The5 / Sony / Clean & Clear #SeetheRealMe hosted an Iftar in Dubai over June to talk about their latest involvement in the established ‘See The Real Me’ campaign.
It features a mass request by The5 to ‘crowd source’ lyrics for their new song of the same title [#SeeTheRealMe] to support Clean & Clear’s new campaign.
The Arab world comprises of twenty two countries and in the case of this Arab boy band pop sensation ‘The5’, their members are from four of those.
If you do not know them already, it’s time to get familiar:
Introducing (not in order of picture below) Said and Mohamed both from Algeria, Ahmed from Egypt, Adil from Morocco, and Kazem from Lebanon. The group is ‘officially’ territorially based in Beirut, and signed on Sony Music Middle East.
‘See the Real Me’ is a campaign that the Clean & Clear brand established some years previous as a result of market research which legitimately discovered:
Globally, 3 out of 4 girls say they want to be seen, but are afraid of being judged. This hinders their willingness to express themselves, which in turn affects their development. It is critical for girls to embrace their own identity, to be able to express themselves and find their own voices, in order to pursue their passions and dreams, and chart their own path in life and society.
Hence, an initiative was rolled out not only in America, but later to other territories where the brand has a presence.
In the Middle East, Clean & Clear hosts content on its site from girls in the Arab region speaking, albeit in English, in YouTube fashion about life issues. Giving their points of view in a series called ‘Real Face, Real Stories,’ they talk about who gives them courage and authenticity.
They rate their families; parents and siblings, famous stars in the media for the positive messages they give out to their fans, or school faculty for example, who have changed their lives. This sentiment mimics or feels like ‘Influencer’ blogging generation in a brand assisted way. In any case, it’s a positive PR move.
In 2014, the pop starlet Demi Lovato participated in the #SeetheRealMe campaign in the United States.
In the Middle East, last year fierce and sassy Arabic rapper ‘Malikah’ was called on to gift a winner with an in-studio session collaboration. And surely what’s been achieved with this empowering artist is a life changing experience with the aim to improve self confidence, creativity, and leadership.
Other leader influencers who participated last year include other courageous young women: It Girl and fashion blogger Nadya Hassan (UAE), medicine student and accomplished pianist Nadia Dandachi (Saudi Arabia), and brilliant makeup Artist and ground breaking comedienne, Aya Mostafa (Egypt).
#Write4the5
This year, The5 set up shop with the project under the hashtag #Write4the5 firstly with a call for social media fans dubbed ‘Fivers’ to submit lyrics for their song as a Phase 1, in May of this year.
After the fans with the noticeably clever way were selected, Phase 2 soon comes into play in the form of a Writer’s Camp for the successful contributors.
The camp will be hosted in the UAE in July.
Finally, Phase 3 of this mechanic culminates with the launch of the track in August. After that, all going to plan, the single will become a pop radio and media presence. If nothing else, it will be a highlight of the band’s future tour dates.
Background on ‘The5’
The story is that this boy band was ‘discovered,’ or rather assembled, in 2015 sessions of the ‘Arab X Factor’ TV program, which is hosted each year in Arabic language only and broadcast out to the twenty two territories.
Not unlike stories of other well-known pop bands of today from the original X Factor from the UK where individuals auditioned, and the likes of Simon Cowell saw instead the three, four, or five individuals rejigged together in his mind, and felt they would be better suited scooped up as a collective band, rather than as solos.
Well, this is what happened with The 5. This Arab pop collab who have admitted they are not opposed to singing in English and French in the future, also perform aspects of rapping, song writing, and guitar playing.
Not bad in terms of potential, as even though The5 are not keen to take on a title of The new ‘One Direction’, it has to be noted that the British band has now amassed over 125 million GBP Stirling and counting as a result of turning up for an audition.
In reality they have a lot to look forward to.
Stay tuned for the results of the next ‘See The Real Me’ creation later this summer on B-Change.me
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