New Zealand singer Kelsy Karter started her career with a trick that fooled the world

Last year, Kelsy Karter gained 15 minutes of fame with a $ 300 publicity stunt. But more things happened in her life when she got Harry Styles’ face tattooed on her cheek. It was a time of trauma and despair for the Kiwi singer. Glenn McConnell reporting.

It was the beginning of 2019 and Kelsy Karter’s face was everywhere.

The previously little-known Kiwi singer, who had moved to Los Angeles, USA in hopes of reaching Hollywood stardom, was making headlines around the world. His face was filling the tabloid pages like the New York Post and was the topic of conversation at the BBC studios in London, but she only gave one interview.

It was a strange time. That interview was with a radio station in his hometown of Auckland, speaking with Jono Pryor, Ben Boyce and Sharyn Casey on The Edge afternoons.

It was about his face, because they had been led to believe that Karter had recently got a giant, poorly crafted and rather ugly tattoo of former One Direction star Harry Styles, which he had put on his cheek. But he hadn’t, not that he told the radio broadcasters.

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The tattoo was fake. It was nothing more than a publicity stunt. By the time he spoke to radio hosts in Auckland, the ink had already washed off.

Yes, the reveal that a publicity-seeking singer had faked an attention-grabbing tattoo probably shouldn’t have been a surprise. But the publicity stunt had gone global. It worked.

The fake tattoo was to promote a single by Karter, whose real name is Kelsy Eckstein, titled Harry.

At the time, Karter’s other music videos had struggled to attract more than 100,000 views on YouTube. The video of Harry got more than 410,000 views in just four days.

Since then, it has become his most popular single, and sits comfortably on top of his Apple Music and Spotify accounts. On YouTube, it has more than 1.7 million views.

The stunt was, apparently, a great success. However, it would be more than a year later that Karter would return to the advertising game to talk about the release of his debut album. A 12-song rock album, which Karter says chronicles one of the most difficult moments of his life, was released in early October.

Appeared in the Rolling Stone and in Dull toneBut otherwise conversations about the launch have been pretty muted. The gap between the attention a fake tattoo received and an actual album release couldn’t be much greater.

Of the 12 tracks, some have definite graphics potential. Love me or hate me is an obvious contender, with a clean and playable radio time of 3 16 minutes, he jumped to second place in his most popular. Other clues, like Stick to their guns, shows Karter’s immense skill as a vocalist.

Even Harry it’s a hit in itself, no publicity stunts, right? He expertly blends pop and rock, creating a song that is almost impossible not to like.

This album and the single Harry, were written in 2018 as Karter grappled with chaos, death and drama in Los Angeles. When he looks back at that moment, his voice trembles slightly. It still brings resentments to the fore, but the song, Harry, it was meant to be escapism.

“It was written, sandwiched between many of the darker songs on this album. I wrote that song, Harry, because I didn’t want to cry anymore.

“I was so sick of writing about my pain that I just wanted to write something fun. Even though Harry It was not a dark and depressing song for me. I remember the day we wrote it, it made me, it took me out of my misery that day and it is a very positive feeling, “he says.

Those hard times were the culmination of death, a breakup gone wrong, and pressing financial troubles.

Harry began to flip that.

The song, as the tattoo suggests, is about the pop star.

Karter explains what has become quite a complex relationship with Styles: “I am – well, I was – very sincere in my adoration for Harry Styles. His fans tended to accept that, because they thought ‘who is this singer who loves Harry too?’ A domino effect occurred, where many of my [listeners] It came from his fan base. “

And so she wrote the song, hoping to give her shared fans something to enjoy. It was meant to be fun for them to connect.

But many fans didn’t see it that way at all, she says.

When Karter posted to reveal what appeared to be a giant tattoo of Styles on his face, fans responded against it. It started to get media attention, but Karter and his team turned down almost every request from the media. That didn’t stop the tabloids from picking it up, with live stories on the UK mirror, Daily mail and almost everywhere.

Publishers like Mirror They didn’t like the tattoo, posting a story based on their photos under the caption: “Kelsy Karter reveals a really embarrassing reason behind THAT Harry Styles face tattoo.”

The calls kept coming. Reporters wanted to know about the tattoo, as did Styles fans.

Karter found himself on the receiving end of thousands of abusive, angry, and annoying messages on social media. She says “stan culture,” a digital phenomenon of obsessive fanatics on the edge, took over.

“Stan culture is such an important thing. So when this crazy girl … is on the news and all with a tattoo of her god, Harry Styles, they just think, ‘she’s crazy, we have to protect Harry.’

Karter and his team decided to do just one interview about the tattoo, with The Edge. And she was determined not to lie, per se, during the interview. She says the fear of “lying” to the public kept her up all night before the interview, and instead she practiced avoiding the question of whether the tattoo was real.

But is there really a difference between failing to tell the truth and living up to a lie, compared to actually lying?

Casey asked, in the interview, about getting the tattoo. Karter replied, “So, yes. I mean, that’s what I do, I’m a singer, I’m from New Zealand. I’m just here making music, making history, doing rock’n roll. “

Casey asked how it felt to get the tattoo and she replied, “Well like I said, I’ve gotten tattoos before.”

Not exactly a shining example of honesty.

Despite the attacks from Styles’ fans, and her reputation as that “crazy” who faked a tattoo, Karter does not regret the trick.

“I can’t take down something that was essentially my pitch. We all have our own story, our own journey, and no pun intended … but it was cheeky. “

She says she believed in her bachelor Harryand wanted to make sure it was heard. If that meant fooling the world, good.

And whose idea was it? Well, she says it was actually the result of a boardroom decision. Although the tattoo art cost only $ 300, it came from a concerted publicity effort.

“It was early 2019 and one of my managers took me to the office. They were all there. There was a guy on my team at the time named Myles, and he basically told me the idea. And I was like, ‘I’m depressed.’ I was completely willing to play a joke on the world, but I didn’t think it would work. I was wrong, ”he remembers.

That was his introduction to a whirlwind of social media and pop culture craze. His stardom rose quickly, but it didn’t last.

“For two days, I was just this meme. I was this tabloid story and then the song came out and the light started to shine on the song, the video, and the art behind it. That’s when it all paid off, ”says Karter.

As for the current album, you can’t do the same trick twice. Its success depends solely on whether people like to hear it or not.