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I need to put a disclaimer on this one. You're going to witness a master at work, and at the same time you're going to witness brain-damage-level strategy at some points. Brilliant decisions and horrifically stupid ones, all in one artist. I'd love to do a breakdown where I just praise everything like Joey Valence & Brae, but Citizen (the artist) is a mixed bag that teaches us just as much from the missteps as from the extremely brilliant strategy.

Background

Citizen has 250,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The first release dropped on July 1st, 2024, when they had about 3,000 monthly listeners. They peaked at 383,000 before settling at 250,000. There's a story in that decline.

I was talking to Ruff (Nick Ruffalo), who does similar content to what I and the My .4 Cents crew do. He pointed out that the streams and the views were a little out of proportion. While I as familiar with Citizen The Artist, I had not dug into that side of it. When I found as I dug into the story started to make a lot of sense.

How They’ve Gathered Attention

They don't have a ton of videos compared to people who get as many views—it's because they're masters at work. The videos are cringe to me, but remember: one person's cringe is another's cool. The team behind these videos is brilliant, viral video directors. The music sounds kind of like ZAYN from a few years ago. Not really my thing, but what matters is the videos work.

The Core Formats That Work

The Lo-Fi to Hi-Fi Transition

starts with an iPhone shot, then transitions to sick color correction with professional gimbal work.

@citizen_theartist

“LIGHT IT UP” out now!

People comment about whether the filming techniques are real or fake—it's not actually the same subway, they film through bottles, but it's not how the shot actually gets done. People fight about it in the comments. That's the point. It generates engagement.

@citizen_theartist

“LIGHT IT UP” out June 15th

The relationship narrative arc is master-level work. The girl in these videos has been there since the beginning. First, she's his crush, then as it evolves, they become boyfriend and girlfriend. The way they've done this evolution and story arc—master at work. They're always edging their relationship, getting a little closer until it crosses the threshold. Getting people invested in a narrative is very smart. sombr does the same thing with the girl texting him after she hears the song.

Pretty privilege is real here. Look at these two—both casting-ready, good-looking, Hollywood-looking people. If you turned on Netflix and found out they were cast in some nineties show remake, you'd be like, yeah, they're perfect for it. When you see their acting in the music videos, though, you'll see why that hasn't happened yet. The acting is rough as sandpaper factory, but it's good enough for TikTok.

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