Dyer’s Star TheoryBy Lucy Billington-Groom

Star Theory

Dyer proposes that a ‘pop star’ is, more often than not, a manipulation of a ‘pop performer’ by the music industry to gain more revenue and hype. A pop star’s main purpose is sales and therefore profit whereas a pop performer has an ambition to sing and truly unadulterated intentions. The term ‘pop star’ is applied to the creation rather than the person as Dyer proposes the star is no longer a person simply an image created through industry, audience, ideology, culture, character and personality.

Stars as Constructions

The construction of a pop star is through the subtle messages that are released to the public. The aspects of Dyer’s theory all build up to make a person go from a simple performer to the popular and widely distributed image of music. Hayley Williams is the lead singer in Paramore, an American Rock band, before being discovered in 2003 she had limited experience in mediocre rock bands and was writing pop songs with songwriters in Nashville. Hayley was signed when she was only 14 years old and still had a lot of innocence about her. With little experience of the music industry she was considered a pop performer as she was only known for her musical ability and had no identity within the public eye. Now she has a wide presence in the public eye and her career has been very successful after gaining popularity within the band she has also ventured into solo work and collaborating with other popular artists such as b.o.b on Airplanes.

Industry and AudienceThe music industry is responsible for the manufacturing of pop stars in order to gain as much revenue as possible from the audience. The star is nurtured and shaped to fit a stereotype that appeals to a certain audience which we are continually shown through talent shows such as The X Factor. Despite this process to be proven successful countless of times there is still an audience which refuse to invest in bland, ‘photocopied’ pop stars, this type of audience tend to buy in to more ‘real’ stars or artists that are perhaps less polished and the music industry still has an obligation to provide these types of artists therefore despite their nature, pop stars will still only be a creation of their record label which needs to be sold.

Due to this approach of creating new pop stars a stars worth will often be short-lived and their careers will hold little to no meaning. It is imperative that the industry creates artists that are relatable to a younger audience as too much focus on idyllic stars from previous generation may cause the current audience to feel isolated and unable to identify with music which will then lead to drops in sales. An example of this is the large following of rock fans that the band Paramore have, Hayley Williams being the lead singer is appealing to the target audience whereas the aging Aerosmith lead vocalist Steven Tyler is becoming known for his judging roles on talent shows amongst younger, current audiences rather than his success with Aerosmith.

Ideology and CultureStars that are publicly linked to certain ideology and cultures automatically include that as part of their image and use it to identify with the audience which again helps increase knowledge and popularity of the artist. By broadcasting beliefs and opinions outside of their music and through the ever popular social media sites such as Twitter their star persona is being furthered as they now have the potential to publicly establish their own sets of values.

Stars are often used in the promotion of a certain movement or idea for example the LGBT community, feminism and causes for charity such as Children in Need.

An example of this with Hayley Williams is her openness about her Christian faith, she has openly expressed her love of her religion and how it continually gives her strength, she has also been quoted supporting gay marriage which is being welcomed by the younger generation of fans. She has recently been involved with the promotion of Pinktober and the fight against breast cancer. Although a member of social media Hayley Williams does not take advantage of it to express views on certain ideology and cultures but rather interacts with friends and fans alike.

Character and PersonalityA pop star always begins as a ‘real person’ displaying the traits of their gender and race as well

as existing in ‘the real world’ surrounded by normal people and experiencing life as the audience would but once the transformation process has begun they ultimately lose every aspect of that image unless it is useful to the image they are trying to present as a star. A pop star’s character and personality will be depicted through their music and the audience will base their judgement of the artist on what music they are currently producing as an audience reads ‘music=person’ therefore the audience is basing the star on a snapshot of their lifestyle portrayed through music. Manipulating a pop star’s persona is easy as the audience view them as being able to control a lot more such as writing their own songs and controlling what their body looks like but in reality the work develops slowly, over time in keeping with society.

Hayley Williams has changed considerably compared to herself before the fame but her personality and character have been very consistent during her time in the public eye. The industry would have enhanced her feelings, likes and dislikes that were beneficial to her persona now and her early interest and experience in bands is one of those. The audience feel she is very appealing because when needed she is presented to be a ‘hometown girl’ and very appreciative of where she originated but often this wouldn’t be a focus.