Pop stars are close to us. In their songs, their pictures, their stories on Instagram. What we are looking for is an authentic impression. Real feelings on real faces. But what happens when they cover their face with a mask? Permanently, as a second face. The phenomenon can be found in the mainstream as well as in the underground. The mask does not break with the ideal of authenticity. Rather, depending on how it is staged, it refers to the most diverse discourses, can appear cool or grotesque, become a logo or create anonymity. The essay uses mainly two examples (Sido, Slipknot) to show how the mask constructs the persona of pop stars - and thus reveals structures of pop music. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.

Auteur

Sebastian Berlich, born in 1991, is doing his doctorate in the Collaborative Research Centre "Transformations of the Popular" at the University of Siegen. He studied cultural poetics, art history and cultural studies in Münster and Saarbrücken. Texts on forms of seriality in Black Mirror, explosions in The Bridge On The River Kwai, and the mythical West Berlin of Kool Savas and Sido are available as part of anthologies.