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13.07.12MusicWeek 27


heard about included [actors] Robert Pattinson and Aaron Johnson.” Grimshaw’s career took another big step


RIGHT


Critical acclaim: Debut single


Is This Love, which is followed by the album Misty Eye on August 20


towards longevity last week,when he signed a global publishing deal with BMGChrysalis - the home of BrunoMars, SteveMac, Frank Turner and Rumer. Grimshaw is well aware that a


good looking, ex-SiCo-linked entertainer striving for integrity might just raise some hipster ire – but he’s resolute in his opinion that, ultimately, if his inner circle are happy, he can always hold his head up high. “It probably will take a while to


win people over, but I’vemade something that I can take back tomy


friends,who are all hashtag-lads,” he says - employingTwitter speak which hints at why he’s clocked up 425,000 followers on the socialmedia site. “If the albumwas shit or if there was anything on there that was terrible they’d tellme.” As for Grimshaw’s PR champions, Jon Bills says


the cooler end of the press is beginning to fawn over the artist - with more to come. “Positioning is such a corporate term, but it


really has been important where Aiden is concerned,” says theMurray Chalmers exec. “Lorraine Long at Charm Factory has done an


incredible job with Aiden online – the first pieces to run his first single were Nylon andHannahHanra’s BEAT website.This spoke volumes for how Aiden is perceived. “The first big press feature was a


fashion shoot and cover of Notion magazine.We’re building fromthis and going withmore leftfield press features such as Rollacoaster and GQ Style.That’s not to say that Aiden won’t appear in the tabloids and the teen press too – it’s a broad campaign, but with some careful early footsteps.” It’s perhaps fortunate timing


Understanding how far Grimshaw has come


since those DanniiMinogue-impressing days, the Murray Chalmers PR team realise they have a job on their hands with the artist. The media group’s mission is to convince super-


cynical music press trendies that Grimshaw’s material can stand up; not easy against a backdrop which has recently seen fellow X Factor entrant Matt Cardle – also backed by ‘real musician’ schtick – quietly dropped by Columbia. MCPR’s firstmove was unorthodox: the firmsent


Grimshaw’s promo CDout for review with a big RCA logo on the front of it – and no other details. “The [X Factor legacy] was a concern, as the


media can often unfairly group all artists who have appeared on the show in the same category,” explainsMCPR’s Jon Bills. “When we heard Aiden’s music it was a hugely pleasant surprise, and we wanted the media to feel the same way. “The blank CD caused quite a stir among


critics, speculating who the artist was. It certainly had the desired effect. Some of the best guesses we


that just as Grimshaw’s image, output and ambitions are being refreshed, so too are that of his label, RCA.The highly-respected new steward at the Sony imprint,Colin Barlow, recently toldMusicWeek he is plotting to shatter RCA UK’s reputation


BELOW Media exposure: Aiden’s covershoot for Notion magazine was the first of a carefully- tailored media campaign


RIGHT Champers at the ready: BMG Chrysalis have signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Grimshaw (L-R, Josh Smith, Lee & Thompson; Aiden Grimshaw; Tom Overbury, BMG Chrysalis; Ben Evans, Modest! Management)


for one-dimensional pop and grow a roster across genres.Grimshaw is a key part of that plan – and very thankful for it. “When you’re on the X Factor Sony have the


option to sign you,” he recalls. “I went on the X Factor 2010 tour and we were looking to draw a little bit of interest. But I knew where I didn’t want to be.”We presume he means Syco. “Now Colin’s taken over RCA, they’ve signed


loads of amazing bands and really coolmusic.They kind of said, ‘Go away and do your thing.’ I’ve been growing up and getting something together that is actually worth writing about – rather than doing versions ofMadWorld over and over again.” The rapid maturation of Grimshaw from pointy- fringed poppet to behooded brooder hasn’t been coldly calculated by smart media planners. A patient RCA refused to rush his post-X


Factor launch, allowing the 20-year-old two years of personal evolution out of the spotlight – during which time he became a lot less innocent, and a lotmore discerning. Remember when you were in your late


teens, unconfidently teetering on the edge of adulthood? Ever do anything that even two years later you found embarrassing? Exactly. “It feels like a world ago when I


went on X Factor aged 18,” explains Grimshaw. “I’ve done so much fucked-up shit since then. Being on that show is definitely a memory – but right


now it feels like a pretty bizarre one.” COLIN BARLOW TEAM GRIMSHAW’S FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES


COLIN BARLOW’S REPUTATION as the new head of RCA will depend to some degree – as it does for any label head honcho within Sony –


on how he handles the X Factor contestants that come his way. Barlow has a sure-fire talent in


Rebecca Ferguson – who is currently wooing the USmarket. But Aiden Grimshaw finished ninth on the show two years ago and was widely regarded as just “thatMadWorld kid”.Why does Barlow have such faith in the youngster? “I saw Aiden on X Factor and hoped


he’d go out really quickly so I could sign himback when I was at Universal,” admits the exec. “He didn’t fit. Sony didn’t let himgo, but they didn’t know what to do with him.When I agreed for himto come to RCA, Imet himand he was really a lost, sort of tortured soul. “Then I looked at his lyrics and they


were brilliant. I gave hima chunk of money and put himwith Jazz Rogers. I said to them: ‘Just go and take a risk. Mad themaddest record you canmake.’ “He’s a proper artist. There’s nobody


that fits that whole area of Twilight and Donny Darko out there. His record is so amazing and so trippy and conceptual. Lyrically it’s just so dark andmoody. It


goes fromMoby to BowWow – it’s as bizarre as that. “He has come to us fromX-Factor and


that’s the reality of it.We’re not going to change his name or anything, we're just going to let the record do the talking. All the imagery and video concepts are from Aiden – we’re just going to let this journey go on, just let it seep out into people’s consciousness. “The kind of generation ofmusic we


are going through now is believability; people looking at lyrics and going ‘I can relate to that’. I think Aiden’s audience is starting to build that way; a bunch of people going, ‘God he’smiserable... and you know what? So amI.’”


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