Personas and YOU

An introduction by ph7

Foreword

This article is one of a multi-part effort shedding light on the benefits and reasons for having a persona-driven Udio music act. This simple guide will focus on three aspects from my personal perspective:

• The background for choosing to do personas associated with my Udio music

• Insights into the choices I made and a brief exploration of my current personas

• Lessons learned that I would pass on to others

There is a lot I could say and I could talk about Darren and the others for days, but I will aim to make this concise and useful for you, the reader.

The “Why”

I didn’t really plan to.

There are many good reasons for why creating personas makes perfect sense, but for me, it happened sort of organically. I was making a music video, for no other reason than that the technology allowed it. I had a song, I had a kind of a vision, and I wanted to feature the people I knew around the community. Many of them had identifiable looks, characters or personas that would be instantly recognizable in a video. I on the other hand did not.

I had two immediate challenges: I had to come up with a look, and it needed to fit the song. The solution to this was simply to adapt my Discord PFP at the time to look more like a rockstar. This was quickly done as I instantly connected to the face I got asking for a prog rock version of my cybernetic manga PFP.

At the time, he did not have a name or a personality, but through making the music video using Vidu and using the likeness of my character, a kind of personality started to emerge.

As the front person for my song and video, this was now a face that was recognizable and associated with my music. If you see him, you think “that’s music by ph7” and hopefully that’s a good thing.

At this point I realized I wanted to explore him further. Who was this nameless rockstar, what music did he want to make, why does his smirk and perfect abs make some drool and others grow mad with jealousy?

Exploring these questions gave me a number of personal rewards. It’s a gift that keeps on giving and keeps me involved and attached to our community.

This is the why of my original character, Darren Kingsley.

Developing my personas

Darren Kingsley

Darren was a fun character to work with. To avoid feeling cornered creatively, I said he could do anything, play any instrument. To avoid getting into endless explorations of his psyche and reasons, I said he was carefree and rich beyond measure. He was super good-looking and super talented and super famous.

There were no barriers or complications… Initially.

He was unleashed into a world of other personas and was wildly popular. But for every action there is a reaction. Certain personas displayed affection for Darren leading to implied chemistry. This in turn led to a sense of rivalry with others. Darren was challenged, and had to stand up for himself.

This was interesting as I learned that in the world of personas there is a social dynamic just like in the real world.

Of course, one could choose to play or not to play, but in the end, it was all good fun.

As his personality became more settled, his range actually narrowed and I realized I needed different vocalists and artists to pursue different artistic directions.

Showcase song:

Rita Talbot

When her first song debuted, she didn’t actually exist. She was the face of my pop song “Smile” which was my highest rated song even before it got staff picked.

Adding a personality to that face was a choice both to milk the popularity of the hit song, but also because I sincerely liked her voice. Where Darren could pursue all things rock, Rita could do the same in the broad genre of pop.

Her background was almost as carefree as Darren. She too was rich and fairly unburdened, but also I wrote for her a slightly more complex background, and also she was more reliant on others to succeed as an artist. This made her interesting to me; born with everything, but taking a path where she had to work hard to succeed.

Showcase song:

Torfinn Meyer Dahl AKA NeAr

Torfinn was the third persona I created. The main reason was that I felt stuck with Darren’s music, which was a kind of dated rock sound and vocal - despite my initial plan to have Darren as a “do it all”-persona. I had always been making electronic music and now felt I needed a persona as an outlet for that.

Torfinn was to be all things opposite of Darren. He is an introverted and reclusive Scandinavian who speaks mainly through his studio-produced music. He is small in stature, red-haired and wears round glasses. A bit of a nerdy look really. By design he is a kind of tribute to artists of the electronic genres from Norway, like Röyksopp.

Despite being a quiet person, his sound is big and his style is always a joy for me to work with. Having no voice of his own, his songs are more free to explore. He makes instrumentals, he features random vocalists, he often collaborates with Rita, and sometimes Darren shows up to play a guitar solo.

Showcase song:

Ruins of Dismay - Gisele Wagner and Tim Eckhart

To solve the “problem” of Darren’s dated and limited range, I invented a new sound. A type of modern progressive rock fused with a lot of elements and electronic flair. I also added a new voice for it, so that Darren could focus on guitars and other instruments. This new act is called Ruins of Dismay and consists of Tim Eckhart, Gisele Wagner, and Darren Kingsley himself.

Tim is whimsical and passionate and is in possession of a divine voice. Gisele is a young electronica artist originally from Germany. Both were in the process of trying to start an act together when Darren contacted them to form a studio based trio.

Showcase song:

Anine Eikeland

Anine is my newest addition to the line-up. She featured on my MobVision Edition 1 song as a representative from Norway working with Darren and Torfinn. She is fun, a bit goofy and quick to post on social media. We will see what the future holds for her.

Showcase song:

What I learned

Even as my own exploration of personas was fumbling, it feels like a success. I measure this success in how other Udio users recognize my personas likeness, sound, voices, their traits and even eccentricities. Just a glimpse of the face or name on the cover art and they will begin to build expectations within the prospective listener. I also measure this success in metrics. All my top rated songs on Udio are the product of my personas.

Continuing to explore what my personas will do next and how they will develop is also a major motivation for me to write new music.

The immediate boons I discovered through having a persona:

• A visual brand and recognition for my music

• A recurring singer and performer of my music

• An identity of continuity in my work

• Motivation to develop this discography and my persona’s pursuits into new soundscapes

• The joy of co-existence and frankly memes with other personas

• A representation and implied drama or excitement of collaborations between personas

So what would I tell others who are considering establishing personas of their own?

Things to consider

• Consider what gives you joy. I know, it sounds lame, but in the end we do these things for ourselves. Making music for your persona should feel good, not like a chore. It’s a concept you don’t grow tired of right away. Make it fun.

• Identity Consider how you relate yourself and express yourself through your character. Consider also how your character comes across with the audience. Do they sympathize, are they attracted, or is it more of a villain character? Answering these things will help you understand how your persona will gain followage and allow you to play into that for effect.

• Branding Very important. What is the key code that offers instant recognizability for your character? Do they have a color scheme, a mood, or a special hairdo? Consider carefully what key attributes your persona has.