Star construction of Chris Brown

1. Star Construction:
Chris Brown
By Aminatta Sy

2. Biography
Chris Brown is a Grammy-winning, singer, song-writer,
rapper, dancer, actor and artist. Born Christopher
Maurice Brown on May 5, 1989 to parents Joyce
Hawkins and Clinton Brown, in Tappahannock Virginia,
U.S. Chris taught himself how to sing and dance at a
young age and cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration;
he attended church choir and part took in several local
talent competitions.
At the age of 13, Chris was discovered by Hitmission
Records; a production team that was looking for new
talent. The team voice coached Chris; he then
auditioned in New York at the Def Jam Recordings
Senior Exec Tina Davis’ office. The president of the
company L.A Reid immediately offered Chris a record
deal on that day. Chris later chose to be signed to Jive
records because of its success.

3. Chris Brown and music- 2005-2006
After being signed to Jive Records at the age of 15, Chris
began recording his debut self-titled album in 2005. The
album was then released on November 29 ,2005 and
debuted at #2 on the billboard 200 within its first week
of 154,000 copies sold. The album sold more than 2
million copies in the U.S ; it was certified two-times
platinum by the RIAA; with three million copies
worldwide.
The album’s lead single “Run It” made Chris the first male
act to have his debut single reach the top of the billboard
Hot 100; which it remained for four additional weeks.
The other singles- “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)”, “Gimme That”
and “Say Goodbye” also featured on the top twenty chart.
In 2006 he released a movie Chris Brown’s Journey
showing footage of him travelling and performances. He
also went on tour to further promote his album; and
donated $10,000 to St. Jude’s Children’s hospital.

4. 2007-2008
Chris debuted his acting by playing a small role as a band geek in the
American Television series The O.C. He then went to make his film
debut in Stomp The Yard in 2007. Chris was also featured on MTV’s My
Super Sweet 16 (re-titled as Chris Brown: My Super 18).
After touring with Ne-Yo, he began writing his second album Exclusive ;
it was released in the U.S November 6, 2007 it debuted #4 on the
billboard 200 chart. It sold 294,000 copies in its first week; as of march
2011 it sold 1.9 million copies in the U.S. The lead single “Wall to wall”
peaked at #79 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #22 on the U.S
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. “Kiss-Kiss” featuring T-Pain reached #1 on U.S
billboard hot 100 chart; it became Chris’ second #1 single on the
billboard Hot 100. The third single “With You” peaked #2 on the U.S
billboard Hot 100 chart.
Later that year Chris starred in a family Christmas movie
This Christmas and starred as himself on The Suite Life of
Zack and Cody. In 2008, Chris re-leased Exclusive ;
Exclusive: the Forever Edition on June 3, 2008 and released
the track “Forever” which reached #2 on Billboard Hot 100.
At the end of the year Chris was named Artist of the Year by
Billboard magazine. Chris also founded his own record label
CBe which features five artist under the wing of Interscope
records.

5. 2009-2010
After the domestic violence case with Rihanna, Chris released his third
studio album Graffiti . It featured the single “I can Transform Ya”
featuring Lil Wayne and Swiss Beats which was released September 29,
2009. It peaked at #20 on the Billboard 100 chart and #11 on the U.S Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop chart.”Crawl” was released as the second single and
peaked #53 on the Billboard Hot 100. Graffiti was released on 8th
December 2009. It debuted at #7 on the U.S Billboard 200 chart, after
selling 102,000 copies in its week. As of march 2011 it has sold 341,000
copies in the U.S. However, it received negative reviews from critics
because of the domestic violence case.
In May 2010, Chris Brown and Tyga teamed
up to release the Fan Of A Fan mixtape. The
mixtape featured “Deuces” which was
released on June 29, 2010; featuring Tyga
and Kevin McCall. The song peaked #1 on
the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for
seven weeks; giving Chris his first #1 since
his hit single “Say Goodbye”. It also peaked
#14 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Chris also starred in The Takers in 2010 and
also served as an executive producer.

6. 2011- F.A.M.E
Chris released his fourth album F.A.M.E on March 18, 2011. It
debuted #1 on the U.S Billboard 200 chart, with its first week
of sales of 270,000 copies- giving Chris his first #1 in U.S. Its
lead single “Yeah 3x” reached the top ten in 11 different
countries. The album’s second single “Look At Me Now” also
reached #1 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and U.S
Rap Songs chart where it remained for 8 weeks. The third
single “Beautiful People” peaked #1 on the US Hot Dance Club
Songs chart, and it became Chris’ first #1 on that chart.
“She Ain’t you” was released as the U.S album’s
fourth single and “Next To You” featuring Justin
Bieber was the album’s fourth international
single. To further promote the album Chris took
the F.AM.E tour to Australia and North America.
Chris won a Grammy for the best album for
F.A.M.E. Chris also won 8 BET awards, three
Grammy nominations.

7. 2012- Fortune
Chris released his fifth studio album Fortune on July 3,
2012. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 after
selling 135,000 copies in its first week. “Strip” was
released as its buzz single which was #3 on the Hot
R&B/Hip-hop chart and #9 on the Billboard hot 100.
“Turn Up The Music” was then released as the album’s
lead single which was released on February 10, 2012,
and was Chris’ first #1 in the UK Singles Chart and his
11th top ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The song also reached an international audience ; it
was certified double platinum by the ARIA and gold by
the RIANZ. The album also featured the single “Sweet
Love” which peaked #25 on the Billboard Hot 100; “Till
I Die” was released and it peaked #1 on the U.S
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. “Don’t Wake
Me Up” which peaked #2 for US Billboard Hot 100s, #1
in the Austria charts and #2 in the UK singles chart.
The final single of this album was “Don’t Judge Me”
which peaked #7 in the UK R&B chart and #18 on the
U.S Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Chris then went on
his Carpe Diem Tour around Europe, Africa, Asia and
Trinidad late 2012.

8. 2013-2014 X The Album
Chris released his long delayed sixth studio album X on
September 16, 2014. It debuted #2 on the Billboard 200,
#1 UK Albums chart, #1 UK R&B charts, #1 US Top R&B/Hip-
Hop Albums and #1 on iTunes, after selling 146,000 copies
in its first week. The album’s lead single “Fine China”
reached #31 on the billboard Hot 100 and toped forty
several international markets. Its second single “Don’t
Think They Know” featuring the late Aaliyah peaked #29 on
the U.S Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.
“Love More” featuring Nicki Minaj was the
third single and reached #23 on the
billboard hot 100 and reached the top ten
in forty several international markets.
“Loyal” was the fourth and most successful
single on the album reaching #1 on the UK
R&B charts and US Rhythmic chart. The
sixth single “New Flame” peaked #1 in the
US R&B/Hip-Hop and US Rhythmic charts.
Chris also starred in Battle Of The Year; a b-
boying dance film.

9. Musical style and influences
Chris Brown is known to be an amazing dancer and
artist; in his performances and music videos Chris’
dance routines can be compared to Michael
Jackson or Usher and he has cited them both as
large influencers. In 2010, Chris Brown performed
a tribute Michael Jackson’s death by performing
his hit songs at the 2010 BET Awards. Chris
Brown’s vocal type is a Spinto tenor; his vocals
have grown over the years and his tone can go
from emotional, to sexy to bright and sometimes
husky. main genre is contemporary R&B, pop, hip-
hop and dance elements into his work.

10. Fashion
Throughout Chris’ career his fashion has changed
as he grew up in the industry. His style went
from street wear; baggy jeans, t-shirt and hoodie,
alongside trainers with short brown hair. He
sometimes wore a beanie or baseball cap
alongside diamond earrings, a small necklace,
watch, diamond bracelets and sometimes
sunglasses. But as he grew older he developed
his own unique fashion identity. He began to
customise his clothing by adding his favourite
cartoons to his t-shirts and hoodies, and started
to wear mature looking clothes later into his
career.2005
He started wearing a mix of different things
; Chris also started his tattoo collection and
this became visible as he got more tattoos.
Chris has also changed the colour of his
hair numerous times; from blue, blonde to
dip dyed blonde. Chris’ started to wear
more jewellery; heavy chains, rings and
piercings. His style kind of juxtaposes what
the typical R&B star would look like, but
this is how Chris has the ability to alternate
genres of music.
2007 2009
2010 2012 Present-

11. Clothing line and Art
In 2012 Chris launched his clothing Black Pyramid which
is now a street wear brand that has collaborated with
other street wear brand such as Pink Dolphin, BAPE and
more. The street wear designs were inspired by Chris’ art.
“No one of this generation had mastered the art of
making a perfect pyramid, hence the name, Black
Pyramid,”- Chris Brown
The same year Chris also collaborated with Ron English to
create a limited edition set of toys “Dum English”.
From 2011 Chris Brown began to collaborate with
many street artists to create artwork; In 2015 Chris
and photographer Karen Bystedt collaborated for her
exhibition, “Andy Goes Street” debuted them at a
gallery in Los Angeles. Chris is known for his iconic
monster teeth painting on his artwork. In 2015, Chris
also had the chance to create a mural in the Grammy
museum; showing Michael Jackson, James Brown,
Prince and himself on “The Wall of Greatness”.

12. Target Audience
Chris began his career as a teenager which made
him appeal to girl =<13 due to his age and “PG”
lyrics, this made him a hearttrob to young girls,
and males aspired to be like him. “His hits, such as
the yearning "With You" and his duet with his
imaginary Juliet, Jordin Sparks, "No Air," have
bottled the overflowing earnestness of beginner-
level love. When he got racy with the full-grown
and lecherous pop star T-Pain in the video for his
"Kiss Kiss," Brown wore a schoolboy's outfit: He
was a family kind of star. ”(BET) However, the
Rihanna incident in 2009 shattered Chris’ image
and made him lose many female fans. This
impacted his music as it became more mature,
especially with F.A.M.E which contained many
explicit tracks. This narrowed his target audience
to 15< females and males. Moreover, his artistry
and dancing attracts people outside of his target
audience.

13. Social media presence- Youtube
Chris Brown’s YouTube channel allows fans to watch all official music videos and performances
uploaded by the star’s management. It also allows fans to comment, share and like his videos.
The banner of the page directly promotes Chris and Tyga’s collaborative album Fan Of A fan; this
makes the audience know about what new material is available to buy.

14. Facebook and Twitter
These two social media channel tell us
that Chris is very active on social media;
it allows him to freely promote his music
and other ventures whilst at the same
time reaching out to his fans.

15. Instagram
Chris Brown's Instagram allows us to get to him personally; as see the behind
the scenes of his current Between The Sheets tour, performances, photoshoots
and his artwork. This appeals to his fan base because it allows them to get to
know Chris better as he often likes pictures that fans tag him in etc.