Staying In

How musicians are adapting to life at home

by Lola Nedic

Apart from the thousands of other negative consequences the Covid-19 pandemic has brought us, it’s also left the music industry gasping for air. Live music is all but dead, leaving venues and artists starving, and collaborations between artists are few and far between, as social distancing mandates make it difficult for creatives to meet up. But while we wait for our indefinitely postponed concerts to be rescheduled, a few inventive artists have shown us sides of them we’ve never seen before. In an industry that’s otherwise suffocating, these quarantine projects have given us a breath of fresh air. Charli XCX, an English electropop artist, was in the process of creating a new album when the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, this project had to be put on hold as everyone was sent into isolation. Instead, Charli started creating daily video diaries on her Instagram story to document how she was feeling in quarantine. While self-isolation was taking a toll on the artist, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise - being in quarantine gave Charli the inspiration for her sixth (and best) studio album, How I’m Feeling Now. Soon after she started her video diaries, Charli announced that her album would be coming out in 5 weeks. The only problem? She hadn’t started it yet. Glass Animals, an England-based psychedelic pop group, had planned to release their third studio album “Dreamland” when quarantine hit, but had to postpone the release to August and cancel the tour they had planned. But, instead of moping about the valuable time on the road they’d missed, Glass Animals decided to make the best of a bad situation. The band released a wealth of content, from a cover series by lead singer Dave Bayley, to several music videos filmed in isolation, to a personalized newsletter for fans. But perhaps the most creative way the band engaged with fans in isolation was the release of their open source website (opensource. glassanimals.com). The website gave fans a chance to create content using art created by the band. Shortly after the release of this website, the band encouraged fans to join the website’s “Dream Machine.” The more fans that tuned in to the dream machine, the more music the band released. It was Glass Animals’ way of bringing their fans together, giving them “a momentary screen detox encouraging collective dreaming.” But these few artists aren’t the only one to crowdsource their quarantine content. Isolation gave artists the opportunity to create more stripped-down, authentic content. Similarly to Charli XCX’s “Forever,” Tove Lo created her “Mateo” music video by putting together clips of her fans at home. Katy Perry filmed her “Daisies” music video alone in the woods - a sharp change from her usual bright visuals, but well received by fans nonetheless. Both Jeff Tweedy and Phoebe Bridgers performed from their bathrooms for Jimmy Kimmel, showing themselves at their most vulnerable. 100 gecs held a series of concerts over minecraft, letting fans join in on the server. The list goes on - a multitude of artists have used the pandemic as an opportunity to show fans a different, more creative side of them, and even create content themselves. Some artists have even posted stems of their music online to allow fans to remix it however they please, making the creative process more open than ever. Though the pandemic has had an overall negative effect on the music industry, some arists are making the best of a bad situation. Shows from home, open-source content, and heightened social media presences have allowed artists to stay connected to their fans in more engaging and creative ways.