I believe that you are what you surround yourself with and that I think that also applies to social media. What I look into posts are unique content, genius thoughts and creativeness with a spark of fun, energy and braveness. All of my timelines (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube) mainly consist of posts from musicians or artists. I feel that I can get most inspired from them. As time goes by I’ve noticed that self care and appreciation has become like a trend between a lot of musicians. I believe that it is really healthy for people to remind them that the core thing of being a human is to be in peace with self. At the same time I can say that seeing everybody doing that it becomes slightly annoying. As we all know the content of social media is deliberately constructed, sometimes even by a team of people, so not taking content from the timeline too personally is a part of media consumption. But still I think that no matter how sceptical you are the messages will get you on a subconscious level and that is why it is SO important to choose what to consume.
Anyways, in 2012, while I was still on Tumblr, I discovered a mixtape from a 19 years old girl from Colombia that was really different from everything that I was listening to at that time, it was low quality, but there was something about the rawness, uniqueness that attracted me. She didn't had a lot of followers. I automatically followed her on Twitter and later on Instagram too. I remember that on Twitter she had only about 200 followers. Now, in 2017, in Twitter she has 274K followers, but in Instagram 558K followers, so I have seen her rise from nothing to everything. So, how did Kali Uchis made it happen?
Firstly, she did everything by herself. She made the beats, recorded herself, made the cover of the mix tape, directed and edited videos, styled everything and by that I really mean everything – starting from clothes and ending with writing style in Twitter. As I have noticed, a lot of musicians now tends to point out that they do all by themselves, no matter if it's giving credit to self under the video in Youtube or writing “I do my own stunts” in Instagram and people really appreciate hard working, talented people. There has also been a lot of jokes about popular singers who don't do anything besides singing, has a team who writes songs, do all the other stuff and still get a lot of appreciation, sometimes more than other people who do much better job only by themselves. I think that all this willingness to support people who do everything by themselves comes from wanting to make a world a better place, a place where people who work hard get the recognition they deserve.
Secondly, she started when she was only 19, so everything what she did, they way she did it was appealing to young generation who is always looking forward to something fresh, relatable and inspiring. A plus is that Kali Uchis is influenced by the greatest female singers, she gives a nostalgic vibe and all that in modern time.
Thirdly, the country and the culture. Colombia has always been super exotic and interesting for the rest of the world. I believe that it works out really good for a young artist if you can manage to be visually pleasing. Here's one music video that she made to a song called "Ridin Round", made in Colombia.
Fourthly, being seen by the right people. First Snoop Dogg reached out and did a collab, then Tyler, The Creator, they worked together for a long time, some other key people. Most recent thing is doing a collab with Gorillaz and warming up Lana Del Rey in the tour.
Lastly, I want to add that she does not get involved in some beefs in the internet, she posts regularly, but not too much, she prays for those who have had big tragedies, she's super nice, which is a number one rule if you want to make it at all, she keeps in touch with fans, answer to them, retweets, tells how much she loves them and thanks them for everything regularly, says how everyone is special, give advice and adds them on a list in the concert if they can't afford the ticket or really want to come, but everything is sold out.
All in all, I can only say good things about how Kali Uchis uses social media. Everything goes hand in hand, the image she has created with how she is in the interviews and I bet in real life too. Either she is doing really, really good with lying or she just is doing herself. I tend to believe that the last option is true.
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Some things that I've noticed and that seemed worth sharing.
One day singer FKA Twigs in Twitter asked a question about braids, lots of people answered, she created a hype about it and later announced that she will post something special about braids in Instagram, as she later did. Interesting technique how to gain attention and make people interested in a topic for own good.
And Diplo's tweet.
In a way agree, but at the same time you can gain a lot of fans if you say something worth spreading. I guess the key is to figure out a good way to say things in the media so you don't end up like Justine Sacco did.
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