Post by Stephany on Jun 21, 2007 8:33:51 GMT
Hello everyone,
French magazine "Abeille info" published an article about Hayley back in April 2004.
It is available online HERE. I translated the article below.
Stephany
French magazine "Abeille info" published an article about Hayley back in April 2004.
It is available online HERE. I translated the article below.
Stephany
Another new Charlotte Church in the UK
N°5 – Wednesday, 28 April 2004
Abeille Info
Fairy tale
Hayley Westenra, a young girl from New Zealand, has just been nominated for two Classical Brits, the UK equivalent of our « Victoires de la musique » for "Best female artist" and "Best album of the year" for Pure, already sold at more than 700 000 copies in the UK.
The good people from Christchurch – her home town in New Zealand – should almost ask her royalties because it’s by busking that Hayley and her younger sister Sophie got enough money to make a recording. Their parents made 1 000 copies of a CD sampler. She then signed with Universal New Zealand. Decca also offered her an exclusive contract of 4,5 million $. With Pure, her third album and the first one to be distributed internationally, she proved to Decca that it was an excellent investment. Before its launch in the US, more than 1,2 million copies were already sold. Marketingly speaking, everything was extremely well done with huge events like the one in November 2003 where she sang for Elisabeth II, Bush and Blair. She also sang with José Carreras on December 17, 2003 at the Royal Albert Hall.
At only 17, Hayley Westenra has two main rivals. The first one, Marin Alsop, is chief conductor of renowned orchestras. In 2003, she won the prestigous Gramophone prize as « Arist of the year » and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s conductor award – an incredible achievement in the UK. The second one, mezzo Cecilia Bartoli, also won a Gramophone prize in 2003 thanks to Classic FM, a British radio created in 1992. Classic FM has become a very good alternative to BBC Radio 3 (the equivalent of France Musique) by showing that classical music can be a commercial success. Bryn Terfel and Luciano Pavarotti were also nominated for this « Best Album of the Year » award.
A real fairy tale…so from now on, don’t hesitate to ask an autograph to a young artist singing or playing the accordion in the metro, you never know. Having said that, the voice doesn’t make it all. The young artist must be elegant, charming and photogenic.
...The reality
Although it looks like a fairy tale, we can’t close our eyes on the marketing reality of youth and crossover music. Hayley obviously has her own website…or should we say websites? On her official site, it is mentioned that she prefers wearing jeans and tshirts and is not too keen on undressed clothes (the March 2003 cover of Classic FM magazine is therefore an exception…). We also learn that she buys her clothes at Jenny Peckhams and that she is thrilled with her image. We can vote for her. We can buy her latest album. We can follow the charts. We can download her latest pictures and we can even wish her a happy birthday.
The marketing aspect is really strong and given that she still has many markets to conquer, we wish her the best of luck because she will need lots of energy to follow this promotional rhythm. Oh by the way, her wish at the moment is to make it back to New Zealand for her school’s promo because her schedule is very tight and besides, she doesn’t have the time to flirt.
It is very clear that the fairy tale is there to hide the solid promotional language in order to increase the sales. Honestly, can we really consider Pure as classical music? Classical purists will typically be irritated, mocking and offended. However, Hayley Westenra remains very down-to-earth. She is the first to admit that her current repertoire is adapted to her still maturing voice. “It’s a crossover between classical and pop, easy listening…People usually call me an opera singer. But I’m clearly not”. For the record, before being discovered by Universal Music at 12, Hayley had already performed in more than 40 musicals, sang in TV shows and concerts.
Purists should better criticize marketing techniques rather than Hayley’s talent!
N°5 – Wednesday, 28 April 2004
Abeille Info
Fairy tale
Hayley Westenra, a young girl from New Zealand, has just been nominated for two Classical Brits, the UK equivalent of our « Victoires de la musique » for "Best female artist" and "Best album of the year" for Pure, already sold at more than 700 000 copies in the UK.
The good people from Christchurch – her home town in New Zealand – should almost ask her royalties because it’s by busking that Hayley and her younger sister Sophie got enough money to make a recording. Their parents made 1 000 copies of a CD sampler. She then signed with Universal New Zealand. Decca also offered her an exclusive contract of 4,5 million $. With Pure, her third album and the first one to be distributed internationally, she proved to Decca that it was an excellent investment. Before its launch in the US, more than 1,2 million copies were already sold. Marketingly speaking, everything was extremely well done with huge events like the one in November 2003 where she sang for Elisabeth II, Bush and Blair. She also sang with José Carreras on December 17, 2003 at the Royal Albert Hall.
At only 17, Hayley Westenra has two main rivals. The first one, Marin Alsop, is chief conductor of renowned orchestras. In 2003, she won the prestigous Gramophone prize as « Arist of the year » and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s conductor award – an incredible achievement in the UK. The second one, mezzo Cecilia Bartoli, also won a Gramophone prize in 2003 thanks to Classic FM, a British radio created in 1992. Classic FM has become a very good alternative to BBC Radio 3 (the equivalent of France Musique) by showing that classical music can be a commercial success. Bryn Terfel and Luciano Pavarotti were also nominated for this « Best Album of the Year » award.
A real fairy tale…so from now on, don’t hesitate to ask an autograph to a young artist singing or playing the accordion in the metro, you never know. Having said that, the voice doesn’t make it all. The young artist must be elegant, charming and photogenic.
...The reality
Although it looks like a fairy tale, we can’t close our eyes on the marketing reality of youth and crossover music. Hayley obviously has her own website…or should we say websites? On her official site, it is mentioned that she prefers wearing jeans and tshirts and is not too keen on undressed clothes (the March 2003 cover of Classic FM magazine is therefore an exception…). We also learn that she buys her clothes at Jenny Peckhams and that she is thrilled with her image. We can vote for her. We can buy her latest album. We can follow the charts. We can download her latest pictures and we can even wish her a happy birthday.
The marketing aspect is really strong and given that she still has many markets to conquer, we wish her the best of luck because she will need lots of energy to follow this promotional rhythm. Oh by the way, her wish at the moment is to make it back to New Zealand for her school’s promo because her schedule is very tight and besides, she doesn’t have the time to flirt.
It is very clear that the fairy tale is there to hide the solid promotional language in order to increase the sales. Honestly, can we really consider Pure as classical music? Classical purists will typically be irritated, mocking and offended. However, Hayley Westenra remains very down-to-earth. She is the first to admit that her current repertoire is adapted to her still maturing voice. “It’s a crossover between classical and pop, easy listening…People usually call me an opera singer. But I’m clearly not”. For the record, before being discovered by Universal Music at 12, Hayley had already performed in more than 40 musicals, sang in TV shows and concerts.
Purists should better criticize marketing techniques rather than Hayley’s talent!
