Marketing Is a Crap Shoot - Sabrina Carpenter Teaches Lesson With Please, Please, Please Video
Sometimes The Popcorn Doesn't Pop, But Sometimes.... It Does
I’m not hip when it comes to music choices. I play 80’s music all the live-long day. This weekend, however, my husband, who IS hip when it comes to music, was surfing satellite radio channels for more current songs. He and my twenty-something, hip daughter, who was in town for the weekend, were chatting about the song playing on the radio (Beyonce is singing country, wat?) when she described her new, favorite country song by Sabrina Carpenter titled “Please, Please, Please.”
In the very next moment, the car radio disk jockey tees up the next song to be played by… you guessed it… Sabrina Carpenter… and the title… Please, Please, Please. OMG! it was the song our daughter was just telling us about.
We loved the song and as we listened, our daughter shared the backstory of the song - that it’s a hit song and not just because of the song, but because Sabrina Carpenter’s actor boyfriend stars in it with her. Finally, Carpenter apparently took a chance in having her boyfriend star in the video. My daughter explained that it’s risky to have a boyfriend star in a music video with you because if you break up, you have an ex-lover in your music video for all eternity.
When we arrive home, my daughter plays us the Please, Please, Please video (released June 6) for us on You Tube. It is a cute video and I immediately recognize the actor/boyfreind, Barry Keoghan. He has been in many of the movies I have seen recently and I recognized him right away because I think he is absolutely adorable. I remember him most recently in Masters of the Sky (Apple TV), The Banshees of Inisherin, and Dunkirk. There is something hypnotic about his eyes. “Oh, I know him… he’s adorable,” I exclaim. My daughter is dutifully impressed, which is always win. Then she goes on to explain the pop culture-y side of the success of this music video (over 15 M views and counting - release June 6th)
You see, Sabrina Carpenter is gorgeous and fans weren't quite sure she made an appropriate match with Barry Keoghan. After the release of the video the opinion of fans has changed dramatically. Fans now see Keoghan as hot, cute and sexy all at the same time. A man who is in love with a woman is ALWAYS sexy and the palpable attraction between the two is evident. So evident that the story behind this video is ALL OVER the media. Go ahead, google them. Thousands of adorable couple stories pop up. This crazy, viral media has catapulted each of their careers, their media exposure and yes, music sales for Carpenter.
So, it seems that Miss Carpenter took the correct risk in casting the man she was already crazy about in her video. For his part, Barry Keoghan, on top of being a great actor, is also a great boyfriend. My daughter tells me he follows exactly one person on his instagram… you guessed it… Sabrina Carpenter.
Watch the official Music video for Please, Please, Please and see if you can see what my daughter sees. Warning: Explicit Language. The “MF word” is sung.
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