Artist and Genre Research

Pop Music

‘Pop’ music is a popular genre of music which originated from the 1950s – 1960s in as a softer alternative to ‘Rock and Roll’ style music in the Western World. Despite originating in the 1950’s - 60s, the term ‘pop song’ was first recorded being used in 1926 to refer to a piece of music having “popular appeal”- however the term was mainstream at least 10 years earlier.

Although Pop music tends to borrow elements and ideas from other styles of music, including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country, there are core elements and factors that define pop music. These include an often short to media length song, normally written in a verse-chorus structure where the chorus contrasts the verse with a higher level of dynamics. Pop music also commonly includes repeated choruses, catchy, melodic tunes, and hooks. Many other genres such as country, blues and hillbilly music.

Shawn Mendes

Shawn (Peter Raul) Mendes is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in Toronto on August 8^th 1998. He is a moderately recent artist, gathering a following when he began posting covers of popular songs on Vine (the app) in 2013 gathering millions of views/loops and followers in just a few months. By August 2014 he was the third most-followed musician on Vine. This brought him to the attention of artist managers Andrew Gertler and Island Records AandR, Ziggy Chareton- bagging him a deal with the record label. After signing to the label Shawn Mendes released an EP and his first studio album, ‘Handwritten’, in 2015. His most notable single from this EP was ‘Stitches’ which reached the top 10 on the U.S charts and No.1 in the UK. Despite the popularity Mendes’ first single was called ‘Life of the Party’ which he released in June 2014. This single made him the youngest 15 year old artist to debut a song on the Billboard Hot 100 where his song made it to No.24 on the week ending July 12^th 2014.

Shawn Mendes Current Albums

·         Handwritten (2015)

·         Illuminate (2016)

Singles on the Hot 100 charts 

·         Stitches (No.4)

·         Treat You Better (No.6)

·         I know What you did Last Summer (No.20)

·         Life of the Party (No.24)

·         Something Big (No.80)

·         A Little Too Much (No.94)

·         Mercy (No.95)

Awards-

2014

Teen Choice Awards:

Choice Web Star

2015

Shorty Awards:

 Vine Musician

Much Music Video Awards:

Fan Fave Video (Song: Something Big)

Teen Choice Awards:

Choice Web Star Music

Streamy Awards:

Breakthrough Artist

MTV Europe Music Awards:

Best New

 Best Push

2016

People’s Choice Awards:

Favourite Breakout Artist

Nickleodeon Kid’s Choice Awards:

Favourite New Artist

Much Much Video Awards:

Best Pop Video (Song: I Know What You did Last Summer)

Fan Fave Video (Song: I Know What You did Last Summer)

TOURS

Headlining

Shawns First Headlines (2014–15)

Shawn Mendes World Tour (2016)

Illuminate World Tour (2017)

Co-Headlining (with various other artists):Jingle Ball Tour 2014  (2014)
Jingle Ball Tour 2015  (2015)

Opening Act (North America):
Live on Tour (Austin Mahone) (2014)
The 1989 World Tour (Taylor Swift) (2015)

Target Audience:
The majority of Shawn Mendes' target audience is young adults, often between the ages of 18-24. The gap between percentages is quite small with females being 51% of his target audience. These target audience members often have a disposable income of £1000 or more and are interested in hobbies such as spending time with family, shopping and watching TV. Shawn Mendes' music is quite family friendly which relates and is suitable for his audience.The audience often like to experiment with new genres of music and new artists. Mendes' style is quite unique and he is a relatively new artist which also works to his favour. Other artists they enjoy include Jess Glyne, Justin Beiber, James Bay and Little Mix who all produce upbeat pop music- relatively similar to Mendes. 

James Arthur

James Arthur is a British Singer and Songwriter who started as lead vocal in unsigned bands such as ‘Cue the Drama’ and ‘Moonlight Drive’. He rose to fame upon winning the 9^th Series of The X Factor in 2012. After winning he was signed to Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco Music, before signing a new deal with Columbia Records in 2016. Whilst at Columbia Records he has released a second album called “Back from the Edge”. He has since re-signed to Syco Music.

His winning song ‘Impossible’ debuted at No.1 on the UK Singles Charts in its first week of release after the finals and has sold over 1,289.000 copies in UK and 2.5 Million Copies worldwide since. He had a follow up single named ‘You’re nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You’ as well as a debut album named ‘James Arthur’ which both reached No.2 in the UK Charts.

Current Albums:

The James Arthur Collection

James Arthur

You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You

Fractured Hairs

Honte Dural

Da Funktastic Resolve

Back From the Edge

Singles on the Hot 100 charts 

Say You Won't Let Go (No.1)

Impossible (No.1)

You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You (No.10)

Awards:

2013:

Los Premios 40 Principales:

Best International Song (Song: Impossible)

NRJ Music Awards:

International Breakthrough of the Year (Song: Impossible)

TOURS


The X Factor Live Tour (2013)
James Arthur Tour (2014)
The Story So Far Tour (2015)

Target Audience:
James Arthur's target audience is supposedly middle aged females at 55+. I however, find this hard to believe as Arthur is an X Factor winner who's audience is majorly young adults and teenagers. He seems like a teenage heartthrob so I would've thought that his target audience would be considerably younger. His target audience has a disposable income of £125 or below and as Arthur isn't as big as artist as say Rihanna, he is less expensive for consumers. General interests include People and celebrities, and Television- which is appropriate due to how he rose to fame.They are bighearted which matches James' style of music.

Hailee Steinfeld

Hailee Steinfeld is an American Actress, Singer and Model born December 11, 1996 and has been nominated for numerous acting awards.

Steinfeld featured in the music video of ‘Endlessly’ by ‘The Cab’She debuted her singing voice in the film ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ where she then released a cover version of the song ‘Flashlight’ which was written by Jessie J for the film. She has since also been in Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’ music video as well as the ‘Sing’ video by Pentatonix.

In November 2015, Steinfeld released her debut EP named ‘HAIZ’- which is a nickname given to her by her fans. This EP consisted of four songs “You’re Such A”, “Rock Bottom”, “Love Myself” and “Hell Nos and Headphones”. Critics questioned the album on having too few singles as it didn’t give us a true sense of who Steinfeld is. She has released a second version of her song “Rcok Bottom” featuring DNCE, as well as a single called “Starving” alongside Grey- featuring Zedd

Republic Records:
Republic Records is the label Hailee Steinfeld is currently signed to. They were founded in 1995 by Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman and are under the parent company Universal Music Group.The label's best selling artists include Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Amy Winehouse, Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd, and Lorde.

Current Albums:

HAIZ (2016)

Hot 100 Charts:.

Love Myself (No.30)

Starving (No.31)

Awards:

0 Music orientated. However she does have 2 film awards.

McFly:

Mcfly is an English band formed in 2003. The band consists of 4 members being- Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd. McFly rose to fame after fellow a English band, Busted, invited them to tour in 2004 after which they signed to Island Records (2004-2007) and eventually making their own record label, Super Records. In November of 2013. Tom Fletcher originally auditioned to be a member of ‘Busted’ in 2001 but after losing out on the opportunity he began developing his songwriting skills as a member of their songwriting team. Whilst in this position, Fletcher was asked by the record company to film auditions for a new band which is where he met fellow band member Danny Jones after Jones mistook the auditions to be for an instrumental band as opposed to an all singing band. Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter were later recruited via a classified advertisement in the NME magazine. McBusted was formed when McFly and Busted joined together to form the supergroup.

McFly became known as the youngest band ever to have debuted at album at No.1 not once but twice with their debut album, named ‘Room on the 3^rd Floor’ and their second album ‘Wonderland’ which also debuted at No.1. ‘Room on the Third Floor’ later went one to be certified as double platinum and earned McFly a Guinness World Record for being  the youngest band to debut their album in their charts in the top position, a record previously held by The Beatles. Their first album was closely followed by their first headlining tour a month later. Their popular singles ‘5 Colours in Her Hair’ and ‘Obviously’ both topped the UK charts when released in 2004.

Island Records:
Island Records is a Major record label which has been based in the UK since 1962 after being founded in Jamaica 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall and Leslia Kong. The possess 3 Island Brand labels being Island UK, Island US and Island Australia. Their UK base is in London.  They have signed many major artists that are well known throughout the world including- Demi Lovato, FallOutBoy, Nick Jonas, American Authors and Aviicii. The record label is parented under the Universal Music Group

Super Records:
Super Records is an independent record label operated, founded and owned by the band McFly. They made the label due to issues with previous label Island Records. The label has yet to sign any other artists other than McFly but one of the singles they released whilst at the label, 'One for the Radio', reached number 2 on the UK charts.

Current Albums:

Room on The Third Floor (2004)

Wonderland (2005)

All theGreatest Hits (2007)

Radio: Active (2008)

Above the Noise (2010)

Memory Lane: The Best of McFly (2012)

Hot 100 Charts

Just my Luck (No.25)

Awards:

McFly have ALOT of awards. Here are a variety of them-

2004
Walt Disney Awards – Best Newcomer
Smash Hits Awards – Best UK Band
Smash Hits Awards – Best Album (Room on the Third Floor)
Smash Hits Awards – Best Video for (Song: That Girl)
Smash Hits Awards – Best Stars of the Year

2005
Smash Hits Awards – Best UK Band
Smash Hits Awards – Best Single (Song: All About You)
Smash Hits Awards – Best Album (Wonderland)

BRIT Awards – Best Pop Act

2006
Virgin.net Music Awards – God Group
BT Digital Music Award for People's Choice Award for Best Official Music Site

2007
Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards – Best Band 
UK Festival Awards – Best Pop Act (V Festival)
Virgin.net Music Awards – Best Live Act

2008
Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards – Best Band
Star Smash Awards 2008 – Best Album (Radio:ACTIVE)
Star Smash Awards 2008 – Best Band
Star Smash Awards 2008 – Artist of the Year

2009
Meus Premios Nickelodeon Brazil 2009 – Best International Artist
UK Music Video Awards – Best Live Music Coverage

2010
4Music Video Honours – Best Video of 2010 (Song: Party Girl)

2011
Nordoff Robbins – American Express Digital Innovation Award
In Rock Magazine – Best British Band

2012
Nordoff Robbins Music Awards – Best Live Act

2013
The Verified Teen Awards – Best Live Act
The Verified Teen Awards - Best Band

2014
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards UK – Favourite UK Band of the Decade 
(Source Wikipedia)

Tours:

McFly: The Tour (2004)
Wonderland (2005)
Motion in the Ocean (2006)
Up Close and Personal (2007)
Greatest Hits (2007)
Radio:Active (2008)
Up Close ... and This Time It's Personal (2009)
Before the Noise (2010)
Above the Noise (2011)
Keep Calm & Play Louder (2012)
Memory Lane (2013)
McBusted Tour (2014)
McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Tour (2015)
Anthology Tour (2016)

(Source Wikipedia)

Target Audience:

McFly's main target audience is between in the of 18-24 with the majority being female. This target audience is probably people that grew up listening to McFly as they began around 2003. They are often in the entertainment industry. Their general interests are music and people and celebrities.Hobbies include quizzing and spending time with friends, which is why they may like friendly group made music. Their target audience's personality is often loyal which further suggests they grew up listening to the band. An example of a TV they may be interested in is "Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here", which Dougie Ponyter won in 2012.