With felt-tip pen in hand, Hubert Lenoir took the time to write the title of his new album on hundreds of his records sold online, as if they were personalized compilations. A real monk’s work which is part of a desire to nurture an intimate bond between him and his audience, the new obsession of artists who are nevertheless very popular.
“There was a friend who gave me a compilation with a burnt CD and I found it very intimate, very beautiful. I thought it fit in well with the concept of the album. There was a desire to do something more true, less corporate “, Suggests Hubert Lenoir, who published last September PICTURA DE IPSE: Direct music, or “self-portrait” in Latin, a title that could not be better chosen for an opus in which the 27-year-old singer pushes the limits of introspection and confession.
The store-bought version of the CD has commercial-looking packaging, just like any disc you can find on the shelves. On the other hand, amateurs who bought the CD online on the Bandcamp site were surprised to find that the artist had hand-titled their album, as if the disc was personally addressed to them.
“I really did it in an artistic spirit, even in a performance spirit. I still titled records for two full days, to give me pain in the hand! »Relates Hubert Lenoir, laughing. The artist does not see it, however, as a nod to his childhood, in the early 2000s, when download sites did not exist and music lovers made their own compilation on which they then inscribed the title. .
Publicity stunt or not?
The interpreter of success Nobody’s daughter II also insists that his approach is not promotional, judging that if this had been the case, his time would have been better invested if he had done anything other than smearing records.
But others cannot help but detect a well-orchestrated marketing stunt. Especially since Hubert Lenoir is not the only artist to return to a more marginal, more artisanal approach, despite his commercial success. Safia Nolin, for example, put up very minimalist posters in Montreal to promote her latest EP, SEUM, even though she would have access to the best graphic designers in town.
“Authenticity is always something constructed. Not wrong, but built anyway. For these artists, who have had great public success, it is perhaps a desire to reconnect with an audience [friand de musique émergente] they fear they have lost, ”explains Romuald Jamet, music sociologist and researcher at the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi.
Marketing for the future
Publicity stunt or sincere artistic approach, it doesn’t matter, the independent scene was not shocked by the latest feats of arms of Safia Nolin and Hubert Lenoir. The founder of the Alternative Gala of Independent Music in Quebec, Patrice Caron, does not perceive any hypocrisy on their part, quite the contrary. “Safia and Hubert are always very popular in the community. Their success was a bit of a surprise, and you don’t feel like they’ve changed since reaching the top of the charts, ”he describes.
Patrice Caron rather interprets this as a tendency of the big actors of the Quebec music scene to want to build a more direct relationship, without intermediary, between them and their fans, like what already exists between the more marginal artists and their audience. . In 2021, a mainstream advertising offensive may be less effective than a highly targeted promotional campaign, he adds.
“Going to the ADISQ Gala, for example, it can be a double-edged sword for artists, because we are addressing Mr. and Mrs. Everyone, and they risk exposing themselves to criticism. ‘they don’t have to suffer. It is better to cultivate the public which is acquired to us, even if it means then widening from this core ”, continues Patrice Caron, also producer.
No more dishonest than another
Safia Nolin declined our request for an interview regarding the release of her latest minialbum. As for Hubert Lenoir, the very refined style of advertising is undoubtedly nothing innocent, according to Yzabel BeauBien, consultant in the music industry. But not from that to say that it is misleading that stars continue to behave like emerging artists.
“There is so much hypocrisy in the world of big pop, which makes the public believe that there are extraordinary means, when there is not so much money. At the end of the day, it’s the same process, ”slice Mme BeauBien.