Jake Williams
Equinox Staff
The Keene State College Student Activities Council has announced its choice for the annual fall concert, though inside S.A.C. members have known since summer.
Their pick is the pop-duo Karmin, led by members Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan according to the S.A.C. concert coordinator Colleen Butler.
The group who now hinges highly on their tendency as a pop outfit and having released a debut album called “Hello” that has reached 18 on the Billboard Charts, first became popular after a video of Heidemann rapping to the song “Look at Me Now” by Chris Brown was posted on YouTube.
This video that displays Heidemann rapping with an agility and cadence comparable to a male rapper like Twista, quickly racked up millions of views according to the groups website. Today, this video has over 73 million views.
KSC student Vanessa Richard said she first found out about Karmin on YouTube. She added she has seen her live several times in Boston—where the two are based out of after meeting during their time at the Berklee College of Music. Richard added, “She can take any rap song and do it better than any guy that I know.”
The seed for which artist S.A.C. will choose are sown in the spring. According to Butler, surveys are placed on the MyKSC homepage during this time about what performers students want to see for Spring Weekend.
After using this input to choose a spring performer, these opinions are recycled through a committee made up of interested S.A.C. members towards the end of the spring semester. According to Butler, this committee brainstorms ideas on what performers the school should bring based on the answers given during that time period.
Butler added that during this summer brainstorm session and planning period, they ask outside sources about their musical preferences. They also look into who may be gaining popularity at this time. According to Butler, the next step for S.A.C. is to contact an agent. This person acts as a middleman, facilitating information more easily about who may be available around the area. Butler said the decision regarding whom to bring for the fall concert is not as simple as choosing the performer most people want to see.
S.A.C. must deal with issues such as budgetary limitations and artist availability. “Sometimes it ends up being your last choice, where choices A, B, and C don’t work out because they’re already booked,” Butler said. “That’s the unfortunate part of it.”
According to Butler, the money spent for the fall concert is half of the organization’s budget, with Spring Weekend existing outside the main budget. Butler said one of the largest deciding factors for bringing Karmin was that S.A.C. has never invited a female performer for any of their shows.
“Obviously, it’s such a huge campus you can’t please everybody, so I want to get as many different genres as I possibly can on-campus so I can appease a different group,” Butler said.
“I think it’s cool there is a popular person coming here,” freshman Erin Beccia said. “I haven’t really heard much of her music,” freshman Joe Martino said, “Hopefully it will be good.” Martino added he would like to see an artist like Chiddy Bang back on campus, who performed during last year’s Spring Weekend.
In the future, Butler hopes to create a more in-depth survey to divulge student preferences, possibly beginning this spring. Going around to clubs and organizations and having them write down a list of performers is one idea she wants to implement.
Richard said that although Karmin may not be something students really want to see, they would enjoy the performance if they went.
The fall concert will take place on Sunday, Nov. 18 in the Mabel Brown Room with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will cost $10 for students.
Jake Williams can be contacted at
jwilliams@keene-equinox.com.
