From Liner Notes to Algorithms: A Multi-Generational Exploration of Identity

Last month, Merriam-Webster proclaimed “authentic” to be the word of the year. One reason being that—in the era of the internet, AI and deepfakes—the demand for genuinely authentic content is at an all-time high. Believing that something we care about is authentic (rather than performative) drives our own sense of individuality. It’s a pretty deep subject, when you think about it—both philosophical and psychological. Moreover, the tension between the technological and human aspects of this perennial human search for individuality, and the cultural ephemera we use to help us define that, has blurred our understanding of what we believe to be totally unique to us.

Search & Discovery, Then and Now

Growing up in the 1990s, music discovery was a personal quest. It meant studying every detail in a CD’s liner notes—the band members, producers, songwriters and collaborators. Which, if you loved that artist, led to constructing your own web of associations to build an entire world. For me, it was tracking down every single member of the Native Tongues collective, including every B-side, live recording and offshoot. This investigation created a feeling of intimacy with the artist, as if I were able to sit down with them in a private interview to discover the authentic source of their genius, and what made them so unique. Which, by association, made me unique.

The desire for individuality has remained a constant throughout the years, even as our methods of self-expression have evolved. In the 2000s, we began to curate our own virtual identities through social media profiles and playlists, but the underlying urge to showcase our uniqueness remained unchanged.

“Things felt a bit ‘exclusive’ in the 2000s, because [music] felt harder to find. Artists would [release music] under different aliases, the song would be vaguely named, and the only way you could share it is if you added it to your [MySpace] page or handed someone your iPod the next day,” says Parisse Dawkins, Sr. Creative Strategist.

Thanks to strong and active online communities, these networks became hotbeds for discovering something fresh outside of mainstream media. “I remember feeling really unique for using [MySpace and Last.fm] to find super low-key stuff that I liked rather than just watching MTV or listening to the radio,” says Alexis Castro, Creative Strategist.

Invading Our Sense of Individuality

In the 2000s, when hip-hop culture went mainstream, it was a bitter pill for me to swallow. Who were all of these impostors, encroaching on something I considered to be the very foundation of my hard-won and well-researched identity? Let’s just say I had some feelings.

The Era of Influence

The internet has made discovery around our interests very accessible. You might say that this “deconstruction of associations”—breaking down every connection to a subject in a hyper granular way—requires very little effort. Simply check the footnotes on any Wikipedia article for a deeper dive. What’s more, ChatGPT and other Open AI will even proffer an opinion on the subject. With the power of marketing, those associations have also become multifaceted and more numerous, making them feel difficult to invest a lot of ourselves into.

“When you don't have to work for it, it's easier to pick something up and drop it quickly, [especially] when you haven't invested time and energy,” says Tim Clarke, Group SVP of Story.

Longert has noticed a shift in cultural discovery from a more proactive stance to a more passive one. “Being online all the time makes us a bit lazy, which is why it's important to seek new inspiration out vs. having it served up. That's a shift in culture for the next generation. Have they ever had to seek anything out?”

The internet has allowed us to express our individuality in a way that was previously difficult or impossible. It has also helped to form meaningful connections and find shared experiences with others that we may not have otherwise had, which has positively impacted our ability to build a sense of self and community.

“Because of the internet, my taste is a bit more unique than it would have been in an analog world and it would have theoretically aligned more closely with friends around me (even though it still does) without the internet. Or radio and music charts, perhaps. That's actually a really cool thing to think about,” explains Hartland.

For Clarke, being receptive is key to building up a sense of identity. “When you see people sharing their deep passion for something and more and more people engaging [with it], it feels like you would have to be deliberately obstinate not to at least give it a try,” he says. “You just have to [have] the balance and confidence to remain open-minded without letting your own taste be overwhelmed by popular opinion.”

Of course, a well-curated or like-minded source can make all the difference. “[The internet] provides a massive amount of information around cultural tastes, allowing me to take deep dives and build both knowledge and identity in those tastes. For instance, I'm really into climate action. I'm able to become a sort of expert on it through content and media that I find online, and that impacts my feeling of uniqueness,” says Jesse Hicks, VP of Story at D1A.

Influence is also connected to the choices we make around what to consume. As Dawkins says, “Everyone's opinions are shared in comment sections or blogs or newsletters, and it's easy to be discouraged from liking something just because other people online aren't into it or are bashing it for some reason."