Member Since: 9/25/2011
Posts: 12,630
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How 2016 changed Kim Kardashian Forever
An interesting read. I tried to shorten the article.
Quote:
Try to think about what Kim Kardashian was doing at the beginning of 2016. It's kind of hard to imagine exactly what, right? But it's easy to assume she was attending red carpets, posting on social media, and filming or promoting her family's reality TV show — business as usual. But, during the course of 2016, things changed for Kim Kardashian. In 2016, Kardashian proved — or, possibly, discovered along with the rest of us — that she doesn't need to be as overexposed as she once was in order to succeed. It's been a long road, but this year Kardashian showed once and for all that she's built to last.
Maybe this sounds obvious at first. After all, she's been around for a decade and hasn't gone anywhere, so she must have had staying power all along, right? But while Kardashian has been famous for a long time, she's been around constantly. Unlike an actor who might take a break from filming anything for a year or two, Kardashian was always there, which made it appear that she had to stay in the public eye at all times in order to stay relevant. A reality star has never reached the level of fame that Kardashian has, so she was treading unfamiliar waters; it makes sense that she would play it safe. But in 2016, she made clear that she'd be playing it safe no longer.
Perhaps second only to the popular argument that "she doesn't have any talent" as a critique of Kardashian is the idea that she needs to constantly make headlines in order to stay in business. The theory comes up whenever she posts a naked selfie or wears an outrageous outfit that's snapped by the paparazzi.
It's true that Kardashian's brand is herself, so her self needs to be out there, but not to the extent that many people, including fans, once thought — at least not anymore. Kardashian built her brand on making her fans feel like she's always available and making her lifestyle seem accessible, even if that's not actually the case. She put her entire life on camera starting with Keeping Up With the Kardashians in 2007 and continued on with spinoff shows, selfies, and Snapchats. This constant flow of content from Kardashian won her a lot of fans (KUWTK consistently pulls over 1 million viewers on new episodes) and followers (49 million on Twitter and 89 million on Instagram) and kept her relevant. But now, it's become clear that she's above the tactics she used in the past. And it's not only her massive amount of followers that proves that, but her money talks, too: Her mobile game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has earned well over $100 million in revenue, and according to Forbes, she made $51 million in 2016. It's hard — maybe even impossible — to slow down the kind of force that Kardashian clearly has.
Of course, when it comes to Kardashian's break, she hasn't been completely out of the spotlight since October, even if she hasn't posted online or attended any red carpets herself. Her few public outings that have been photographed have been widely covered by entertainment media, from getting ice cream with best friend Jonathan Cheban to attending a holiday party with family friends.
So, where does she go from here? What does 2017 look like? That's up to her (and, well, Kris Jenner, probably) to decide, but at this point, 10 years out from the premiere of her show and two weddings, two kids, and approximately a gazillion branded products later, she can do pretty much whatever she wants and still be popular, still be successful, and yes, still get over 1 million likes per Instagram if she ever decides to grace her fans with another LuMee-lit selfie.
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https://www.bustle.com/p/how-2016-ch...-forever-25318
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I miss her so much