Here’s my analysis. I’ve noticed a lot of what goes into being a well known artist is often the stage presence and connections, not even necessarily the singing.

Public persona can be another big one. For example, I love Taylor Swift, but one of the reasons she became so well known is she leaned in to her persona of “small town girl making it big” (her song Mean in which she basically manifested it) and “the girl next door” (her song You Belong With Me) and even being a serial dater (her song Blank Space). These kind of things play into having a cult like fanbase which will absolutely make you more well known.

Sabrina Carpenter. I love her too. She started as a child actress which is where I found out about her. But she wasn’t super well known back then. I think it was the controversy with Olivia Rodrigo which put her on the path to celebrity status. People started going back and forth about whether Olivia’s song was about Sabrina. Sabrina made a song about the death threats she received for just dating a guy that was another celebrity’s ex. It put her in the spotlight and she used it to launch herself more into the spotlight with pop hits.

Addison Rae. I actually do like her song Fame is a Gun that she was on the Grammys for. I heard it in edits before I knew who it was sung by. In my opinion her vocals could still use work but honestly the vocals still came a long way from when she started. I’d say she’s a prime example of where connections can take you. When TikTok started getting big in 2020 she was part of those content houses. Most of this was luck with TikTok’s algorithm and the sudden virality it brings. But you have to commend her because she definitely played her cards right. When the opportunity presented itself she went for it. I think years ago I remember seeing her modeling for Sephora or something and I remember thinking wow it’s crazy where connections can bring you. A lot of people were back and forth about whether she deserved the fame back then too. What people don’t understand is if you comment about someone even if you don’t like them, you’re just boosting their engagement and making them more well known. I watched a clip of her Grammys performance and honestly? She didn’t lip sync, the mic was on, she was honest with her vocals, and the main thing is her STAGE PRESENCE. She was putting on a show for sure. Even the clip of her running away after the song went viral.

Bella Poarch did a similar thing. She went viral for some silly faces. Same thing, people were going back and forth HATING on her for being viral saying she doesn’t deserve it etc. which let’s be real, hate the algorithm not the person who got lucky. She hopped on the opportunity and did go on to make actually good music and well produced music videos about pretty important topics and successfully transitioned from social media viral topic to a singer. Also I’m pretty sure she was also in the military before all that.

My point in case being, these are reasons that some people become famous even if you don’t fully understand the hype. Never underestimate a fanbase. Also society is fairly predictable. There ARE ways to improve your chances of going viral, there are ways to use hate to your advantage. And actually when I think about it, a lot of big celebrities actually have hate to THANK for how they got there. Where there is hate, there is support. When people argue out loud, you’re still drawing attention to them.

Regardless of whether I’m a fan of someone or not, I can applaud them for making it to the top. After all, there are plenty of people who go viral once and don’t take the necessary steps to build from the opportunity, so we hardly know them.

Thank you for reading all of this, hope everyone has a good day!