Speaker 1Shut up, and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you.
Speaker 2Hey, rock stars. Reggie Dawson here, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Thanks for tuning in. I greatly appreciate it. Listen, can I start off by just asking a quick favor? If you're one of those people that have been listening to the show for quite a while, I'd like to ask you to go into iTunes, and if you could, leave a rating and a comment on this podcast. It would help other people find the show. And, you know, if you haven't been listening for a while, if you like the show, please do the same. Go into iTunes, leave a rating and a comment. I would appreciate it. And, again, everyone looking for this type of show would also appreciate it. So I want to share a story about a performer's image. And I've been doing a lot of research and a lot of thinking lately. And in all the time that I took off between, I guess it was episode 75 and 76. This is 77, by the way. But between, in all the time I took off, I was doing a lot of research and thinking about an image of a performer. So. First, let's talk about what an image is, and then I'm going to share a story. So there's a lot of definitions of an image. But if you really like, really get down to when you think about a performer or any type of artist, there's really only one definition that I'm going to focus on here. And that is, it's the third definition listed on Google, if you're following along. It's the general impression that a person, organization or product presents to the public. So. To some, you know, to kind of shorten that up and kind of spin it to a performer's perspective, as I normally like to do. It's the general impression that a performer presents to the audience. And that can be anything from how you appear to how you act, how you carry yourself to even like the things that you believe in your values and the things that you share on social media and, you know, things like that. So let me, let me share why having an image is important. And not just have. Having an image, but kind of sticking to that image. Why is an image important? So a couple of weeks ago, uh, me and my wife, we did a, uh, she does photography for events. Um, she like puts a cute little frame around the picture and puts the event details. And it's kind of like a keepsake that, you know, parents or event goers can, can take home to kind of like, remember the event. It's really popular if you, you know, for certain events where you dress up like a pirate festival or like a pride fest or things like that. We did a toy run, a biker, uh, you know, a motorcycle toy run. The focus here isn't the toy run. The focus here is, I mean, you think about an event where, you know, it's a lot of bikers. There's, you know, they're most bikers are like leather and jeans and, and vests and, uh, chaps and boots and chain and, and things like that. And a lot of the music that goes on in the biker community happens to be like, uh, like eighties rock eighties, nineties rock and everything. And so at this event, um, we were at the end of the event, they had like a little festival with two bands playing and, um, both bands were, are kind of their local favorites and everything. And on one side of the festival, the band that was playing, they were dressed, you know, and like the lead singer had like a tank top, like a black tank top with rhinestones on it. Female lead singer, black tank top with rhinestones on it, jeans with rhinestones on it, boots, like had her hair done real nice and everything. And the, and all the, you know, members of the band, they had like a. Leather jacket on or like jeans and a t-shirt that likes like bike week or something, but they looked like they kind of belonged at a biker event. So I decided I was going to go check out the other band. So the other band on the other side, most of the band players, they had like t-shirt and jeans similar. And then there was the lead singer, the lead singer of this band, which by the way, was playing like guns and roses, uh, poison Motley crew, things like that. This lead singer of the band was wearing. Extremely short, black shorts with pink hearts on them. And she was wearing a hot pink camisole tank top with a hot pink leopard print Santa hat and flip flops. And if you've listened to any of my past episodes, I don't remember which one it was, but you probably heard me rant and rave about flip flops. And first and foremost, the only place flip flops need to be on stage is when you're doing a biblical play. Let me just. Put that right out there. That's my rant about flip flops. They don't have no place on stage anywhere, anytime. And please don't ever go on stage barefoot. But anyways, so she had on pink flip flops, black booty short. Like, honestly, it looked like she just walked out of, uh, shopping at Victoria's pink section. And it just didn't match the music that they were playing. It didn't match the atmosphere or anything. So I thought to myself, I'm like, all right, well, maybe that's their thing. Maybe that's like, kind of like a, you know, cause hot pink was an eighties thing. Maybe that's their thing. Oh, fast forward a couple hours. I went on Facebook. I'm looking up the band cause I was going to like them. Send them a message. Hey, I saw you. I thought you were really great. Connect network, things like that on all their promos. They're in rhinestone tank tops, jackets, um, hair done up real nice jeans, leather. You know, they, they look like a eighties rock band, you know, big hair. Leather and chains and, and, you know, it just didn't, it didn't fit what I saw. So the, so the image that was online and that they were promoting was not the image that they were on stage. And that's kind of where, where, where I'm going here. So first and foremost, why is an image important when a band or a singer or any type of performer, really? Like even if, even if you're a juggler, if you have a certain image or a certain way that you want people to perceive you, you have to create that. And I think that's the cool part about being a performer is we get the ability and we have the ability and have the opportunity to create the image that we want people to see the hard part, sticking to that image and building onto that image. The fun parts, creating it in the first place, the hard part is sticking to it. When people want to see you and people are looking you up and, and, and people, when people see you on stage and they want to go look you up afterwards and they want to see you on stage, they want to see you on stage. They want to learn more about you. They're looking for the particular image. So how you are on stage needs to also be represented on your social media, your promotions, your videos, things like that. People want to see a consistent image communicated from a performer to them, the audience and potential fan. So the first time someone goes looking, they're looking to see if you match what's on stage. They want to see, are you consistent? Is that, is that really? Is that really who you are? Or is that like a one-time deal? So how do you develop an image? How do you develop this, this image that you want people to see? And that's, that's just it. Your image is who you are. It's, it's a part of you. You don't have to do much creation and much development. What you do have to do is decide how you want people to see you on stage, create that portion of your image, who you are, like your morals and your values and, and how you share things on social media. That's fine. But you still need to project that. So on stage now, I'm not talking, let me back up. I am in no way talking about like political viewpoints. Okay. Like, I, I think that a lot of times in this, in this day and age, our morals and values must align with our political viewpoints. And I'm not talking political here. I'm talking about your morals and values. Okay. You have your morals and your values and you have the image that you project to your crowd. Now, the times when they may be, may be different is when you are creating a character like the band. Kiss. They created a character. Lady Gaga created a character. That character may not strictly represent your morals and your values, but I'll tell you, if you don't stay true to both, like if you can't make them match, like if you can't make your image match your morals and your values, one of them is going to fall apart and you're not going to be happy. So like, take Lady Gaga as a perfect example. Okay. So Lady Gaga created this image, this character of Gaga. Okay. She took her own. Perfect. Personal values and image of, you know, be true to yourself. It doesn't matter what you look like. It matters who you are on the inside. Everybody's beautiful. She like, she took those morals and those values and she communicated them in the most extreme way one could think of. I mean, I mean, think about the things that she's worn and the things that she said and the, the, the things that she communicates through her, her, through her music and through her art. It is directly aligned with her personal values and beliefs. Yes, it is to an extreme. Okay. So when I've talked about creating a persona in past episodes, I've talked about that persona on stage is the truest, most extreme form of who you are. So when you create that image of who you are on stage, you have to make sure that it matches who you are off stage and who you are on social media and who you are on the inside. So here, here's a, here's a perfect example. Okay. Let's say on stage, you portray this sex obsessed lover. You portray this sex obsessed lover and you portray this sex obsessed lover, this sex obsessed lover, this sex obsessed lover. Let's say you are a, we'll go juggling, you know. Maybe you're a sex-obsessed juggler. Okay, that's your thing. You're like a juggling stripper. We'll go there. Juggling stripper. Juggling male stripper. So that's your performing. You do juggling and you do male burlesque. We'll spice it up a little bit. Make it classy. So you juggle and you do male burlesque at the same time, okay? And you portray a just sexed up, like horny all the time, want to go at it. Guy, okay? In real life, you don't believe in sex before marriage. You think that, you know, you want a real relationship in which you're courting for two to three years and then you're engaged for another year and then you're, like, you see what I'm saying? Like where the morals and the values don't line up with what you see on stage. You see on stage, you see this guy, like, all dressed in burlesque and all makeup and fabulous and, like, horndog. And then offstage, you see this. You see this abstinent do-gooder. Like, I don't know what to call it. I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad about who they are or what they do. But it doesn't line up. And so eventually, this person, this individual, this performer is not going to be happy. It's going to fall apart. You have to stay true who you are in your image. So take who you are. Think about what you want to stand for and then go up there and stand for it. That's really all it is. That's really all an image is, is you are what you project and you project what you are. But you have to stick to it. So if you're creating an image and you're creating this persona that you're going to be on stage, you have to stick to it. I mean, could you imagine? Could you imagine Lady Gaga creates this big persona every time she goes out there? It's like this extreme outfit, a meat dress or an outfit made out of, you know, I don't know, goose feathers and cow teeth. God knows what kind of outfits you could find. But, you know, she made this extreme stuff. And then you go see her live. You pay your hundred and twenty dollars. You get your front row seats. And I'm sure they're more like five hundred dollars. But you pay your money. You're like, oh, my God, I love Gaga. She's the greatest thing. And she comes out there in a tank top and shorts, gym shorts. Just think about that. It doesn't match. It doesn't match the Gaga that, you know, and that would make you question everything. Everything. And that's that's where sticking to your image is important. Once you're developing that fan base and people are starting to follow you and people are starting to look up to you and you may not even realize this is happening. If you go against your image and go against everything that your fans believe that you stand for, because that's what you've been projecting. If you all of a sudden go against that, your fans will question everything that you have ever done. You know that you've seen it. You've seen it in the tabloids. You've seen it in People magazine. You've seen it on TMZ. You've seen it on E Weekly. You see it all the time. All of a sudden, someone does something that doesn't line up with their image. It's like the world's ending because someone didn't line up with their image. But you question everything. OK, so Justin Bieber, when he had his whole drug bust and everything and he like completely did not match the image that we had of the the teen heart throb with his own personal custom haircut. It just it didn't line up. And so he changed his image, changed completely, and it made parents question everything. It made people question everything about the Biebs. Keep that in mind. You know, when you create that image, you got to stick to it. So the easiest way to stick to your image is to have your image just be that extreme part of yourself, that true form of who you are, that you want people to see the person that you want to stand out there in that spotlight. And then just keep doing it over and over and over again. Now, yeah, there may come a time when you need to change your image. And there's there's ways to go about doing that. I would recommend seeking help from professional, not like a therapist professional, but like an image consultant type of professor professional, because changing your image once you've reached a certain point in your career can be very difficult. And there's certain steps you want to do to do it correctly. So I would recommend seeing an image consultant if it comes time to change your image. Stick true to who you are. Be authentically yourself and project that onto the stage. You'll never have any problems. People will never question who you are. People will never question your morals or your values. You will be consistent. And that's the best performer there can be an authentic and consistent artist. Keep on shining.
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