The artist in which I chose for this project goes by the name Diaz. Diaz is a singer songwriter originally from Ecuador but growing up in Spain and London. These influences can be shown within her music as the sounds she gravitated towards are inspired by Latin Rock/Jazz with elements of blues that are intertwined with it (which I will go into more detail about later in the text). I decided that I wanted to work with Diaz and help her to develop a presence in the industry and on social media because I believe that her sound is one that can be marketed to a high standard as it has sophisticated elements with the moody jazz feel as well as a youthful trendy element referencing to her style being a mix of the smart casual aesthetic with a mix of the Y2K coquette look which has recently been on the rise due to apps like TikTok and Instagram. Through brainstorming with Diaz, one important discussion we have been deliberating about is her target audience. Due to her music covering a plethora of feels, styles and ages, finding the middle ground target for this is something that we are finding hard to decide, but we have come to a conclusion where we believe that due to her speaking in Spanish in majority of her songs i.e. latin music, this will be the main audience we will begin to tackle regarding orchestrating social media content in this way (majority speaking in Spanish). However due to her being from London and having a very diverse music scene around her, this can be used to her advantage as in certain social media posts she can also be promoting her english songs in english for her London fanbase as she will develop this by doing gigs. I believe the appeal in which Diaz has as an artist to entice people to listen to her music, would have to come from her character, not only within her music but from her as a person as she is someone that carries light hearted energy but also mystery which is a good attribute to have as this can be shown to its full extent through social media and through live gigs. With a well organised style and sound incorporated with character and a good idea of a target audience, I strongly believe that Diaz has the attributes to dominate the music industry market. (I will be going into further detail about her songs within this text.

The sound

The three songs I have chosen to work with Diaz on to create her initial project are called: Gatillo, You killed me and Paper ashes. These will be the 3 main songs that will be on 4 song projects (EP) which will also include an interlude. I will go into a bit of detail covering each song and why I believe these are the right choices as well as the artist’s explanation of each song and musical influences which I will stress whether I believe these influences are accurate or not. When sitting together with Diaz, I stressed that the sounds of this EP need to be cohesive in order for it to be able to flow effectively from one song to the other. For this reason the EP that is planned will have an emotional yet delicate feel to all of the songs causing this ripple effect of sensitivity through the EP. Here are the full songs that we have chosen:

Gatillo

Gatillo’s themes  in Diaz’s own words “ is a confirmation to a person that doesn’t show how they feel towards someone unless they are under the influence of any substance. This song is like telling this person to make their mind up and not hide with excuses of being under the influence”.

The musical influence for this song is by an artist called Puma blue with his song ‘Lust’. This song illustrates moody themes of heart break and a jazzy feel to its melody lines.The themes of love is something that will be incorporated into the EP as this is right on theme for the colours that Diaz is trying to project.

You killed me

You killed me themes in Diaz’s own words “ This song was one of my first completely English song, where I talk about a heartbreak and been played by someone, a relationship that is was well overdue”.

The musical influence for this song is an artist called Mon Laferte. The reason why Diaz hasn’t given me a specific song to reference for ‘You killed me’ is because the artist in which she has referenced has inspired her whole category of music. As you can see from the picture present to the right, the style in which Diaz does carry is heavily influenced by this artist (Mon Laferte) as you can see the coquette esque style with her look. In terms of sound, as Mon Laferte is a Chilean singer, she is obviously involved in the Latin music market which Diaz is also striving to be in as well. She also covers themes of heart break within her song which as seen from her explanation, Diaz writes heavily on this topic. I also chose this song to work on with Diaz as I feel as though it is a great representation of her diverse writing techniques as this is a song completely written in english. It also shows how diaz can sound great on both acoustic unplugged sets and also full band work while still being able to show off her unique writing style. I do again believe that this will be a great song for the potential audience as it is targeting not only latin people that listen to english music but also english audiences that are looking for a diverse sound. Also like I mentioned before due to the song being able to be pulled back and acoustic as well as loud with a band, this automatically appeals to two different audiences with two different preferences.  

Cenizas de Papel

Cenizas de Papel themes in Diaz’s own words ” This song is about self love fading away and not knowing why or how, and wanting it back. It’s like a mental conflict and debate within yourself. The bridge section especially is saying ” what is the perfect key to cure all of my sorrows? as in she wants that love back.”

The sound influence that Diaz drew from for this song is called “Eres” by Cafe Tacvbe. This shows more of the Latin rock side of inspiration that Diaz tries to emulate in her music and which I believe she succeeds in. A comparison from both songs shows two powerful stand out choruses which gives a strong punch to the song. It is clear that Diaz has taken on sounds of inspiration, like the strong hits within ‘Eres’ and the groovy drum patterns. I believe that this sound reference is an accurate representation of what Diaz’s sound incorporates.

I believe this song to be a great representation of Diaz’s talent hence the reason I chose this song as well as it demonstrates all of the styles in what makes up Diaz overall. It has the softness of her voice as well as the latin instrumentation with the brass that make up the jazzy feel. I feel this song is very versatile in a way that it can appeal to many generations and many demographics due to its upbeat tempo therefore I would say that its potential market is quite vast despite that the song only is in Spanish.

Overall I do believe that all the songs that I have chosen to work on with Diaz are very strong songs all together as well as on their own. This is because they all show her individuality not only by the song but also fits extremely well with the artistic image that she is trying to portray. I think it’s common to know that there is a strong audience currently for latin music spreading across the western world, and Diaz’s music is a perfect mix of both which I see doing well throughout the industry.

The plan

In the beginning of this project, me and Diaz sat down to discuss the areas in which we wanted to cover going forward to help her to develop her music into a professional career. There were many elements in which she wanted to work on that were personal to her, including things like: writing songs more frequently and leading groups within rehearsals; due to these being personal attributes we will be focussing on these elements separately to our original plans, however I will still be touching briefly on them. Instead, we decided to figure out the steps that needed to be taken for her to achieve her goal of gigging more and releasing an EP. These steps we have split up into 3 sections of focus: London activities, Leeds activities and social media. Despite being split into two cities, the goals for each of these places will be the same however in these three sections I will explain what each point of focus will be. 

London activities

Due to Diaz originally being from London, this means that she already has a band in place that knows how to play all of her original songs and covers that she wishes to. This is good as this would enable her to be able to transfer those songs easily onto the band in leeds. In terms of this London band, we plan to have her record these original songs with producers in London for the time being while I find a producer in Leeds. This will be a producer which she has recently been talking to in her school as she currently attends a music university in London called ‘Goldsmiths’. This producer is latin herself and specialises in working with that sound therefore this will be a great fit for Diaz as her music swings heavily to the Latin side. While this is happening, it will also give time for her to gather some demos/ finished tracks for me to collect and eventually send over to venues to inquire about Diaz performing, in London and Leeds. In the past year, Diaz has been doing sparse gigs to build up her confidence in this element of performance and currently has a gig lined up at an event called ‘Crosstalk’ in London which she has been already promoting on her instagram page. (Link to instagram here https://www.instagram.com/p/DDrfm-7til2/?igsh=cmZqb2dmeWFibnJo ). Overall the plans for London at the moment are quite small due to preparation for the gig as well as the focus of getting demos recorded for Leeds however I do think this is one of the building blocks that will push things forward in terms of thinking of future gigging.

Leeds activities

At the beginning of this project, Diaz approached me saying how she would ‘like to start gigging in Leeds or generally just outside of London’. This is where we came to the conclusion that in order for this to be achieved, Diaz would need a band that is based up north. This is a major part of the plan as I will be curating a full six piece band for her to be able to achieve this. These musicians will ideally come from Leeds conservatoire as I currently study there. This will also give me an advantage in accessing free rehearsal spaces. The band will be learning Diaz’s original songs in order for her to be able to perform her full material up north as her London band is unavailable to do this. She has also expressed interest in writing new material with these musicians as well, so this is something that can commence in the near future. I also have been in contact with a producer in Leeds as eventually I would like for Diaz to also be recording new songs in Leeds as she can potentially be working on two projects at the same time.(One recording in London and one in Leeds). Overall this is the starter plan for Leeds as organisation of when Diaz can come up north would have to be heavily organised in advance which is the steps we are currently planning which at the moment is look at every 2-3 weeks.

Social media

There are not any major plans in the works for social media currently as the main focus at the moment is getting recording done for demos and working with bands to create new music and eventually gig. However, there are some rules we have put in place to make sure Diaz is getting quality content while focusing on all of her behind the scenes work. One of the major things she has been working on is a photoshoot for professional pictures. As seen throughout this text, all the photos of Diaz that are being presented are ones in which will be used for her to promote her artistry in the future. We have gathered these as I believe this is a must have for an artist of today as social media is a big add on when looking at a music career and even though you want to be relatable, it also has to be professional. 

She will also be working on curating content during her recording sessions and saving them to a folder where they can be accessed when needed. These videos will be a mix of Spanish and English to try and appeal to all audiences. We are also working on making her instagram more cohesive in colour and theme.

Personal attributes

From evaluating some of Diaz’s past rehearsals in London, I have written a few notes regarding her leadership within rehearsals as this is something she wanted pointers on due to her wanting to improve in this element. These are the notes I took on the right hand side. I’m hoping that during this process of me giving constant and honest feedback, it not only helps develop the artistry of Diaz, but also her confidence. 

Right now we have the solid foundation of a plan to work towards for Diaz to start developing her career. I believe that the likelihood of the plan working is quite high as due to Diaz essentially already having a head start as she already has quality songs that can be pushed into the production phase, it gives time to work on all the other important logistics like working out schedules and planning dates for Leeds rehearsals. In terms of the Leeds band, I believe this can go extremely well due to them being all great musicians but also very reliable to work with which will be in our favour as Diaz has experienced unreliability with musicians in the past. The tasks at hand are extremely accomplishable as long as we work extremely hard to meet deadlines and stay consistent. Overall I believe our action plan to be quite effective and once in the works, will produce successful results for Diaz music and career wise.

Weaknesses and areas for improvement

Due to our action plan being one that is essentially split between two different ends of the UK, there is space for potential problems to arise. There is also this case due to the fact that we are working with two big bands of musicians that will all have completely different styles of playing. This comes into my first weakness point. As Diaz will be working with musicians that she is not quite familiar with in Leeds, this potentially leaves space for her to not get along with these musicians or not like the way they are interpreting her songs. This is a big problem however it does have some potential solutions: 

• As I am the orchestrator of this project, if there are any disagreements in terms of playing styles of any instrumentalists, it is my responsibility to address this issue with the musician or simply find a new musician to work with as if the ideal sound is not being made, this will hinder time and also Diaz’s performance.  
• If the sound is not right due to communication issues, this is my responsibility to have a meeting with Diaz after the rehearsals and discuss ways in which she can project her ideas onto the instrumentalists more clearly.
• Lastly if working on her originals songs that she already has with her band in London is not working in Leeds, the next step would be scrapping that idea at the moment and focussing on writing new material so that she will be able to still at least be creating with that band however, this may arise some new problems when it comes to gigging as ideally she would like to perform her older songs. This will then leave the question on whether Diaz is open to performing interpretations. 

Another point of weakness within our plan is scheduling time and money for Diaz to travel to Leeds frequently. Ideally we are looking at Diaz coming to Leeds every 2-3 weeks. This may be difficult as she currently is in university in London as well as funding this as students will be challenging. Solutions to this may be:

• Making a detailed plan in a calendar of when Diaz is able to travel and sticking with these days by buying travel tickets in advance so they are cheaper.
• While Diaz is in London, so that rehearsals are not just placed on a standstill, the instrumentalists can still be regularly practicing the instrumentals so they are still strong for when Diaz comes back to Leeds. This will eliminate issues of falling behind.

Ensuring that we improve the organisation of time within this project will help us to meet deadlines as the goals we have set for Diaz’s Ep is fast approaching (April 2025) and delaying this will put her songs out of season as the plan in action is to release these songs during spring as this fits the mood of her aesthetic. If we are unable to meet these deadlines, there is a possibility of having deadlines pushed back until autumn as this time of year will also go effectively with her song. One final small roadblock that we have had at the beginning of this process is the posting of promotion pictures. Due to Diaz already having these promotional pictures taken (as seen throughout the text) while also wanting to create content, this has enabled her to post these pictures however, we have recently had a discussion against this as by doing this, it is spoiling the surprise element of a new era in which she is trying to create for her new EP which is currently not at the stage to be promoted. 

There are a few weaknesses that may possibly occur during this process, but with the right planning and prevention ideas, our action plan can still successfully thrive.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that Diaz is a versatile artist with a strong sound and look that shows out that versatility towards audiences. She has the capability to reach multiple markets within the music industry due to the range of sounds she produces in her songs. Her sound references accurately describe her influences and showcasing her love for different music. The plan in which we have curated is one that strives on enhancing Diaz’s potential and creating an atmosphere for her where she can create constantly. Acknowledging where weaknesses can be is a big step in trying to avoid them and seeing ways that if these things do happen, there are ways around them therefore, I am not worried about what is to come within this process. Overall, within the next year, we will be focusing on putting this plan into action and moulding a successful career for Diaz.   

Bibliography

1) Arbona-Ruiz, M. (2018) Mon Laferte: After a stellar year, a directorial debut, NPR. Available at:https://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/2018/02/27/588087392/mon-laferte-after-a-stellar-year-a-directorial-debut (Accessed: 07 January 2025).

2) Café Tacvba (2019) Café Tacvba – Eres (MTV Unplugged), Youtube. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlA9o1rw-rY (Accessed: 07 January 2025).

3) Puma Blue (2018) Puma Blue – Lust (Official Video), Youtube. Available at: https://youtu.be/QgEQTglE1Jw?si=EG7OG2p-AgK5uzER (Accessed: 07 January 2025).