Get Ready With Music, The Album - e.l.f. Cosmetics
e.l.f has flirted with the music industry before, but why stop at a one song? Like any makeup girlie like myself knows, playing music when you're getting ready is one of the joys of any makeup or skincare routine.
92% of women saying music boosts their mood while getting ready
77% of women say makeup and music give them a sense of belonging and community
75% of women see music and makeup as important tools for self-expression
62% of women say they use makeup and music to represent different aspects of their personalities
Knowing how important music is to our beauty routines, it made *too much sense* for a beauty brand to make an album to play while you’re getting ready. Especially one that stands for self-expression and living your boldest, best life. So we made an e.l.f.ing album to play when you’re preparing to slay your look and the day.
Get Ready With Music gets its name from the iconic #GRWM trend (in case you’ve been living off the grid (jealous tbh), that stands for “get ready with me” and it’s a genre of people filming their getting ready routines for their viewers to follow along.)
GRWM features 13 up-and-coming and absurdly talented artists. It’s a no skips compilation album that will make you feel pumped and ready to eyes, lips, face anything.
But don’t take my word for it … give GRWM a listen for yourself!
GRWM was the first of its kind: a beauty brand had never released an album before.
Our goal was to use e.l.f.'s enormous platform to amplify up-and-coming artists, and make an album that celebrates all forms of self expression. After all, accessibility and self expression are part of e.l.f.’s brand DNA. We gave each artist a brief: write a song in your signature style. Over the next year, we worked to find talented artists on the rise.
Then, we recorded tracks, shot music videos, and prepared our artists for the release.
This was big: the drop solidified e.l.f.'s foray beyond beauty and into the entertainment space. Throughout this process, we were more than just a brand; we were a record label and an entertainment company.
To launch, we dropped a single and a music video (that we shot in zero G I might add!), we scored a digital People Magazine cover and high-profile writeup, and did a homepage takeover on the e.l.f. website. We also built buzz with an iHeart Media interview with our girl Charlotte Rose Benjamin.
We also tapped e.l.f.’s influencer network to create GRWM videos to the album tracks. Because of course.
On a personal note, this project has a special place in my heart because it was my brain child. Getting ready with music on has always been a highlight of my day: it’s the perfect liminal space between your public and private personas, where you can simply be. So, there you have it. All the times I made myself late because I was having too much fun lip syncing all the parts to Les Miserables’ “One Day More” into my mascara brush finally paid off.
P.S. They say you know you’ve made it when the copycats start coming, so I am honestly flattered! I feel excited that I was able to hit on a human truth that resonated with so many. Not to mention, playing A&R with our artists and helping direct music videos was the ultimate “Look mom, I made it!” moment.