Authenticity & Persona: Behind the Mask of Orville Peck
How do musicians stay authentic while using a persona? Is authenticity and persona contradictory? This paper argues that musicians can have a persona and still be authentic, with a specific focus on country star Orville Peck, who is known for his genuine personality while also wearing a mask. Some may ask how someone can cover themselves while also exposing themselves. This paper will cover who authenticity is really for, how the persona is a way for musicians to express themselves, and conclude with how musicians can have a persona yet still be authentic.
To specify some terms, what do authenticity and persona actually mean exactly? From Webster's dictionary, authenticity means: not false or imitation... or true to one's own personality, spirit, or character (Webster).1 On the other hand, persona means: a character assumed by an author in a written work... or an individual's social facade or front (Webster).2 This definition makes them sound the opposite with “true to one” and putting up a “front” but this paper will show that is not the case. There are several other definitions of what those two words mean but to avoid complications, this is the definition that is more known and accessible to everyone using the dictionary.
This paper will focus on musician Orville Peck. His birth name is Daniel Pitout, but he is known as his persona, Orville Peck who wears the mask and never shows his face. He is a country music star born in South Africa but grew up in Canada and then travelled to the United States. Before becoming Orville, he was a drummer in a Canadian grunge band and was involved with music at a young age. Orville has three studio albums, Pony, Bronco, and Stampede. His voice is a mix of Johnny Cash and Elvis, with a bluesy and alternative sound.
Shaina Twain discovered him which ultimately gave him his big break. Since then, his career has skyrocketed into collaborating with musicians like Willie Nelson, Elton John, Shaina herself and many more. Below, I will explain exactly what Orville's reasons were for becoming his persona instead of sticking with his given name and that that coincides with authenticity and persona.
1 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Definition of AUTHENTIC,” Merriam-webster.com, 2019, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authentic.
2 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Definition of PERSONA,” www.merriam-webster.com, 2019, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persona.
Who is Authenticity For?
Authenticity is equally important for the musicians and the audience. Allan Moore speaks on how musicians communicate their music in hopes of gaining the trust of their audience. If they succeed “in conveying the impression that his/her utterance is one of integrity, that it represents an attempt to communicate in an unmediated form with an audience.”3 Musicians have to prove they are authentic to gain trust. Is it trust of the audience or an illusion of their imagination and what the audience wants to be true? Fans want authenticity. They do not want a musician to fake who they truly are. That being said, just because they might be hiding behind a different name does not mean they are not authentic.
In a journal article by Keith Negus, he explains how musicians need to commit and feel comfortable in the image they portray, but also the audience needs to believe it for it to be genuine. Authenticity validates the musician's public identity in addition to “the other characteristics a star embodies such as girl-next-door, man-of-the-people...”4 People want someone they can relate to so they too do not feel like an outsider, though Orville has experienced that in the past too. In another article, Mary-Caitlyn Valentinsson discusses the same thing in how being an authentic musician means gaining credibility to be “ordinary” but also benefiting from the luxury of being a star.5 Orville's persona expresses his true self and how he is ordinary, but not in the classic Cowboy ordinary.
Moore shares a quote from Grossberg, “‘[the] ability to articulate private but common desires, feelings and experiences into a shared public language. It demands that the performer have a real relation to his or her audience.’”6 This quote fits well with Orville Peck as he is known to be a performer who connects greatly with his audience. For example, Orville Peck is a part of the LGBT+ community which is a minority group. That is a group people naturally trust because it is safe. If Orville is illuminating his “gay self” on stage, his audience will experience this fun energy he is giving off as it shows his authentic self. “‘I’ve been out since I was little... I was very lucky to grow up in a family environment where I was very protected and loved for whoever I was going to be.’”7 Orville explains that his openly being gay, shows that he is truly authentic. This benefits him and his expression through his music, in addition to his fans getting to relate if possible, but also feeling comfortable with a musician who is being real. Orville openly expresses his sexuality in his music, but one song that is more direct and features Willie Nelson is “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other.”
3 Allan Moore, “Authenticity as Authentication,” Popular Music 21, no. 2 (May 2002): 214.
4 Keith Negus, Producing Pop: Culture and Conflict in the Popular Music Industry (London; E. Arnold, 1992), 70.
5 Mary-Caitlyn Valentinsson. “Stance and the construction of authentic celebrity persona,” Language in Society 47, no. 5 (August 31, 2018): 715.
6 Moore, “Authenticity as Authentication,” 216.
7 Marc Malkin, “Masked Singer Orville Peck on Being Openly Gay in Country Music: ‘We’ve Always Been There,’” June 2, 2022, https://variety.com/2022/music/news/orville-peck-country-music-gay-lgbtq-1235283119/.
Persona Means More Expression
Persona equals more expression of one's true self as it gives musicians the chance to share their heart without fear of judgment. One article about Orville Peck reads, “his signature fringe mask included, allows Peck to ‘get away with being more authentic in my songwriting’ than he’d be without it. ‘It allows me to have both sincerity and the imagination at the same time, and I think that that is my favorite kind of art. It includes both those things, and I don’t think that either sort of minimizes the other. I think, actually, they help enrich each other.’”8 Peck vocalizes in a CBC interview how he used to struggle with people seeing him as a character but that was never the case. “‘This is actually the amalgamation of everything that is the dearest and nearest to me,’ he tells Power. ‘[It's] truly the sort of best version of how I can open up my chest and show people who I am.’”9 Moreover, Orville shares how there is no hiding with his persona. Being a playful, gay cowboy is who he is, he just adds to it by making up a name and covering his face.
Moore again explains how there is a challenge with authenticity only if there is a “counter to forces that are trying to screw it up, transform it, dominate it, mess with it...’”10 Gay cowboy does not necessarily fit in the box of the traditional south cowboy. That stereotype of the true cowboy was “dominating” Orville to the point he thought making a persona would be the best way for him to be authentic with his emotions, just not his name or face. He wanted to prove that being a gay cowboy would be hard to ignore. In the Theatre of Orville Peck article, the author explains that “Peck has committed to a cartoonish persona, turning his public life into an endless performance.”11 Though his look may be “cartoonish” his music is not. “Let Me Drown” is one of Orville’s songs expressing his mental health issues. Every song breaks a stereotype and through his persona, he can show his true self even behind a mask.
8 Taylor Henderson, “Beyond the Fringe: Orville Peck,” Out 31, no. 1 (August 2022): 46-65.
9 Vivian Rashotte, “Orville Peck on feeling like an outsider and finding his home in country music,” August 6, 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/arts/q/orville-peck-on-feeling-like-an-outsider-and-finding-his-home-in-country-music-1.728258 1.
10 Moore, “Authenticity as Authentication,” 213.
11 K. C. Hoard, “The Theatre of Orville Peck,” Maclean's 135, no. 6 (July 2022): 64-67.
Persona and Authenticity Combined
You can have a persona and still be authentic. In another journal article, Philip Auslander discusses the priorities of a musician performing. Sometimes their focus when articulating their persona is their physical performance of acting, moving, and entertaining the audience through their music. However, for other musicians their persona is just the sound of the music itself.12 Countering how persona and authenticity go hand and hand one quote says “Musical persona varies with the performance situation, and may reflect the definition of that situation more than the musicians' individual personalities.”13 However, if a musician is truly authentic, they will show that through their persona. As everyone’s emotions change from day to day, it is not fair to limit a musician with a persona if their performance is different on one day than another.
In addition, the author takes a quote from Goffman where he gives an example and says, “Singers [of popular songs] routinely trot out the most alarmingly emotional expression without the lengthy buildup that a stage play provides. Thirty seconds and there it is-instant affect. As a singer, an individual wears his heart in his throat: as an everyday interactant he is less likely to expose himself.”14 This quote shows how musicians can quickly change their emotions on stage just like any actor. But actors are paid to be able to change emotions that drastically because in some ways they are not as connected to the character. Orville did act as a child and was trained to quickly get into character. However, because Orville performs his original songs, he is showing his true emotions by transforming himself back into the time he wrote them and experiencing whatever it was firsthand. That does not mean it is any less authentic. It shows how talented of a performer he is to be able to hone in on his emotions.
One article states “Peck is finally in command of his character, filtering his real feelings through the man behind the mask.”15 He is able to combine this fun character he has created while intertwining his feelings. His audience can understand him fully even though he is behind a persona. “I don’t think of myself as anonymous at all... This is just an expression of who I am, deep in my heart.”16 Orville can show how persona and authenticity combine through his look and also through his genuine songs. His song “Curse of the Blackened Eye” describes an abusive relationship he was in, using “blackened eye” as a quick entry into his clever wordplay yet a sensitive moment in his life. “Kids” goes over his childhood and the innocence of his younger days. “Kalahari Down” is a tribute to his home in South Africa and the importance of how the country raised him. Though Orville may use a mask/persona to hide his face, he does not hide his heart through his authentic music.
12 Philip Auslander, “Musical Personae,” TDR/The Drama Review 50, no. 1 (March 2006): 103.
13 Auslander, “Musical Personae,” 110.
14 Auslander, “Musical Personae,” 111.
15 Hoard, “The Theatre of Orville Peck,” 64-67.
16 Hoard, “The Theatre of Orville Peck,” 64-67.
Conclusion
Through this paper, we discussed how authenticity is equally for both musicians and their audiences. Fans want a musician who is authentic as it helps them connect and relate to the musician. Moreover, the musician also wants to be authentic for their fans in addition to being honest and comfortable with expressing their emotions. Furthermore, this paper showed how a persona is extremely helpful for musicians to show more expression and honesty without much judgment.
Orville Peck was the main argument of this paper to show how a musician can have a persona while still being authentic. Orville mentioned the mask helps him be more imaginative and genuine in his work, but it is also just fun. Orville is able to express his sexuality while not being put into the stereotypical cowboy box. In addition, Orville’s persona helps him talk about the darkest parts of himself like depression and abusive relationships. If people start to learn this “character” of Orville Peck, they will see he is being authentic to the guy behind the mask, yet wanting to articulate it by the guy with the mask. Mask or no mask, they are the same stories.
This paper showed how authenticity and persona can combine and not contradict. Persona can actually emphasize authenticity and not challenge it. Though some may challenge actors and stage performers can turn on their emotions right away and get in character, this is not always the case for musicians who have a persona. Like Orville Peck, he turns on the emotions when it is time to perform, however, those are his songs he wrote from his heart and is reliving it on stage. Through endless examples and Orville Peck, this paper shows how musicians can stay authentic while using a persona.
Bibliography
Auslander, Philip. “Musical Personae.” TDR/The Drama Review 50, no. 1 (March 2006): 100–119. https://doi.org/10.1162/dram.2006.50.1.100.
Henderson, Taylor. “Beyond the Fringe: Orville Peck.” Out, August 2022. EBSCOHost. Hoard, K. C. “The Theatre of Orville Peck.” Maclean’s, July 2022.
Malkin, Marc. “Masked Singer Orville Peck on Being Openly Gay in Country Music: ‘We’ve
Always Been There.’” Variety, June 2, 2022.
https://variety.com/2022/music/news/orville-peck-country-music-gay-lgbtq-1235283119/. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. “Definition of AUTHENTIC.” www.merriam-webster.com, 2019.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authentic.
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persona.
Moore, Allan. “Authenticity as Authentication.” Popular Music 21, no. 2 (May 2002): 209–23.
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261143002002131.
Negus, Keith. Producing Pop: Culture and Conflict in the Popular Music Industry. E. Arnold;
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Peck, Orville. 2024. “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other.” Stampede. Los
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Peck, Orville. 2022. “Let Me Drown.” Bronco. New York, NY: Columbia Records.
Rashotte, Vivian. “Orville Peck on Feeling like an Outsider and Finding His Home in Country
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Valentinsson, Mary-Caitlyn. “Stance and the Construction of Authentic Celebrity Persona.” Language in Society 47, no. 5 (August 31, 2018): 715–40. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404518001100.
Originally submitted:
Eden Corner
MUS-322: Music in Culture
Micah van Dijk
November 26, 2024
Redeemer University
