Ke$ha: My Crazy Branded Entertainment Adventure

By Kellie Churchman 

    The music industry has come a long way from its humble roots, in the olden days any singer had just as much of a chance as the next guy of getting a big hit. But times today are different. No longer are people solely interested in the song first and the singer second. This has to do with large corporations realizing they earn more money by promoting one musician or band ad nauseam, than they do promoting many smaller ones (Garofalo). Because of this musicians are now forced to create a “brand” for themselves to compete with big name stars.  

To put it simply, a brand is a corporation, organization, or person in which people have opinions about, and it is these opinions that shape how the brand is received. One way in which a public relation team tries to form a positive image for their brand is through branded entertainment. Branded entertainment is when a company sponsors some form of entertainment for people, such as: a bike race, fair, or radio program. The hope is that people will associate the product with being happy and are more willing to buy it.

Since today’s musicians are more or less reduced to being “brands”, media companies take time to make sure their artist’s image is well crafted and well received by consumers. This may be the cause for the rise of behind-the-scene musician movies such as: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Katy Perry: Part of Me, and One Direction: This Is Us.

Now enter in Ke$ha with her docu-series, which she uses to promote her brand. But instead of creating a documentary to be shown in the movie theaters, Ke$ha chose to do her documentary as a series on MTV. This creates a potential problem for Ke$ha; does her television show work as an effective form of branded entertainment, or do viewers perceive it as just another trashy MTV show?

A reason Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life is seen as another trashy MTV show can be how it is formatted. At one point during the show, Ke$ha is “making out with a man who is never identified; in another she’s yammering about hoping to find a plaything in Scotland: ‘I want to fondle him under his kilt,’ Ke$ha tells the camera” (Caramanica). The problem with showing Ke$ha is this fashion is how she comes across compared to other musicians. These other artists are shown as more serious in their documentaries than Ke$ha is. In Katy Perry: Part of Me, we see Katy “attempting a career in gospel music, recalibrating after discovering Alanis Morissette and then pushing against industry forces that want to cast her as the next Jessica Simpson or Avril Lavigne when she just wants to be ‘the first Katy Perry’” (Gunderse).

In Katy Perry’s movie, she is portrayed as being more than her quirky girl persona. The movie shows the struggles and hard work she puts into her career. Although the viewer does see the fun side of Katy, she is always acting in a responsible adult manner. Ke$ha, on the other hand, is not. Instead, she is presented just like the characters on Big Tips Texas. In this show, the women who work at the bar are shown as taking their job seriously, but they are also shown partying hard-core whenever they are off work. This is how Ke$ha is presented; she is shown as a woman who works hard at her career, but she also parties a lot when she is off work. Showing the extreme partying side of Ke$ha makes the program seem like another trashy MTV show where mindless partying makes up the main plot.

On the other hand, showing Ke$ha (even her quirky side) may benefit her more in the long run. Ryan Lochte is in the same boat as Ke$ha for both of them are “talented in their respective fields, with outlandish public personas that threaten to overshadow their achievements.” (Yahr) And, just like Ke$ha, Ryan Lochte has his own docu-series that shows the ins and outs of his daily life. Since both celebrities’ personas are often ridiculed, this may be a reason they choose to do these television shows for “there’s a lot to gain from so much personal exposure, and even more to lose. Whether or not the shows are good is almost irrelevant” (Yahr).

Yahr speaks a lot of truth, in fact “when making of stories are told well, they feel like mini-dramas, where the marketers and the brand itself become the heroes” (O'Reilly, Tennant) When we become emotionally invested in a hero’s story the more we want them to succeed. In order to see this, we have to spend more time with them, and “the more time [the consumer and brand] spend together, the greater the marketer’s chance of gaining a sale” (O'Reilly, Tennant). So even if Ke$ha and Lochte’s shows are seen as trashy, their viewers still invested time to watch them. And, as seen in the example above, the more time the viewer spends the more persuaded to a particular viewpoint they become.

Looking at how the brand is presented is only half of what make a branded entertainment successful. In order for us to see how effective Ke$ha’s show is, we need to look at how people perceive it. On the one hand, “the broadcast prompted complaints from the Parents Television Council, which dubbed the program ‘disgusting’ and ‘vile’” (Schillaci). Although the Parents Television Council complains about every television program, their opinions on the show are fairly common. People like Perez Hilton and The Key of Awesome have said the same commentary about Ke$ha’s career.

But for every hater there are fans. Take a look at the Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life Facebook page and you’ll see words of encouragement such as “I really <3 Your Crazy beautiful life show !! your so unique , i love what you wear when your on stage and all your lil awsomeness detail !!” to “I never miss your show ever and I have all you albums and songs everywhere... xxx we are the crazy kids” (Facebook). Clearly the fans who love Ke$ha will always be there to support the singer throughout her career.

Overall, I believe Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life is an effective form of branded entertainment. Although there may be people who absolutely hate the singer and will not be persuaded by the show, they really are not the target audience. The audience Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life is going after are people who either love Ke$ha already or they are, at the very least, intrigued by her persona. So even though the latter group may only be ironical viewing, they are still in a position to be persuaded into rooting on a wild crazy girl whose glitter collection is slightly less than the amount of money in her bank account.

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Works Cited

Caramanica, Jon. "A Star, Vital and Vulnerable." NY Times TV. New York Times, 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Garofalo, Reebee. "The Business of Music." Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011. 150. Print.

Gunderse, Edna. "'Part of Me' Is a Rendezvous with Kooky Katy Perry." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, 30 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

"Kesha: My Crazy Beautiful Life Facebook Page." Facebook Page: Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life. MTV, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

O'Reilly, Terry Edward., and Mike Tennant. "11." The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2009. 245. Print.

Schillaci, Sophie. "MTV Sets Ke$ha Docuseries Season 2 Premiere, Debuts Trailer (Video)." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Yahr, Emily. "Ryan Lochte, Ke$ha and the Rules for Celebrity Reality Shows." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.