Anonymity in Music: How Artists Retain Mystery and Magic in Their Art

Artists often use many tools outside of their main artform to enhance the experience of their art. These tools — such as anonymity — can change or influence your experience in ways that you never realized. Anonymity can be essential to the formation of an artist’s style, aesthetic, and the overall experience they offer their audiences.

Written by Jayden Guzman

Anonymity is an often overlooked and underappreciated tool that some of the greatest artists utilize in their art. Whether masking their identity or adopting imaginative personas, artists enhance their audiences’ experience by bringing mystery and magic to their music.

Daft Punk, one of the most prominent and successful electronic groups of all time, are pioneers of using anonymity. They have hidden their identities by donning robotic-looking helmets and costumes in almost every public appearance since 2001. The duo has remained committed to their anonymity as artists, creating entire personas based on their robotic image.

This commitment to anonymity enhances the experience of their music by removing the human element from it. Fans have no concept of their actual human faces or personalities, so they are forced to identify the duo by their robotic personas. As opposed to typical celebrity personas, Daft Punk’s personas direct fans’ focus on their music, and allow people to view them as something other than human. This redirected focus provides the illusion that their capabilities reach beyond human limits.

Similarly, singer Sia chooses to conceal her face in all public appearances. Since the release of her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, in 2014, she has worn large platinum blonde wigs — which cover the majority of her face — in all videos and performances. While Sia has claimed that the decision to begin hiding her face was born out of a desire for privacy and control over her own public image, the singer’s use of anonymity in performance heightens the experience of her live performance in several ways.

Her wigs, oftentimes accompanied by similarly oversized hats or bows, distinguish her amongst other pop artists, offering an exciting visual element. Rather than focusing on Sia herself, audiences concentrate on her costumes and on the thrilling and artistic performances of the dancers that accompany her on stage. As the focus is turned away from her face and instead toward her music, a spotlight is placed on her vocal prowess and talent as a songwriter. Through this spotlight, Sia is able to convey strong emotions through her music rather than the expression of her face, making her music significantly more impactful.

The band Gorillaz serves as an example of how total anonymity intensifies an audience’s experience of music as well. While musician Damon Albarn is the only real musical artist behind the band, there are four virtual band members personified by animated characters. In interviews, Albarn has claimed that the concept of a virtual band was created in response to the lack of substance in the visual realm of music.

The virtual characters — and the world in which they exist — offer audiences a visual aesthetic experience that humans never could. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, the characters performed live on stage as holograms, bringing them to life like never before. The heightened sense of imagination offered by the animated band concept is reflected in the fan experience. Rather than the simple image of one man performing alone, Albarn invokes the image of four unique characters, all with varying looks and personalities, presenting a new, different way for his fans to enjoy his music.

While many artists utilize anonymity by hiding their identity behind more exciting images and personas, some artists utilize the concept by hiding their identity all together. For example, the anonymity of singer Abel Tesfaye — more commonly known as The Weeknd —helped pique audience interest in him at the beginning of his career. In 2011, he uploaded his first mixtape, House of Balloons, to Youtube under his stage name. The mixtape received critical acclaim and created a huge buzz in the online music world, leaving people speculating about the artist’s true identity.

The ambiguous nature of the stage name, along with the dark visual aesthetic of the mixtape’s cover and the nocturnal themes of the music, shrouded the mixtape in mystery and intrigued fans. Even after revealing his identity through his first live performance later that year, Tesfaye kept the element of mystery throughout the release of his next two mixtapes, as he shied away from the spotlight and refused to do interviews.

Fans who wanted to know him better had to do so through his music alone, making the listening experience more engaging. The nature of The Weeknd’s early releases serves as the perfect example of how anonymity can elevate an audience’s music experience by making it more alluring.

Thanks in large part to technology and the nature of social media, audiences have a greater look into the lives of artists. However, the transparency of stars makes it difficult for artists to retain the magic and suspense found in previous eras. As a result, the use of anonymity is more significant than ever, as it gives artists the opportunity to offer audiences an experience of mystery otherwise limited by overexposure.

Afterglow ATXDecember 19, 2018jayden guzman