Elliot James Reay - Music Marketing

Elliot James Reay is a 23 year old British singer-songwriter from Manchester. His music is highly influenced by 50s rock ‘n’ roll with modern day pop-tropes. He originally started his career by busking locally and across Melbourne in his teen years. He performed classics by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Billy Fury. He has an iconic running theme within his TikTok videos called the ‘kitchen-sink’ videos, where he casually belts out to iconic songs whilst making a coffee. These videos secured him around 58+ million combined views. 

In July, 2024, he released his debut single ‘I Think They Call This Love’ which hit Viral 50 in 27 countries, being streamed over 30 million times. His sounds are deeply inspired by 50s and 60s icons such as Elvis, Orbison, Fury, Everly Brothers, Sam Cooke etc. He uses authentic vintage production: tape machines, period drum kits, live instruments and minimal digital editing. 

Following his debut, he signed with Interscope / EMI Records to release his debut EP ‘All This To Say I Love You’. He embarked on a sold-out headline tour in July 2025 following the release of this EP. 

Text 1, Who Knew Dancing Was A Sin Music Video 

This music video is authentically representing the 50s pop genre with a hint of modern pop. The outfits and hairstyles displayed in this music video are clearly influenced by 50s fashion and trends. It includes 50s iconography as well as just having a vintage vibe overall. 

It showcases performance (when he is dancing and lipsyncing) as well as narrative, visual storytelling when paired with the lyrics of the song. The video is fun and upbeat, despite half of it being an argument between Elliot and what appears to be an angry girlfriend. The mise-en-scene of old-fashioned furniture and vinyls are all signifiers of the 50s and are features commonly used to glorify it. The dances are also commonly used dance moves from the 50s which also shows us again how much he loves the 50s and clearly has knowledge on trends from that era. 

The repeated showcasing of the colour red paired with the song title ‘Who Knew Dancing Was A Sin’ creates a feel of anger (which the girlfriend is showing) as well as a hint of evil (the word ‘sin’ in the song title). There is also a little bit of a grain on top of the video which is common across 50s videos considering the camera equipment was less clear and guaranteed to have a grain on top of it. 

Text 2, Elliot James Reay’s Website 

This page is fully 50s style with the vintage radio holding the menu within it. It is creative an innovative, this is rare for modern day artist websites. Possibly because not many artists are being nostalgic of the 50s with their music. Sabrina Carpenter is and her website is completely different style wise, so this shows how much he is appreciating the 50s across all of his platforms. He is paying a lot of respect to the time and bringing it back with everything he does. The home page is fun and colourful, never-seen-before. 

It also includes images on the side of vinyls which are a signifier of the 50s, which also have his logo on. There is a consistent appreciation for the 50s across his work. 

The font and colours all give off 50s vibes and since that is a big part of his artist persona, it is important there is a 50s feel across all of his platforms. 

When you press an option from the menu bar, it doesn’t take you to a new page, instead, it just shows you what you pressed on top of the home page. So, in the background you can still see a dimly lit radio. Most websites just take you to a new page dedicated to what you pressed. I think this choice is very convenient as if you miss click one of the options, you are still on the same page and can just go back without having to refresh and go back. It is also really easy just to swipe through the options in front of you, and smarter since making a whole page for around 5 options of muusic videos/ tour dates would be unnecessary. This also makes the website more organised, as everything stays on that one page rather than spread across a range of different pages.

Website can be accessed by clicking this

-Chelsea Horton