This document discusses the style and persona of Karen O, the lead singer of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It describes how Karen O has a unique style with short black hair, bright makeup, colorful clothes, and ripped tights that fans have emulated. It also discusses how Karen O's eccentric on-stage persona performing with random props influences fans, and how her style has remained consistent even during her pregnancy. The document analyzes Karen O's star persona through the lens of Richard Dyer's theory that star personas are exaggerated versions of celebrities' actual personalities.

4. The actualYYY’s

5. Style Parodies
Karen O

6. Here we can see how the fans have interpreted
the bands style in order to ‘parody’ them.
Particularly Karen O’s style; the short black hair,
bright makeup across the eyes, red lipstick, multi-
coloured clashing garish clothes and ripped tights.
These all are unique selling points of theYeahYeah
Yeahs which people have consumed and
recognise as the characteristics of the group.
Without a star identity the band would be unable
to make a video like this as people wouldn’t be
sure how to imitate them. Its not just Karen O who
has been parodied but on shots showing the rest
of the band we can see how they’re wearing black
and dark colours which is what the two males in
the band normally wear.
Karen O

7. Karen O
Many people refer to the band asYYY, short forYeahYeahYeahs therefore this is also been shown in the video as something
people recognise.The three people in the video making the ‘Y’Y’Y’s’ with their fingers the way people would read to be
swearing shows how the band does have a rebellious reputation therefore the fans aren’t afraid of acting this way in fear
they wouldn’t see it ‘appropriate’.
Below shows live performances and a picture made by fans which shows theYYY as a trademark.

8. TheYYY’s

9. Within the video a lot of the fans act in ways we would
expect the band to act. Performing random acts, like how in
the shot of Karen she has a remote in her mouth and Brian
(drummer) is pretending to play the drums and Nick
(guitarist) is playing a ‘toy’ guitar.This shows how the actions
of the band influence how people behave when mimicking
them.The fans also use interesting camera styles and close
ups, similar to how Karen performs in some of her videos.
Screen capture from the
YYY’s Date WithThe Night
video showing close-up.

10. TheYeahYeahYeahs have their own website which is set
out similar to a blog, it includes links to their Facebook,
Instagram andTwitter showing how the band reaches out
to a mass audience and is current on their way of updating
their fans. In the corner of their screen they have their
familiar logo of the bands name.The website allows us to
view all their albums and music and buy it if the audience
wishes to.
They also have their own merchandise
for people to purchase.The items
include the logo of theYeahYeahYeahs
and images which relate to their
different albums. Showing how they’re
a consumable band because people
will invest in getting clothing with their
brand. This also conforms to Dyer’s
theory that the institution creates star
images. It is more than likely that the
band will not have much to do with the
merchandise and it will be more
controlled by the institution who are
selling the brand of theYeahYeah
Yeahs in order to gain profit.

11. In her choice of clothing there was no hiding her pregnancy, she wore a
black, short, fitted dress and leather jacket. For a pregnant woman a lot
of people would choose to wear a longer dress or jeans. This shows how
although pregnant she is still keeping to her character of unique clothing
as people would expect. She also performed on the night which a lot of
people wouldn’t expect from someone who was pregnant perhaps
showing how dedicated and passionate she is about her career.
The only publicity of the birth of the baby is her post to Instagram which
she posted. Again, showing how she chooses not to be in the limelight
like other celebrities who have magazines publish articles on them and
their baby soon after birth.This could also effect the way people see her
star persona as she is known as a boisterous, crazy performer who didn’t
seem to have many limits but now people will see her as a mother and
the future will tell how this changes her construction as a star.

12. In conclusion we can see how the character (particularly of Karen O) is presented to the audience and how they consume
her and the unique selling points of the band. Richard Dyer argues the characters created by stars are ‘fake’ or
exaggerations of what they believe the audience want. Outside of stardom and the press, they’re normal people.
Therefore Dyer would most likely believe the strong character of Karen O is an exaggeration of her actual personality in
order to be more consumable by people. I think Karen’s personality is true to herself however Dyer would argue even in
press and interviews stars will present their ‘character’ therefore only out of the limelight do people see their real
character (which the audience never get to see).When performing on stage live and in music videos her style is still her
own but I think celebrity status and performers have the power to wear what they want therefore some of her wacky
outfits she may not wear outside of performing but it is an amplification on her style.