I feel like everything we do comes down to how it looks. Even no branding is branding. For example, you had no face or image to put to my music at first. That was branding.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of perception in branding, suggesting that even the absence of a visible image can be an intentional branding choice.
In this quote, The Weeknd reflects on the concept of branding and its pervasive influence on how art and music are received. He suggests that all actions and representations are shaped by their appearance, highlighting that even a lack of branding can serve as a statement and contribute to an artist's identity. This underscores a core principle in the creative industries: perception shapes reality and how an audience engages with art is closely tied to its visual presentation, even when that presentation is minimal or abstract.
In practice
In a marketing presentation, you might use this quote to illustrate the significance of branding strategies.
When you're traveling constantly, every day you become inspired, and it shows in my work, sonically, lyrically, visually. Conversations with women with different accents and stories told in those accents. I like to create characters based on different people I've met, and relationships. I like to tell stories loosely based on real-life events.
People always say when they meet me that I'm not what they expect. I assume they think I'm this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.
At one point, I didn't care. Now I want as many people to hear my music as possible.
I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of human kind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism.
My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.
My greatest joy comes from creativity: from feeling that I have been able to identify a certain aspect of human nature and crystallise a phenomenon in words.
It's just someone has labelled us as having a different label to do what you do. I find that labels are the worst thing in the world for artistic expression.
Beauty without expression is boring.
I've always had an idealistic streak about storytelling in that I believe we owe more to audiences than repeatedly bludgeoning them over the head while stealing their lunch money. We owe them inspiration. That's why I'm more interested now in creating new heroes than hooking up jumper cables to old ones.
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