It seems like many music artists today are creating alter ego for themselves. There’s Slim Shady for Eminem. Sasha Fierce for Beyonce. RZA from Wutang Clan as Bobby Digital. Big Boi from Outkast as Sir Luscious Leftfoot (that’s my favorite).

The trend, though relatively new, has to have some type of reasoning behind it. I think Chris Barth has put together the best argument for it:

The rub lies in the distinct “pattern[s] of perceiving and interacting with the environment,” as well as the pride and ego of the performers themselves. The construction of new and different identities allows performers to step outside themselves, or more importantly, outside of the musical constraints set by the expectations of their fans, to experiment and test the boundaries. With Eminem taking a backseat, Slim Shady was free to roam across albums wreaking havoc and offending people everywhere. Sasha Fierce allowed Beyonce to be sexual and loud, while reserving her “I Am” side for, as she remarked to Billboard, “more traditional R&B songs for my fans who’ve been there the whole time”. Georgie Fruit allowed Kevin Barnes to get in touch with his bizarre side as a middle-aged black transgendered man. And so on and so forth.

The breaks from the norm, flirtations with new genres, styles, lyrics and themes are critical to the growth of popular music, and often produce tracks that wouldn’t show up otherwise. Cuts that might be too edgy for Beyonce are perfect for Sasha. Prince can gender bend as Camille without people questioning his motives. RZA can embrace new production styles as Bobby Digital. By jumping into new characters, musical actors break their patterns of interacting with the sonic environment around them, avoiding stagnation and surprising fans. The “this album sounds just like the last one” doldrums are nowhere to be found, replaced by analysis of new styles and whether the growth represents improvement or not.

Check out Chris’s full editorial over at Pretty Much Amazing!