Star Construction: Chris Brown

By Aminatta Sylva 13H

BiographyChris Brown is a Grammy-winning, singer, song-writer,rapper, dancer, actor and artist. Born ChristopherMaurice Brown on May 5, 1989 to parents JoyceHawkins and Clinton Brown, in Tappahannock Virginia,U.S. Chris taught himself how to sing and dance at ayoung age and cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration;he attended church choir and part took in several localtalent competitions.At the age of 13, Chris was discovered by HitmissionRecords; a production team that was looking for newtalent. The team voice coached Chris; he thenauditioned in New York at the Def Jam RecordingsSenior Exec Tina Davis’ office. The president of thecompany L.A Reid immediately offered Chris a recorddeal on that day. Chris later chose to be signed to Jiverecords because of its success.

Chris Brown and music- 2005-2006After being signed to Jive Records at the age of 15, Chrisbegan recording his debut self-titled album in 2005. Thealbum was then released on November 29 ,2005 anddebuted at #2 on the billboard 200 within its first weekof 154,000 copies sold. The album sold more than 2million copies in the U.S ; it was certified two-timesplatinum by the RIAA; with three million copiesworldwide.

The album’s lead single “Run It” made Chris the first maleact to have his debut single reach the top of the billboardHot 100; which it remained for four additional weeks.The other singles- “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)”, “Gimme That”and “Say Goodbye” also featured on the top twenty chart.In 2006 he released a movie Chris Brown’s Journeyshowing footage of him travelling and performances. Healso went on tour to further promote his album; anddonated $10,000 to St. Jude’s Children’s hospital.

2007-2008

Chris debuted his acting by playing a small role as a band geek in theAmerican Television series The O.C. He then went to make his filmdebut in Stomp The Yard in 2007. Chris was also featured on MTV’s MySuper Sweet 16 (re-titled as Chris Brown: My Super 18).After touring with Ne-Yo, he began writing his second album Exclusive ;it was released in the U.S November 6, 2007 it debuted #4 on thebillboard 200 chart. It sold 294,000 copies in its first week; as of march2011 it sold 1.9 million copies in the U.S. The lead single “Wall to wall”peaked at #79 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #22 on the U.SHot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. “Kiss-Kiss” featuring T-Pain reached #1 on U.Sbillboard hot 100 chart; it became Chris’ second #1 single on thebillboard Hot 100. The third single “With You” peaked #2 on the U.Sbillboard Hot 100 chart.

Later that year Chris starred in a family Christmas movieThis Christmas and starred as himself on The Suite Life ofZack and Cody. In 2008, Chris re-leased Exclusive ;Exclusive: the Forever Edition on June 3, 2008 and releasedthe track “Forever” which reached #2 on Billboard Hot 100.At the end of the year Chris was named Artist of the Year byBillboard magazine. Chris also founded his own record labelCBe which features five artist under the wing of Interscoperecords.

2009-2010

After the domestic violence case with Rihanna, Chris released his third studio album Graffiti . It featured the single “I can Transform Ya” featuring Lil Wayne and Swiss Beats which was released September 29, 2009. It peaked at #20 on the Billboard 100 chart and #11 on the U.S Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart.”Crawl” was released as the second single and peaked #53 on the Billboard Hot 100. Graffiti was released on 8th

December 2009. It debuted at #7 on the U.S Billboard 200 chart, after selling 102,000 copies in its week. As of march 2011 it has sold 341,000 copies in the U.S. However, it received negative reviews from critics because of the domestic violence case.

In May 2010, Chris Brown and Tyga teamed up to release the Fan Of A Fan mixtape. The mixtape featured “Deuces” which was released on June 29, 2010; featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall. The song peaked #1 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for seven weeks; giving Chris his first #1 since his hit single “Say Goodbye”. It also peaked #14 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart. Chris also starred in The Takers in 2010 and also served as an executive producer.

2011- F.A.M.EChris released his fourth album F.A.M.E on March 18, 2011. Itdebuted #1 on the U.S Billboard 200 chart, with its first weekof sales of 270,000 copies- giving Chris his first #1 in U.S. Itslead single “Yeah 3x” reached the top ten in 11 differentcountries. The album’s second single “Look At Me Now” alsoreached #1 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and U.SRap Songs chart where it remained for 8 weeks. The thirdsingle “Beautiful People” peaked #1 on the US Hot Dance ClubSongs chart, and it became Chris’ first #1 on that chart.

“She Ain’t you” was released as the U.S album’sfourth single and “Next To You” featuring JustinBieber was the album’s fourth internationalsingle. To further promote the album Chris tookthe F.AM.E tour to Australia and North America.Chris won a Grammy for the best album forF.A.M.E. Chris also won 8 BET awards, threeGrammy nominations.

2012- FortuneChris released his fifth studio album Fortune on July 3,2012. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 afterselling 135,000 copies in its first week. “Strip” wasreleased as its buzz single which was #3 on the HotR&B/Hip-hop chart and #9 on the Billboard hot 100.“Turn Up The Music” was then released as the album’slead single which was released on February 10, 2012,and was Chris’ first #1 in the UK Singles Chart and his11th top ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.The song also reached an international audience ; itwas certified double platinum by the ARIA and gold bythe RIANZ. The album also featured the single “SweetLove” which peaked #25 on the Billboard Hot 100; “TillI Die” was released and it peaked #1 on the U.SBubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. “Don’t WakeMe Up” which peaked #2 for US Billboard Hot 100s, #1in the Austria charts and #2 in the UK singles chart.The final single of this album was “Don’t Judge Me”which peaked #7 in the UK R&B chart and #18 on theU.S Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Chris then went onhis Carpe Diem Tour around Europe, Africa, Asia andTrinidad late 2012.

2013-2014 X The Album

Chris released his long delayed sixth studio album X on September 16, 2014. It debuted #2 on the Billboard 200, #1 UK Albums chart, #1 UK R&B charts, #1 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #1 on iTunes, after selling 146,000 copies in its first week. The album’s lead single “Fine China” reached #31 on the billboard Hot 100 and toped forty several international markets. Its second single “Don’t Think They Know” featuring the late Aaliyah peaked #29 on the U.S Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.

“Love More” featuring Nicki Minaj was the third single and reached #23 on the billboard hot 100 and reached the top ten in forty several international markets. “Loyal” was the fourth and most successful single on the album reaching #1 on the UK R&B charts and US Rhythmic chart. The sixth single “New Flame” peaked #1 in the US R&B/Hip-Hop and US Rhythmic charts. Chris also starred in Battle Of The Year; a b-boying dance film.

Musical style and influencesChris Brown is known to be an amazing dancer andartist; in his performances and music videos Chris’dance routines can be compared to MichaelJackson or Usher and he has cited them both aslarge influencers. In 2010, Chris Brown performeda tribute Michael Jackson’s death by performinghis hit songs at the 2010 BET Awards. ChrisBrown’s vocal type is a Spinto tenor; his vocalshave grown over the years and his tone can gofrom emotional, to sexy to bright and sometimeshusky. main genre is contemporary R&B, pop, hip-hop and dance elements into his work.

FashionThroughout Chris’ career his fashion has changed as he grew up in the industry. His style went from street wear; baggy jeans, t-shirt and hoodie, alongside trainers with short brown hair. He sometimes wore a beanie or baseball cap alongside diamond earrings, a small necklace, watch, diamond bracelets and sometimes sunglasses. But as he grew older he developed his own unique fashion identity. He began to customise his clothing by adding his favourite cartoons to his t-shirts and hoodies, and started to wear mature looking clothes later into his career. 2005

He started wearing a mix of different things ; Chris also started his tattoo collection and this became visible as he got more tattoos. Chris has also changed the colour of his hair numerous times; from blue, blonde to dip dyed blonde. Chris’ started to wear more jewellery; heavy chains, rings and piercings. His style kind of juxtaposes what the typical R&B star would look like, but this is how Chris has the ability to alternate genres of music.

2007 2009

2010 2012 Present-

Clothing line and ArtIn 2012 Chris launched his clothing Black Pyramid which is now a street wear brand that has collaborated with other street wear brand such as Pink Dolphin, BAPE and more. The street wear designs were inspired by Chris’ art. “No one of this generation had mastered the art of making a perfect pyramid, hence the name, Black Pyramid,”- Chris BrownThe same year Chris also collaborated with Ron English to create a limited edition set of toys “Dum English”.

From 2011 Chris Brown began to collaborate with many street artists to create artwork; In 2015 Chris and photographer Karen Bystedt collaborated for her exhibition, “Andy Goes Street” debuted them at a gallery in Los Angeles. Chris is known for his iconic monster teeth painting on his artwork. In 2015, Chris also had the chance to create a mural in the Grammy museum; showing Michael Jackson, James Brown, Prince and himself on “The Wall of Greatness”.

Target AudienceChris began his career as a teenager which made him appeal to girl =<13 due to his age and “PG” lyrics, this made him a hearttrob to young girls, and males aspired to be like him. “His hits, such as the yearning "With You" and his duet with his imaginary Juliet, Jordin Sparks, "No Air," have bottled the overflowing earnestness of beginner-level love. When he got racy with the full-grown and lecherous pop star T-Pain in the video for his "Kiss Kiss," Brown wore a schoolboy's outfit: He was a family kind of star. ”(BET) However, the Rihanna incident in 2009 shattered Chris’ image and made him lose many female fans. This impacted his music as it became more mature, especially with F.A.M.E which contained many explicit tracks. This narrowed his target audience to 15< females and males. Moreover, his artistry and dancing attracts people outside of his target audience.

Social media presence- Youtube

Chris Brown’s YouTube channel allows fans to watch all official music videos and performances uploaded by the star’s management. It also allows fans to comment, share and like his videos. The banner of the page directly promotes Chris and Tyga’s collaborative album Fan Of A fan; this makes the audience know about what new material is available to buy.

Facebook and TwitterThese two social media channel tell us that Chris is very active on social media; it allows him to freely promote his music and other ventures whilst at the same time reaching out to his fans.

Instagram

Chris Brown's Instagram allows us to get to him personally; as see the behind the scenes of his current Between The Sheets tour, performances, photoshoots and his artwork. This appeals to his fan base because it allows them to get to know Chris better as he often likes pictures that fans tag him in etc.