal. There are countless examples of this throughout history like when The Beatles signed with their personal record label, Apple Records and subsequently started making more groundbreaking and psychedelic music. More recent examples would be the transition made by childhood stars such as Harry Styles and rapper Mac Miller, in Styles case choosing to defy gender norms by wearing dresses and in Mac's case leaving the space of commercial rap in order to pursue his own view of music. 

    Now you may be wondering what it is that all of these music references have to do with Mead's concept of "I" and "Me". These are proof of the concept working before our vary eyes as these young stars are many times subjected to tactics used in order to make them as commercially appealing as possible, yet reject them as soon as they find that they cast an influence and their platform allows them to call their own shots. Artist calling these shots are the "I" at work, choosing to reject what may have gained them notoriety in order to pursue a more authentic path. But one may ask what gives an artist today an opportunity to dictate terms and headlines in ways they may not have been able to in the past? The answer is social media not in just your traditionally thought of sights like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram but in your entire life. 

    For the vast majority of people I could ask where they listen to music and they would say either Spotify, Apple music, or maybe even youtube. Though these may not immediately seem like social media sights in the classic perception as you typically don't have as intimate of an experience on these forms as you would on an Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat they are some of the most relevant and influential of all social media sights. These Music streaming services have boomed in popularity and continue to grow exponentially. Statista notes that since 2019 worldwide use of these streaming services has risen from around 300,000 to over 400,000 people. This mirrors the baby and cultural boom of post-war America in the mid twentieth century in the way that the introduction of these new ideas have significantly altered the way we intake media as a society. Contrary to prior generations, we intake music at the rate which we desire. This has lead to a cultural divide within large factions of Americans that can be attributed to the individuality or the "I" in Mead's terms afforded by the ability intake media at our heart's content. These factions can be seen in the fan bases of artists previously deemed too "out of the box" or "unconventional" for mainstream audiences. Examples include but are not limited to the ascendance of Tyler, The Creator, the rebranding of Miley Cyrus, and the onslaught of Post Malone.

 

    Harry Styles started out his professional music career as a contestant on the once critically acclaimed "X-Factor" TV show. During the show he was placed in a group that go on to be called One Direction. They were a boy band in the classic sense of the word. This of course means that the fundamental part of their marketing campaign was to sell male dominant sex to little girls. If you're feeling a bit unsettled, you should. Corporations profited off of this for over five years. As one would hope the band grew uneasy in this fact, and after the secession of Zayn Malik from the group, the band was poised for a breakup. Enter Harry's solo career. He released his first self titled album in 2017, however we would not see the transition to the more groundbreaking Harry for a couple more years. Upon the release of "Fine Line" his second studio album, he started to embrace a more free-spirited personality. For instance, he started publicly wearing unorthodox clothing for a male. His transition continues to snowball to this day as he grows further and further from the mainstream marketing gurus, opting to express what he finds in self reflection. As he puts more of his own personal touch on his music, people have responded well, shooting Harry up the pop charts and into everyone's Spotify rewind because of it's personal and intimate feel derived from Harry's "I".

    Malcolm Mccormick (aka Mac Miller, aka Larry Lovenstein) was a Pittsburg based rapper that first came on the scene in the early 2010s. His original art focused on upbeat music and good vibes. His following would grow exponentially during this phase, leading him to sign with Rostrum Records in 2010 following the lead of Wiz Khalifa, another famous Pittsburg rapper of the day. His style, however, would go through many transitions throughout his career. These transitions directly mirrored his emotions throughout his life. His music never failed to project what type of head space he was in whether that be through love, heartbreak, or his battle with drug use. He was able to do this because of the power achieved by growing his personal following as opposed to just his musical following. Though his early stuff was stereotypically commercial, as his career moved forward, there was no lack of "I" in his art. 

    Though it can be said that everybody follows a leader whenever listening to music, I believe there is a much more nuanced answer within the argument between Mead's "Me" and "I". One does not simply follow blindly, rather by assessing the situation and choosing what is appealing to themselves. Because of this the "I" is not lost, rather supported and influenced by "Me" found in the society around us. Humans are selfish in nature and as such they commit actions in hopes of gaining a certain outcome they want to achieve. With this in mind it can be noted that all humans do to express themself's whether that be making, listening to, or completely unrelated to music is done in pursuit of defining who they are and what impact they want their personal "I" to have on the world.