All Hail Lewis Capaldi: The King of Social Media
This time last year I wrote about how brands could learn a lot by from way that Conor McGregor markets himself on social media! Since then however, McGregors most engaging piece of online content has consisted of grainy CCTV footage and a left hook that barely made his victim flinch yet was felt around the world! This coupled with multiple other controversies swirling had left news feeds, publishers and other outlets without a real go to social media superstar. Someone who’s incredible talents becomes secondary to their overall “meme-ability”. That was until Lewis Capaldi came along…
2019 has been a year that has seen Capaldi go from a relative unknown to one of the biggest music acts in the world. His unique voice and catchy songs have been a part of this but no doubt it’s his sense of humour and how he leverages social media that has helped keep his songs trending across the globe. The bigger he gets, the funnier the positions he finds himself in and it seems to have just snowballed from there.
Long before his memorable interviews on the BBC, MTV and his big entrances at festivals like Glastonbury, Capaldi was documenting how his songs were gaining traction on his Instagram and that the trappings of becoming a “phenomenon” would eventually go to his head. Sharing this in real time meant his followers feel like a small part of his journey to being a “celeb”. The Scottish accent and dry humour make the whole thing more cartoonish and shareable. He’s like the class clown who’s now a global superstar and is loving every second of it without really appearing to take it that seriously.
In recent months, you cant turn on a radio without hearing one of his now hugely popular songs being played or requested. The most well known of these “Someone You Loved” has been topping the global charts since the summer and is that song your Ma thinks is “gorgeous”. His tickets sold out for his upcoming Dublin gig in only a few minutes and are proof of just how much we love him here. Not since the O Donovan brothers, have Irish people been able to so openly embrace a massively successful talent without even a hint of cynicism. The O Donovans like Capaldi, are serious when they need to be but genuinely hilarious when they’re not performing.
With fame and attention quickly comes offers from advertisers and this can be where many stars begin to alienate their base by flogging anything from car air fresheners to stock trading apps. Instead Capaldi and his management clearly only accept offers from brands that fit his character and relate to his audience. His spots for Tinder and Deliveroo make for great pieces of standalone social content by putting Capaldi’s personality front and centre. You can tell he's not working off a strict script and that if he was his loyal fans would spot it a mile off. Yes he’s of course making lots of money from these, but he’s also building on his own brand with the smart partnerships his team work on.
Another reason why I believe the Capaldi cult has grown so much in 2019 is that he is operating against the backdrop of an online youth that seem obsessed with their image and how they appear online. The explosion in usage of apps like Face-tune in the last year or two have shown us that even the best looking people on our feeds are like avatars of their real life selves. Capaldi on the other hand is constantly subjected to online comments about his looks and openly jokes that people say he looks like a potato smiley!
This attitude to people’s comments on his looks has made him more endearing but also cast him an accidental body positivity advocate to the masses. An aspirational hero for pale potato smiley headed people (in particular us Irish) the world over! A message that if Lewis can make it, then anyone can (as long as they can write songs, sing beautifully and talk candidly about their bowel movements to the world).
With social media increasingly becoming a place solely for people to air their grievances, spark heated debate about serious issues or just sell us stuff, Capaldi talking about trying to sink a shite he’s just landed in the toilet of his hotel room is strangely the little bit of hope we all need. Over 4 million people now follow him to lap up his funny outlook on life and his successes. If you’re not one of them already, then I suggest you get involved!
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