Episode 1

In this first episode of Parasocial Paradigm, Sam talks about the basics of parasocial relationships! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to the first episode of Parasocial Paradigm, the podcast
where we explore how parasocial relationships shape our realities and
our perceptions of the world around us. I'm your host,
Sam Erickson. I assume that if you clicked on this
podcast to listen, you know what parasocial relationships are, or

(00:46):
if at least heard of the term before, or maybe
you just clicked on this podcast for fun and you
have no idea what parasocial relationships are and you're hoping
to learn. In that case, thank you, welcome, and let's
dive right in. So, a parasocial relationship is a theoretical
communication term that is defined as a one sided relationship,

(01:08):
but that person on the receiving end is completely unaware
of the other's existence or intentions. Most of the time,
parasocial relationships involve a celebrity, a famous musician, a famous athlete,
a movie star, et cetera. So people you wouldn't be
interacting with on a daily basis unless you live in
New York or Los Angeles in one of the big

(01:30):
cities that are involved in the film and entertainment and
music industry. Anyway, it could be self disclosure of the
media figure on social media, or an interview that they
do for a movie or a new music that's coming out,

(01:51):
or you know, it could just be like through a
behind the scenes look that they give on social media,
like on Instagram or you know whatever, as our YouTube
sometimes they do like behind the scenes videos. It's all
about that, and it creates this environment where the fans
feel like they really know the media figure, regardless of

(02:13):
if they're a movie star or musician or sports figure
or whatever. In this episode, I want to look specifically
at parasocial relationships with musicians. What I'm really interested in
is how these musicians consciously build points of connection with
their fan base to establish the groundwork for these parasocial
relationships to occur. With that said, let's get into the episode.

(02:36):
Music is personal, emotional, and in many cases, speaks directly
to our life experiences. For many of us, music is
a way to process emotions, to connect with others, and
even define parts of who we are. But what happens
when the connection goes beyond appreciating music for the art
it is in itself. What happens when we start to

(02:57):
feel like we know the artists behind the music, even
if we've never met them in real life. To start,
let's think about how musicians intentionally foster these connections. Have
you ever noticed how artists share their personal stories during interviews,
through their lyrics, or on social media, or through the
screen in the movies or TV shows. They can post

(03:19):
behind the scenes moments, interact with fans online, responding to
their comments, and create this sense of accessibility where fans
are getting this secret exclusive behind the scenes look like
a close personal friend would. These are all calculated decisions,
methods designed to make fans feel seen and valued by

(03:40):
the media figure, even though the interaction is really only
coming from the fans to the media figure. Take Taylor
Swift for example. Now, okay, I gotta say before I
go on, I am not coming at Taylor Swift. I'm
just saying she's really good at what she does. She's
good at making her bin and cultivating that. And she's

(04:04):
famous for leaving easter eggs for her fans to decode,
whether that's on social media or it's in her music
or music videos. And she's great, great at creating this
sense of exclusivity and insider access. I mean, fans feel
like they're part of her inner circle because she shares
her personal stories, her struggles, her triumphs, interacts with fans online,

(04:28):
and writes songs that feel like they're meant for the
single listener who is listening right then and there, and
it speaks to that person's experience because she writes about
these universal themes, and all of that is consciously thinking
about this concept of parasocial relationships, because all of those
things work together to develop a parasocial relationship and a

(04:51):
parasocial bond, and these strategies turn casual fans into deeply
invested followers, which allow for these parasocial relationships to form.
If we understand how these parasocial relationships with musicians and
other media figures influence us, it can change the way
we view and engage with music and with the artists themselves.

(05:14):
We're no longer just listening to a song. We're investing
in a story in a person. And while this can
be a positive experience, it can also blur boundaries. Listeners
might read into lyrics too much, judging the lyrics based
on what they think they know about the artist's life,
which creates drama. And I'm not saying like it's bad
drama or doesn't always have to be causing trouble, but

(05:37):
it does add another layer of complexity. And I'm going
back to Taylor Swift. I mean, she just has such
great examples, you know, over the course of her career,
and she's probably the most prominent example today in pop
culture of parasocial relationships. But her most recent album, The
Torture Poets Department had so many Easter egg lyrics that

(05:59):
fails were left speculating about after the album's release earlier well,
actually I could say last year at this point April
and twenty twenty four, I know people I knew were
speculating about this song and that song, like, well, I'll
give you some examples. So I heard that. You know,
Taylor Swift wrote her song so High School, which is

(06:22):
track twenty two on the album about Travis Kelcey, her boyfriend,
as well as the track fifteen on the album called
The Alchemy and the Alchemy I'm not gonna sing you
don't you don't want that, I promise you. But The
Alchemy specifically have lyrics that relate to football. So in
a way, the fans weren't making these outrageous claims. It

(06:44):
had something to back it up. I'm just gonna say
some of the lyrics. So when I touched down, call
the amateurs cut them from the team, so it's it's
foot football e. But later in the song, Swift seemingly
references Kelsey's twenty twenty four Super Bowl victory with the
Kansas City Chiefs, singing the greatest in the league, where's
the trophy? He just comes running over to me. You know,

(07:08):
I remember watching the Super Bowl in the after math
when they had the trophy presentation, and I remember seeing
that where Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift embraced, and it's, oh,
it was pretty you know, common knowledge that that's probably
where it came from. But it's kind of crazy that,
you know, fans made this like hyper fixation onto her

(07:31):
lyrics because they thought they knew all these intimate details
about her life and her romantic relationships, kind of trying
to fit these puzzle pieces of her lyrics into her
real life romance with Travis Kelcey. And this is the
prime example of what a parasocial relationship can do. It
makes fans feel like they have the authority to make

(07:53):
assumptions about the musician or a media figure's life and
reality when they actually the fans don't have a tangible,
real relationship with the musicians or a media figure, I
mean like a close friend would, or even an acquaintance. However,
there is something that it's undeniably real about a person

(08:14):
feeling seen or heard by their favorite musician through the
music or another interaction. And this validation of shared experience,
whether that's mental health struggles, loss or a breakup or
a loss of a loved one, or even just something
like standing in solidarity for a social movement or something.

(08:35):
Whatever it is, it's powerful. The message of I see you,
I understand you can be a lifeline for people who
might feel alone in their experiences. And this dynamic is
just emotional, it's psychological. Studies show that when we perceive
someone we admire, acknowledging something that's personal to us, even indirectly,

(08:56):
our brains light up with feelings of acceptance and belonging.
It's a form of social connection, even though it's one sided.
And I'm pretty fascinated by psychology, and I'll explore that
in a later episode. But isn't that isn't that crazy?
I mean, we live in a We live in an
era where social media has also amplified this effect. When

(09:18):
a celebrity likes a comment, replies to a fan, or
shares fan created content, that tiny action can feel monumental
to the person who's on the receiving end. The fan
who made that content or who left that comment, or
you know, poured their heart out over social media hoping
that the media figure. So let's use Swift as an example,

(09:41):
hoping that Taylor Swift would just respond, and for that
moment when they are recognized, that fan feels noticed and
it's no longer just a one sided relationship. There's this
glimmer of interaction, however brief or superficial it might be,
but it feels so real and so validating for that fan.

(10:02):
And what's interesting here is how this experience of being
seen can ripple out to other parts of a fan's life.
For some, it boosts their confidence, motivates them to pursue
a passion, or helps them to feel less alone in
the world. And we've seen the positives of parasocial relationships.
You know, they can help us find community and media

(10:23):
figures that we look up to as role models, and
these parasocial relationships can help us feel less alone in
what we're going through because they provide this safety net.
There is something powerful about parasocial relationships that explains why
we are motivated on a deeper level to do things

(10:43):
on a deeper level that most of us consciously don't
really think about. So in the next episode, we'll take
a look at how these media figures influencers, musicians, actors, etc.
Create this illusion of intimacy and what that does to
people to invest all their energy into said media figures.
Thanks for joining me for this first episode of The

(11:05):
Parisocial Paradigm. I'm Sam Erickson and I'll see you next week.