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11-07-08

Kenna: Techno/New Wave/Whatever Music by an African American

While listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink audio book, I heard about this artist named Kenna.

Curious, I listened to his music video on youtube called ‘Freetime’. I then watched another video called “Say Goodbye To Love”:

Well apparently Kenna is an unusual musician:

Kenna’s not an easily classifiable musician, and in today’s music world, that makes him a hard sell. He has the support of many music lovers — including an Atlantic Records executive, U2 manager Paul McGuinness and a number of club owners — but when his record was given to a market research company (the sort that do work for radio stations), it flopped.

You see, when the musicians and other top record producers heard him play, they loved him. But his music was played for a sample audience, it had mediocre results (at least according to research).

I suddenly recalled my own experience with New Wave music. I loved New Wave when it was at its prime, but hated it when I first heard it. It was similar to when I first heard Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity”. I thought it was weird. Later on though, I liked it.

In ‘Blink’, Malcolm talks about the Pepsi Challenge. In these tests, people seemed to like Pepsi over Coke when they tasted it. He ascribes the success in these tests to being a result of the nature of “sip tests”. In fact, he explains, people liked Coke while they drank more of it.

Perhaps Kenna’s music, like New Wave music or Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity”, is something like Coke. The more you hear it, the more you started to like it.

It’s forms some sort of natural addiction.

The crazy thing about these kinds of music (or products) is that they seem to create fanatical followers. There is an ‘elitist’ syndrome formed. It’s almost as if fans are shouting “You don’t get this. We do. We’re special!”

It’s also much like how Apple fans go GA-GA over Macbooks and iPhones. They’ll flame you to death if you say anything negative about these products.

There is a marketing sense there somewhere. The more you keep something private or secret, the more it arouses people’s curiosity. Eventually, people grow to accept this newfangled tune.

Hey, I’m actually starting to listen more to Kenna now.

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Posted by Jozzua » Travel & Entertainment