Behind him are posters with “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace” written on them.Īdapting to COVID-19, the Music Industry Finds Success in Livestreams The video shifts to a shot of Smith sitting alone in his room with a mask on. This speaks to Smith’s overall artistic lens, but also how his vision and brand have had to transform throughout this specific time period. As he drives through a technicolored Malibu, the video is filled with chromatic hues of pink and blue, a familiar motif in Smith’s sunset-driven aesthetic. The video for “Cabin Fever” begins with Smith alone on a beach. Smith has stated that “Cabin Fever” was his “version of a quarantine love song,” thereby reflecting on the impact the pandemic has on the content of music overall. Similarly, “Cabin Fever” signals the inevitability of the changing reality of romance and social interactions as a whole during a pandemic. Music, regardless of genre, naturally lends itself to introspection, and projects created during a pandemic feel increasingly more sanguine.
Whether it be through the influx of music and videos that are produced from home or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on coronavirus tests, the music industry has had to recalibrate. The music industry in particular has already had to reckon with aspects of the pandemic, regardless of the music’s overarching theme. With that collective and albeit stubborn realization comes a slow change in artistic content. ‘Casual Instagram’ Seems More Authentic, but It’s Just as Curated as Before