Music micro-celebrities and TikTok in digital music promotion: the case of Blanca Vergara

Las microcelebridades musicales y TikTok en la promoción musical digital: el caso de Blanca Vergara

Microcelebridades musicais e TikTok na promoção da música digital: o caso de Blanca Vergara

Lourdes Gallardo Hurtado^1*
David Selva-Ruiz^2**

¹ University of Cadiz, Spain.
² University of Cadiz, Spain.

^* Teacher and researcher at the Department of Marketing and Communication at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication at the University of Cadiz, Spain. Email: lourdes.gallardo@uca.es
^** Associate Professor at the Department of Marketing and Communication at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication at the University of Cadiz, Spain. Email: david.selva@uca.es

Abstract

The case of Blanca Vergara is analyzed as a successful artist who, through being a microcelebrity and the strategic use of TikTok, has created her own musical career in a self-produced way and outside the music industry since 2020, and is a pioneer in the use of TikTok as a space for musical promotion in Spain. The essential elements of her career and her strategic use of TikTok are analyzed in order to understand the success of her career and the change in the generation of online attention. An exploratory design is established, and a case study approach is used with a mixed design consisting of a structured interview with the artist, a quantitative analysis in social media and a discourse analysis. The results indicate that the artist has created a brand universe and music with a great capacity for connection. Secondly, she carries out a discourse of authenticity based on her revelation of private life, while there is little endorsing. Thirdly, she has a community of fans that gives the project authenticity and visibility, and with whom she maintains a close relationship as if she were talking to friends. Finally, she uses TikTok as the main communication space where she can develop this authenticity through natural and amateur content, as well as making her musical project more visible.

Keywords
Music microcelebrity; TikTok; music industry; Instagram; fandom and branding

Resumen

Se analiza el caso de Blanca Vergara como caso de éxito de artista que, a través de la práctica de la microcelebridad y el uso estratégico de TikTok, crea su propia carrera musical de manera autoproducida y al margen de la industria musical desde 2020, siendo pionera en el empleo de TikTok como espacio de promoción musical en España. Se analizan pues los elementos indispensables de su carrera y el uso estratégico que hace de TikTok para entender el éxito de la misma y el cambio en la generación de la atención en línea. Se establece un diseño exploratorio y se emplea el método de estudio de caso con un diseño mixto compuesto por una entrevista estructurada a la artista, un análisis cuantitativo en redes sociales digitales y un análisis del discurso. Los resultados indican que la artista crea un universo de marca y producto musical con gran capacidad de conexión. En segundo lugar, lleva a cabo un discurso de la autenticidad basado en la autorrevelación de lo privado, existiendo a su vez una escasa función de prescripción. En tercer lugar, cuenta con una comunidad de fans —con la que mantiene una relación cercana— que la dota de autenticidad y da visibilidad al proyecto. Por último, emplea TikTok como espacio principal de comunicación donde desarrollar tal autenticidad a través de un contenido natural y amateur además de dar mayor visibilidad a su proyecto musical.

Palabras clave
Microcelebridad musical; TikTok; industria musical; Instagram; fandom y branding

Resumo

O caso de Blanca Vergara é analisado como uma artista de sucesso que, através da prática da microcelebridade e da utilização estratégica do TikTok, cria a sua própria carreira musical de forma autoproduzida e fora da indústria musical desde 2020, sendo pioneira na utilização do TikTok como espaço de promoção musical em Espanha. São analisados os elementos essenciais da sua carreira e a sua utilização estratégica do TikTok para compreender o sucesso da sua carreira e a mudança na geração de atenção em linha. Estabelece-se um desenho exploratório e utiliza-se o método de estudo de caso com um desenho misto composto por uma entrevista estruturada com a artista, uma análise quantitativa nas redes sociais digitais e uma análise do discurso. Os resultados indicam que a artista cria um universo de marca e produto musical com uma grande capacidade de ligação. Em segundo lugar, ela realiza um discurso de autenticidade baseado na auto-revelação do privado, enquanto há pouca função prescritiva. Em terceiro lugar, tem uma comunidade de fãs que lhe dá autenticidade e visibilidade ao projeto, com quem mantém uma relação próxima como se de um amigo se tratasse. Por fim, utiliza o TikTok como o principal espaço de comunicação onde pode desenvolver essa autenticidade através de conteúdos naturais e amadores, bem como dar maior visibilidade ao seu projeto musical.

Palavras-chave
Microcelebridade musical; TikTok; indústria musical; Instagram; fandom e branding

1. Introduction and literature review

In this research we analysed Blanca Vergaras as a case study of a successful artist who as a music micro-celebrity and using the social networks, TikTok specifically, strategically, began and grew her musical career outside the music industry by self-producing and singing songs which went viral as millions of listeners played them and gave them likes. She has established herself as one of the first artists in Spain to grow her musical career almost exclusively on TikTok and thus illustrates a transformation in the social networks paradigm and a change in the way artists can present themselves online. Thus, the key elements the musical micro-celebrity carries out to grow her self-produced musical career can be observed. Likewise, her communication on social networks, specifically on TikTok, is analysed as her main tool for building her career in music.

1.1 Being a musical micro-celebrity in the music industry

With the arrival of the Internet, new technologies and their effect on fame has led to a change in the production, distribution and consumption model of the music industry. Specifically, the traditional model which is made up of majors, gatekeepers, labels and large marketing campaigns, among others is no longer the only viable option (Byrne, 2014). Thus, users have developed new activities and strategies for music streaming services, self-production and new systems for filtering contents such as algorithms or recommendations made by the consumers themselves (D’Amato, 2019; Haynes and Marshall, 2018; Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2018; Hracs, 2015; Promusicae, 2013).

Against this backdrop, the musical micro-celebrity has arisen. That is, artists who grow by managing their careers themselves outside the music industry by self-presentation and using the social networks strategically. In this way, they do not need a contract with a record company or to join forces with the mass media in order to build a successful music career. Concerning this, Li (2019) stated that being a micro-celebrity hinges on there being a sophisticated and powerful media, technology and cultural environment which decentralises production and the consumption of contents for any Internet user(Chen et al., 2021).This can be seen in the rise in consumption of digital news and new music formats and applications such as TikTok during the 2020 lockdown due to covid-19 in Spain, which was conducive to the emergence of new music microcelebrities (Castro-Martínez et al., 2020).

These artists work on their branding, create a musical product and a community. Their style and appeal is inspired by celebrity culture, but they are more accessible to their audience due to their authentic discourse and emotional work, for instance, and are closer to their followers (Marwick, 2015b). Thus, their authenticity as a result of interacting with the audience is one of the key elements underpinning their success (Abidin and Lindsay-Brown, 2018; Giles, 2019; Jerslev, 2016; Marshall, 2014; Marwick, 2010; Senft, 2008; Senft, 2013). Moreover, the relationship and interactions there are between the artist and audience are parasocial given that there is an illusion of reciprocal interaction by the community towards the music microcelebrity, the mediatised identity (Abidin, 2018; Caro-Castaño, 2022; Horton and Wohl, 1956/2006; Marshall, 2010; Marwick, 2015a; Senft, 2008; Thelwall et al., 2022 and Tsai and Men, 2017). Therefore, the music micro-celebrity is the result of the changes that have arisen in terms of understanding fame in the music panorama as it presents a new kind of success in which similar or even more social and financial capital is created than that from celebrities. Thus, their aim is the premediated search for fame (Caro-Castaño, 2014; Marwick, 2010; Turner, 2010). In this situation, the emergence of the music micro-celebrity means the music industry faces greater uncertainty (Méndez-Rubio, 2016), since it is no longer so important to become a star, as taken together, the activity of these microcelebrities can be even more lucrative than that of the stars themselves (Anderson, 2004, 2009; D’Amato, 2019; Oliveira and Guerra, 2019).

In light of this, in this paper (RQ1) the following questions are posed: how does Blanca Vergara communicate and promote her music? (RQ2) what are the main elements in Blanca Vergara’s music?

1.2 TikTok as a key tool for promoting music

Although Instagram is one of the main social networks in any digital strategy, the emergence and success of TikTok (boosted by the 2020 lockdown due to covid-19) has revolutionised the concept of online attention and fame (Abidin, 2020; Zulli and Zulli, 2020). Its capacity for mimicry and visibility has lead to a change in content creation from an idealised version typical of Instagram feeds to a less aspirational one based on performance, entertainment and a great amount of disclosure about one’s private life. Unlike spaces such as Instagram, on TikTok it is not the identity the user creates that is so important, but rather the individual content produced from many different creators and the interactions they have (Zulli and Zulli, 2020). That is, the objective of TikTok videos is to achieve virality in order to obtain visits, comments and shared actions such as "duets" but above all to feature in the "For you" section (Abidin 2020), the most visible space on the platform. This is why the contents of a TikTok user adapts to activities and trends that go viral and do not follow one sole trend or coherent style. Therefore, the platform conditions the work of the content creators and their capacity to express themselves (Castro-Higueras et al., 2022).

Moreover, while Instagram focuses on visual content more than text (Leaver et al., 2020), TikTok puts a precedence on sounds before images (Abidin, 2020; Alexander, 2020; Pérez, 2020), which has promoted the work of musicians. The use of audio templates characteristic of TikTok videos have been crucial for making the platform go viral, and this is perhaps the most original feature of TikTok (Abidin, 2020; Leaver et al., 2020). New artists have fully taken advantage of this as it has been conducive to music promotion, discourse content and performance in contrast to what can be seen on Instagram, and constantly encourages user interaction (García-Marín and Salvat-Martinrey, 2022; Sidorenko-Bautista et al., 2021). Therefore, the most common formats among artists are those which include tutorials on how to dance to excerpts of their songs, thereby nurturing remixes and sharing, the use of the "behind the scene" subgenre and "challenges" which encourage others to make duets with the one who began them (Abidin 2020).

In light of this, the following research questions were drawn up: (RQ3) How does Blanca Vergara use TikTok functions to promote her music, brand and create a community? (RQ4) What strategies does Blanca Vergara use on the platform and how does she create synergy with the other social networks to start and grow her own music career?

2. Objectives and methodology

The main aim of this research is to analyse the key elements microcelebrities use to create a career in music, focusing on how they use social networks and taking Blanca Vergara as a case study. This is broken down into two aims in order to look at specific aspects in depth:

OE1. Study the creation of a personal brand and self-presentation techniques Blanca Vergara uses and the significance the communities of fans has in her strategy.

OE2. Cover the strategic use of social networks and specifically that of TikTok to grow her own music career outside the music industry.

To reach these objectives, a case study approach was used (Yin, 2009; Saldaña et al., 2016) with an exploratory information design combining a bibliographical review and analysis (secondary source), structured interview, a quantitative analysis on social networks and a discourse analysis (primary source). A case study is used since that way a social phenomenon can be observed with a qualitative approach (Feagin et al., 1991) in order to obtain an insight into it (Gerring, 2004; Peña-Collazos, 2009).

Thus, at the first stage there is a bibliographic review and analysis in order to establish a solid theoretical basis for the keys to creating a career in music, the changes the music industry has undergone with the dawn of the Internet, the strategic use microcelebrities make of social networks and self-presentation techniques among others. Next, we carried out an online structured interview with the artist Blanca Vergara by means of a Zoom videocall on 16th August 2022. She was chosen as she matches the notion of music micro-celebrity described in the theoretical section of this research, owing to her importance on TikTok and for having chosen this platform and not Instagram. Thirdly, a content analysis is carried out of her activity on the social networks Instagram, TikTok and YouTube since these are the only ones she is active on. All her contents posted on each of these platforms from 1st October 2021 until 31st August 2023 are covered which comes to a total of 501 posts. This period was determined as it covers the time she launched her career and began focusing her communication on her music. In this respect, 3 of her contents belong to YouTube, 20 to Instagram and 478 to TikTok. Moreover, from the micro-celebrity discourse on digital platforms, the meaning of her messages, her intention, the underlying aims and so on can be interpreted on each platform and their data can be compared in order to obtain relevant data to gain an insight into the musical micro-celebrity phenomenon. Both the information from the interview and the quantitative analysis are transcribed and analysed in terms of 16 analysis categories: a) relevance, b) track record, c) brand elements, d) musical product, e) relationship with the celebrity sphere, f) revelation of her private life, g) endorsement function, h) public, i) role of the community, j) parasociality, k) capacity to have an influence over her community, l) role of the social networks, m) content created on the social networks, n) Instagram, ñ) TikTok and o)YouTube.

3. Results and discussion

3.1 The World of Blanca Vergara: personal brand and music product

Blanca Vergara is a music micro-celebrity who began performing on the TikTok platform and her music career was launched in 2020 by self-expression and self-training (Electronic Interview)¹: "I wasn’t planning on working as a musician. It was just a hobby in all senses of the word […]” (Díaz, 2022). Her videos of her singing in the car, talking about her everyday life or her feelings started to gain traction due to her immense sincerity and revelations about her private life, but it was not until her song “27 Días” /22 Days (2022) came out when her work went viral, and her videos gained over ten million hits. She had gained a total of 670 500 followers and 31,700,000 likes on TikTok. This way, Blanca Vergara has established herself as one of the leading micro-celebrities in Spain who has grown her music career practically entirely on TikTok without having a strategy for success: “It has been really spontaneous and natural” (EI).

Given her short track record in music and her amateurism, the micro-celebrity states: “I have no idea how to describe the Blanca Vergara phenomena” (EI). This reflects a real closeness and similarity between the artist and the character she plays, displaying values such as spontaneity, amateurism and authenticity. These values, in turn, can be observed both in the audio and visual side of the brand as it can be seen that practically all content the artist posts are amateur (96.8%) and hardly any is professional (3.19%). Moreover, there are no corporate elements such as logos, claims o jingles, for instance, but there are key visual elements such as her own car whereby she has come to be known as “the girl who sings in the car” (Díaz, 2022; EI). Thus, the video or style shown is spontaneous, and not structured elements targeted at a specific audience. However, the artist does exploit formats which work strategically.

This identity is in turn applied to the type of pop music produced: "My aim is to make songs that can be heard anywhere in the world" (EI). She has created singles which are available on platforms such as Spotify or YouTube and are played millions on times both on Spotify and on TikTok. These are songs which are easy to share and the audience can identify with them, create their own work and, as they are so easy to consume, this makes it easy for them to appear on the Spotify playlists based on context and mood. In this respect, she remarks that she creates music from her own self-expression, but she has no strategy underpinning this decision.

I have always thought I don’t do things just because I want them they turn out well, but because I want to. […] It’s true they have told me that I need to balance that impulse with a desire to do them well. […] So, the main thing is to look for […] balance (EI).

She, in turn, states she does not have any contract with a record company or official management, but since February 2022 she has had a manager who carries out certain music administration tasks but the artist herself supervises all parts of her work: “I alone control my work on the social networks […] This goes for all my songs except 27 Días, half of which I made with a friend, but I made all the other songs from scratch" (EI). Therefore, she has no need to have a contract with a record company for making her more visible to create and grow a career in music since she already has the resources she needs in terms of her style and the activities she carries out.

3.2 The authenticity discourse by means of disclosure of her private life

According to Marwick (2015a), the micro-celebrity keeps to three guidelines: the artist can easily be identified by her in her car; she creates an original and useful product for her audience; then, thirdly, she discloses her private life and the artist states the fact she is more accessible to her audience has helped her rise to fame (EI). By means of these disclosures about her private life, micro-celebrities build authenticity due to their closeness to their audiences and that gives them recognition and status.

This authenticity is observed in different elements of her work. In terms of camerawork, she mainly uses foreground or medium shots. In all events, she shows her face and figure, which means she is easily identifiable, thereby nurturing the sensation of closeness the audience has on observing how she expresses herself and her gestures. As for the scenes shown, the artist usually shows those typically identified as being backstage. However, her repeated and strategic use of the car (a scene a priori which is typical of backstage) as a feature with which her audience can identify her means this has become the stage in itself. 69% of her content refers to this scene and 31% make an allusion to the backstage. When the artist solely refers to the backstage, there is a balance between those which correspond to private shots such as her house (57%) and intimate shots such as her bedroom (43%), the former group is more salient.

Moreover, when the artist makes her content about her private life, it primarily revolves around autobiographical data and recommendations about songs she sings while she is driving (41.3%). That way, her aim is to strike a chord with the public in order to be perceived as authentic (Graphic 1). Normally, these kind of videos keep to the same format in which she starts by commenting on a situation she has experienced which the audience can identify with and on that basis recommends a song to listen to in these kinds of situation (figure 1). Secondly, her content aims to express her feelings or thoughts (30.34%), the most striking of which are those in which she drives while listening to music, talks about personal tastes and reveals personal information. Thirdly, there is content in which her everyday life is narrated (11.78%). Thus, we can see her disclosure of her private life is a strategy for creating an audience and obtaining social, and, in turn, financial capital, although as we mentioned before, it is also a character trait of the artist and the way she presents herself on TikTok.

It must be stressed that hardly any brand endorsements have been observed. However, in the rare occasions when there are, they are done so in a very low-key fashion with spontaneity and amid revelations about herself. Thus, one cannot see any brands or promotional hashtags or tags in her contents unless she has entered into a partnership with certain brands as we can see with the different content, she has made with Starbucks on TikTok. As for recommendations, these are seen in 64% of the contents since the vast majority are accompanied by her own music or that which the micro-celebrity likes. These recommendations do not usually revolve around products or brands, but rather tastes in music or advice on how to behave in certain situations, and the vast majority of them, 62%. are of an implicit nature as opposed to 2% which are explicit ones while 36% cannot be classified. In this way the non-commercial nature of the recommendations the artist gives means the audience perceive her as being authentic and natural.

3.3 The community as an essential element for building authenticity

The target audience for the artist are mainly people from fifteen to thirty years old. "The target audience is usually people my own age or younger. This is above all people who can understand my lyrics and can relate to my contents" (EI). Just like the content created on the social networks, her music aims to resonate with the public, and so it is logical her target market is of a similar age, has had similar experiences, emotions or thinks alike. They also have a similar context since the majority come from the same county as her and are used to consuming digital music and microcelebrities.

The community acts as one of the most significant elements in her music career since it is the main way she displays her authenticity and gains visibility as she does not have other resources such as a contract with a record company, traditional media or algorithms from social networks and platforms. She states that contact with fans is: “Very important […] and a huge help too” (2022). In turn, she stresses she works together with her fans on building meaning in her brand, but under her supervision: "It is always a partnership because without their support, you are absolutely nobody […]. They are the ones who really make you who you are” (2022). In fact, it is often the fans themselves who recommend the micro-celebrity sing certain songs or the latter create contents based on the comments or trends the former have created.

As a result of the disclosure of her private life, her relationship with the community is parasocial, a fact the artist demonstrates when she talks about this:

I try to be close. […] I often receive loads of messages from people telling me that something has happened to them and asking me what can they do about it. […]. I also […] often reply with photos. So, I try to be close and spontaneous as if I were writing to a friend. In fact, they write to me more than my friends do (EI).

This parasocial aspect is nurtured by the strategies carried out to stimulate interaction with the global community by means of interacting with a few followers, and most typically, she responds to comments, direct messages on Instagram or creates TikTok videos in which she answers comments or requests from the community. That way, her followers feel she is a friend as can be seen in different comments on TikTok: “Let’s be friends, please” (Sofi, 2022). "When [sic] we sing like crazy? Ha ha ha” (Bolivar, 2022).

As for the content of the posts, a large amount is aimed at communicating with fans (Graphic 2). It is mainly through her content where interaction is encouraged (33.13%) followed by that in which the artist provides life style recommendations (20.56%) and different ways to behave as a result of talking about her different experiences. Thirdly, content is seen in which the community is encouraged to participate in creating it (8.98%) and in which she answers comments in public and encourages interaction with the content (7.19%) She normally has a humorous and colloquial tone, which is in keeping with her brand philosophy and she often asks the audience questions directly (64% of the content). Thus, it could be said that disclosure of her private life and friendship are established strategies of hers.

3.4 The social networks as spaces for promoting music

The social networks analysed are Instagram, TikTok and YouTube since they are the online platforms the artist is active on. Concerning the content published, it is very balanced between that aimed at the private life of the artist (35%), her musical product (35%) and that for her fans (30%). Some examples of content which revolves around her private life is that in which she shows herself driving while she recommends songs or is weeping (figure 2). Regarding the posts concerning her music, she shows herself singing or simulating singing her new songs, performing duets using the sound from them and providing the link. As for that aimed at communicating with fans, videos created from fan responses or their actions can be observed. Apart from this are the song trends fans have created, her responses to comments in videos and the questions she deals with about what to do at any given time.

Moreover, she also states that the social networks have meant everything in her career and in terms of bringing her fame (EI) and identifies her strategic use of them as being one of the most important elements in her career. Despite beginning with no strategy, after four years she created tactics which amounted to a small strategy on the social networks. In this respect, she states: “I try to keep on making […] the same kind of contents I have always done. For example, onTikTok, those in the car. […] On Instagram I am a bit disorganised. Sometimes I don’t post anything for a week and then I will upload four things all at once (EI).

3.4.1 TikTok as the main tool for promoting music as opposed to Instagram

Although Instagram is categorised as being a comprehensive platform for artists given the different functions it has, TikTok artists attract attention in a different way: by creating content and presenting themselves online. In fact, a more spontaneous and less aspirational style is one of the original hallmarks of TikTok as well as prioritising audio and performative skills in order to make content go viral. In this way, the artist has grown her music career almost entirely on TikTok since: “I am more at ease with it, as you can be more spontaneous […]. It is far more organic. Yes, I like it far more than Instagram” (EI). Therefore, her work on Instagram is classified as being secondary to TikTok and she does not update it much, since it was only due to her success on TikTok that she began communicating on Instagram, a platform where she has 42,800 followers. In fact, although the artist comes across as more idealised and aspiration on this platform, which is in keeping with its dynamics, she also seems spontaneous and close due to her amateur contents. Her profile is characterised by photographs in which she looks at the camera or uses selfies, which is key to building an identity, letting her followers become closer to her and finding out about her life. The posts from her feed are mostly used for showing her music and personal brand while her stories provide updates concerning her music or photos of her everyday life.

Moreover, the artist has 670,500 followers on TikTok and a total of 31,700,500 likes on the platform and this is a space which is in keeping with the values which are so characteristic of her such as spontaneity or intimacy. However, there are also key strategies in her branding work among which are appearing spontaneous like a friend, granting access to her private life, her constant search to identify with the public, regular communication and the car as a key visual element which links to the previous ones. In this way, the TikTok functions enable these components to be interwoven into a sole content. This can be seen with her videos in which she uses sound from one of her songs (promoting her video), a POV (Point of View) or situation which helps followers identify her; she also presents herself as being spontaneous and intimate (disclosure of her private life through anecdotes) and she directly asks the audience (communicating with the community) (figure 3). As for the contents posted, the artist uses filters, makes trends, POVs or video contexts or duets to make her videos go even more viral and interacts on the platform in order to feature in the "For you" section. In turn, the only format seen on the videos is that in which a hands-free mobile records a medium shot of herself in the car which identifies her and increases the sensation of intimacy and, consequently, parasociality.

There are patently fewer barriers on this platform to giving likes to a videos, commenting or following an account given the results that appear individually in this section are of more interest as is the potential to engage with the audience. Thus, visual coherence or the general theme are not so important, but rather the affinity the content creates. Apart from that, the appeal of TikTok is the "For You" section which means there is a constant aim to create high quality contents which engage the audience and achieve virality. This has a direct effect on the amount of monthly reproductions and listeners on platforms such as Spotify. Thus, the key to the success of the artist has been to create content which engages the audience so that she can reveal her musical talents. Regarding this, on being asked what the essential elements were for making her songs go viral and whether the number of followers on platforms such as TikTok or Instagram influences the extent to which her music goes viral, she replied:

“No, look, no. […] The truth is, you need a base. Well, you can gain your first 10,000 followers that way, but from then onwards it’s the contents which counts more than that. […] You also need to be lucky, because TikTok sometimes just does whatever it wants. (EI).

Unlike Instagram, the TikTok dynamics mean there are more chances of being discovered and going viral. Thus, it is more likely content creators obtain a high number of followers through TikTok due to its greater capacity to promote contents and make them go viral. Lastly, it must be said that she just uses YouTube as the space for posting video clips with compilations, but no kind of strategy was observed there. Thus, she would not rank it as a key space for her to grow and develop.

4. Conclusions

In light of the results of this research, it can be seen that the success of Blanca Vergara is based on creating a brand which the audience can identify with, an authentic discourse which grants followers a great deal of access to her private life, and a focus on TikTok as the platform for promoting her music and creating and maintaining a community. This is all nurtured by the parasociality of the relationships and interactions she has with her community. Thus, she has established herself as a pioneer in using TikTok as a platform for promoting her career in music in Spain outside the music industry.

As for her way of communicating and promoting her music career (RQ1) and the fundamental elements underpinning her success (RQ2) firstly, she created a personal brand based on amateurism, spontaneity, intimacy and distinctly identifiable visuals such as her stage: her car. Moreover, her product which revolves around pop music (which raises the chances of going viral online) is presented in a digital context in which she comes across as very close and authentic and the audience can identify with her. Both her music and personal brand began as a way of expressing herself and a hobby, but as her music career took off, they became more strategic.

Furthermore, the artist gives a determined discourse on how authenticity gives her status and recognition, or social and financial capital. This is based on disclosures about her private life and little endorsing, facts which foster parasociality in the relationships and interactions she has with her community. Therefore, friendship is part of her strategy to promote her brand and music and engage with her audience. Although all these elements appear spontaneously and due to her presence on the social networks, as she becomes more successful, she starts to use tactics which are tantamount to a long-term strategy. The parasocial nature of the relationship she has with her community and this engagement has enabled her to keep it as both parties have built her world together, albeit this takes place under her supervision and direction. However, the community has been established as a key element for showing her authenticity and building and making her music visible and the parasociality created is crucial.

As for how the artist manages her social networks, her use of TikTok (RQ3), the strategies she follows and the synergy created with other platforms (RQ4), it is remarkable that TikTok was established as her main platform due to its great potential to make content go viral. She perceives Instagram as a secondary network and YouTube as merely a space for compiling her creative work. While on Instagram the artist appears more professional and idealised, on TikTok she comes across as spontaneous as if she were a friend. She discloses a lot of her private life and constantly aims to resonate with the audience. She regularly communicates and her main stage is her car, a space which a priori is typically a backstage, but her strategic use of it has turned it into her stage. Hence, with an amateur and less idealised style, the artist uses TikTok as a space for combining a veneer of authenticity by disclosing her private life, displaying her music and personal brand and communicating with the community with individual posts. The most typical formats she uses are POVs and videos in which she sings while driving.

Thus, the conclusions drawn indicate a need to study new functions on TikTok and the changes it has brought about in terms of attracting attention online. The platform is still growing constantly and all artists are now expected to use digital strategies to grow their music careers. The constant blurring of the line between celebrity and micro-celebrity and the rise of TikTok has given us a chance to perceive this platform as a new space for spontaneity, authenticity and amateurism which are its main values. Indeed, it has so much potential that a career in music can be mainly created on this platform without any need to focus on or even use Instagram or have a contract with a record company.

Notes

1 Electronic Interview (EI) carried out by the authors on the micro-celebrity. From hereinafter it shall be named “EI” and you can find the transcription on the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17BNN8EezOBiHu3psfkItIomOXV6fok2i/view?usp=drive_link

2 Translation: “Going back to being blond after having dyed my hair black. What an idiot! And after I wrote a song in which I sing I’m not that blond you see behind you anymore”. “If you have been treated like sh**. DON’T SAY ANYTHING TO HIM/HER. JUST SEND HIM/HER THIS”.

3 Translation: “I don’t want to talk to you now”. “My greatest red flags as a woman, is having written this song for someone else”.

4 Translation: “If once they just stopped talking to you without giving you any kind of explanation, then this is the song for you. Link to the song on my Instagram profile”. “A time when you had someone in your life…”.

Contributions from the authors

Lourdes Gallardo Hurtado: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Investigation, Supervision, Visualization, Writing the original draft and Writing-review and editing. David Selva Ruiz: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Investigation, Supervision, Visualization, Writing the original draft and Writing-review and editing. All the authors have read and agreed with the published version of the manuscript.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare they have no conflict of interests.

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