Clairo
Pitchfork describes Clairo’s “Immunity” as “perfectly underproduced”. The album uses bold, unique drum sounds, and has a special sonic identity. Her hit song “Sofia” is a perfect example of her boldness. Its instrumental bridge with a crunchy, distorted synth solo had the crowd at its highest energy of the night at Clairo’s show in Richmond, Virginia this March, which we attended as preparation for this project. Sofia‘s chord progression is a 1-5-6-4, a basic progression, but the song still has an experimental, indie sound to it. Her vocals are soft and impactful, echoing over the crunchier drum sounds. Her music is often classified as “bedroom pop”, which doesn’t exactly align with “selling out” or major-label-stardom. “Sofia” talks of unrequited gay love, a subject that helps to define Clairo’s artist brand and bring listeners closer to her personal story. In Clairo’s case, risky decisions have paid off.
Clairo’s “Pretty Girl” Video
Chance the Rapper
Chance is “Anti-label, Pro-famous,” as per his song “Blessings”. Chance is famous, and he did it without help from major labels. He’s currently #385 in the world on Spotify, and his record “Coloring Book” was an exclusive deal with Apple Music that earned over 50 million streams in the first week, charting 8th on the Billboard chart. It was the first record to chart from streaming alone. He did all of this without help from major labels.
Chance turned down restrictive contracts from major labels because they didn’t give him enough control over his music. He even went as far as threatening the big labels, saying, “If one more label try to stop me, there’s gonna be some dread headed n***** in your lobby,” in his hit “No Problem”.
Chance the Rapper’s “No Problem” Video
When asked about his hatred for the big labels, Chance says he wants to keep his message and music grassroots. His team is almost entirely comprised of Chicago natives. One of Chance’s biggest goals is trying to uplift Chicago’s youth; he even featured the Chicago Children’s Choir on his song “All We Got”.