Daft Punk, Snoop Lion and Artists Who Changed Their Styles

25 April 2013

Rihanna

Rihanna wasn’t always the hyper sexual siren she is today, as when she first came on the scene, she was still very much in the Caribbean dance halls. That wouldn’t last for long though, as soon she was snatched up and re-packaged as a ballad spewing quasi-Beyoncé.

It was only when Rihanna started teaming up with Jay-Z and released her third album that we got to see the artist that would not only rise to the top of the pop world, but become the single biggest player in it. Finally she felt like she'd been let of the chain and allowed to add a bristling sexuality to her music that gave real unique identity, something that she'd struggled with before.

Skrillex

He may have gotten famous causing dubstep nightmares, but Skrillex didn’t always only have hair on one side of his head. Before he dove head first into the world of EDM though, Sonny Moore was the lead singer of rock band From first To Last, before leaving them to go and pursue a solo career, still the world of rock.

Moore wasn’t without his fans either, as he was featured in Alternative Press’ annual ‘100 Bands You Need To Know’ issue and toured alongside established bands like All Time Low. Gradually, you could see his electronic influences coming through, with his EP as Sonny Moore ‘Gypsyhook’ showing the grass roots of what would become Skrillex.

Katy Perry

She might now be known as one of the biggest names in bubblegum pop, but back when Katy Perry was Katy Hudson, she was much more into singing about God than the Sapphic delights of a playful kiss.

After kicking off her singing career singing in the churches of Nashville, it would only seem logical that she’d pick up far more from the worlds of country and gospel than she ever would from pop. From there she signed with Christian label Red Hill, she released her self-titled debut at the tender age of 15.

Years later though, she would emerge as the larger than life Katy Perry, finally grabbing hold of the world of pop after a couple of failed attempts to get her career going in LA and being dropped from two major labels with the smash hits ‘I Kissed A Girl’ and ‘Hot N Cold’. From there, the only way’s been up and Katy Hudson hasn’t been heard of since.

Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church hasn’t just changed once, but she’s currently on her third form as a recording artist. We’ve all seen the story of how she began in the UK, just a young girl going on an ITV talent show

Tired of just singing classical, Charlotte changed tack completely, trying to turn herself into a full blown mainstream pop artist. Ditching the demure outfits and going as racy as she dared, the moved worked for a short time, with her album ‘Tissues and Issues’ getting into the top five of the UK charts and two top ten singles coming off it.

That wasn't the only time that Church would shift genres, as after a brief transition to TV presenter, she returned as a more mature, ballad based singer, before now once again coming back as a modern day re-incarnation of Kate Bush, high notes and wild hair included.

Miley Cyrus

While we've discussed on here the future of Miley Cyrus before, the transition she's made so far musically has been positively enormous.

The artist who burst onto the world as Hannah Montana was the surveyor of so much sunshiny country-pop music that she made Taylor Swift positively look like Bob Dylan. When she reached her rebellious teens though, she slowly started showing that she wasn't going to be towing the company line for too much longer.

One wild hair cut and a whole bunch of musical exploration later, it's clear that Miley's doing something rather different than she's ever done before. Who would ever have thought that the girl who sung about wearing cowboy boots in LA would ever be teaming up with Tyler The Creator, Snoop Lion and making Pharrell Williams gush about their work together? We can’t wait to see what’s gotten him so excited.