A year without gigs fostered ideas aplenty about high-production shows for at-home audiences. On Wednesday, pioneering pop producer Imogen Heap focused on “Fan & Band Interaction in Livestream & XR” on her self-made platforms. Her work continues finding fans in next-gen pop stars like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, and frequent sampling in hip-hop.
Continuing a lifetime of innovation, Heap recalled collaborating on December’s “Last Night of An Empire” with online support from “Heapsters” at imogenheap.app. There, she hosted fan conversations about the exiting U.S. president from her egg-shaped “listening chair,” tricked out with a microphone, camera, and heart-rate monitor to “capture [her] emotional response on video.”
“By bringing fans into the studio earlier on, I become less inhibited,” she said. “I feel I can take more creative risks. We’re on this journey together.”
She also showed off her Mi.Mu Gloves, which allow her to control instruments with theatrical hand gestures. When Heap dreamily said A.I. embellishes her livestreams with “a few particles kind of flying off me,” she meant it literally. In a video preview, rainbow dots floated around the singer like a computer-generated fairy.
“Everything I do is about integration,” she said. “How do we create a flow of life, between an idea in my head to an expressive piece of music?”
Later, music executives teamed up to explain “Why The Music Biz is Buzzing About the Metaverse.” Last November, Lil Nas X played the first concert on kid-friendly online game Roblox, joining other trippy 2020 avatar gigs like Travis Scott on Fortnite. Footage showed the “Old Town Road” singer filming in a motion capture body suit ahead of the concert, during which he appeared as an animated giant in a pink Versace suit.
“[Nas X’s] brain just exploded creatively,” explained his manager Zach Kardisch. “Everything you see in this performance, from the buttons on his suit to the merchandise that was rolled out to the animated buildings, was him and Roblox working collaboratively.”
Jon Vlassopulos, Roblox Global Head of Music, said the splashy event provided many young fans their first concert. All panelists agreed virtual shows are here to stay.
“With [music streaming platforms], you have a bio and a photo as artists, but there’s not too many opportunities to address your creativity,” said Vlassopulos. “Having this Metaverse palette, really it’s only limited by your imagination. Moving forward, we’re just scratching the surface.”
This article appears in March 12 • 2021.