The Power of Personality

December 10, 2008 - Leave a comment...

You all know one. They’re that guy or girl who’s really “out there”. Over the top, outspoken, flamboyant, and infamous are all on their resumé. They’re entertaining, to be sure, but is it something that’s genuine? Are they just really good at a particular act so they run with it?

TornadoI’m constantly wondering if I should shift my outward image to something more like a character and less like me. The Elton John with the funky sunglasses. The David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Prince as… well, whatever the hell’s been wrong with him for decades now. In a word, GWAR. All of them are icons, permanently embossed into our cultural history, but is it an organic process?

I guess my fear is that any image I try to maintain will seem contrived. At worse, if the image is successful, the legitimate personality inside begins to atrophy until all you have left is… well, you’ve seen Little Richard lately, right? On the other hand, will anyone even pay attention to someone who’s just… a nice guy?

Nice guys never win, that’s a fact of life. Well, except for Barack Obama.

It’s a very fine line to walk, and it works for some. Bowie launched a career of his own personality on the platform of Ziggy Stardust. Could I be that lucky if I tried my own image adjustment?

So should I pick up the mantle of space pirate captain or giant bird creature, re-tool my PR machinery to run with that 24/7, and save the real me for the quiet, private moments with my loved ones? It might be more entertaining, you never know.

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  • http://www.cc-chapman.com C.C. Chapman

    Would be entertaining for sure, but again more of a gimmick then anything else. I say be who you are which is quirky enough already.

  • http://matthewebel.com Matthew Ebel

    …but am I entertaining ENOUGH? That’s my fear- that the slow pace of my momentum could be helped by an image adjustment. We’ll see. Thanks for the feedback tho!

  • Rowyn

    I wouldn’t love your music *less* if you had a stage persona, but I can’t imagine I’d love it *more*. Although — would it change your music? If you felt like you needed to make your songs suit your stage persona and that resulted in a narrower range of musical or lyrical styles, I’d be sad. :(

    I think there are more successful performers that don’t have an outsize stage persona than do have one, so I don’t think it’s a requirement. It seems like something you should do if you feel it suits you — if you like playing up a role or one aspect of your personality whenever you’re in public, or if you want to protect your private self from the spotlight. Conversely, if you didn’t think that would be a fun way to live, it wouldn’t be a good choice.