The idea to stage Steve Lacy’s debut solo album release party at Compton airport in Los Angeles was a masterstroke.
Lacy is a US guitarist and singer-songwriter who emerged from the band The Internet. As a producer he’s worked with Kendrick Lamar and Solange, amongst other heavyweights.
It might be an unconventional choice of venue but an airport is the perfect metaphor for an artist who’s ready for take-off but by most measures has already well and truly arrived.
Homecoming hero?
Arriving at the launch by helicopter Lacy was met by crowds of his assembled fans who’d thronged the airport to greet him.
So he finds himself in the paradoxical position, on the day of his debut solo album’s release, which he hasn’t yet toured or performed, of receiving the homecoming welcome of a conquering hero.
It also happened to be his 21st birthday, the traditional take-off point into adult life proper. But Lacy has long since come of age.
He was nominated for a Grammy at age 17 for his work with The Internet and won one at 20 for his production on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN album.
For most, this calibre of achievement would define, not prefigure, a life’s work.
Get hold of a boarding pass and buckle in
Whether Steve Lacy continues to deliver on his musical potential we’ll find out over the next few years but it’s the snapshot of where he’s at right now that’s the most interesting from the perspective of his public profile.
He’s at the fulcrum that all those who go on to become globally famous musicians encounter in their career, when they’re poised between good and maybe greatness.
Elton John captured it recently writing about the Rocketman biopic: “But when it happened, it went off like a missile: there’s a moment… when I’m playing onstage in the Troubadour club in LA and everything in the room starts levitating, me included, and honestly, that’s what it felt like.”
Of course, it’s mainly about the music but public perception plays a big part in the process too.
When the wider world spots an artist at the tipping point between loyal fanbase and global stardom it creates the clamour to get hold of a boarding pass and buckle in before the Boeing screams off down the runway and catapults the star into a world where they suddenly belong to everyone.
It’s the surge of interest that can power a stratospheric take-off in any artist’s career.
But, what do you do when your talented young artist’s career has taken off and landed successfully a few times already, and looks set to do so again?
You stage the promotion in an airport and let the audience work it out for themselves.
Listen to the album here.
Richard Ellis Communications 