Music Addict
This thesis project examines the role the music industry plays in romanticizing and glamorizing the lifestyles of many musicians—particularly their drug use—in the interest of marketing and sales.
As fans and as consumers, we are equally guilty of discounting and overlooking the adversities musicians face as we are enamored by the imagery and aesthetics that surround their work.
By examining the role design and aesthetics play in marketing an artist’s music, in conjunction with analyzing the changes in a musician’s lyrical content over the course of their career, we can see how addiction can be a byproduct of the pursuit of fame and wealth, cultivated by a capitalist, profit-driven society. The link to the full thesis site can be found here.
Brand Name is the title of the 2015 Mac Miller song that was the catalyst for my thesis investigation. This project shares the same title, as it uses the lyrics from Miller’s song in each spread, recontextualizing the tone of the lyrics through the typeface, color scheme, and background imagery of each lyric booklet spread.
With specific references to various decades and genres in music history, including 1960s psychedelic-rock, 1990s grunge, as well as more modern genres and styles, such as 2010s boyband pop and EDM, this project investigates the role of aesthetics and design in influencing and manipulating the interpretation of a single message or written body of work.
