Music Times' editor Carolyn Menyes summed up the situation with one of our favorite headlines of the year this morning: "Your Home Can Smell Like Luke Bryan's New Album Kill The Lights Thanks to Yankee Candle." Although we kind of imagine the Georgian country star to smell somewhat like a farmhand, the company decided that a scent containing hints of vanilla and bourbon would better sum up the essence of country's biggest male performer. Fair enough. Unfortunately you can only get the version of the jar featuring his smiling face by entering a contest. Bummer.
The process got us thinking about what odd celebrities have scents. Unfortunately, the best go to actors—such as "Bruce Willis" by Bruce Willis and the unfortunately-titled "Cumming" by Alan Cumming—but there are a few curious music choices as well. Here are five of the most (and occasionally, least) surprising options from your favorite performers.
Sean Combs
Frankly, it's not surprising at all that Sean "Diddy" Combs is involved in perfumes, as he's involved in everything from clothing to vodka (and he's better as a businessman than as a rapper). What's more surprising is his persistence. He first broke into the game with Estée Lauder with his "Unforgivable" line of fragrances (not named after the viral video series...we're pretty sure) but then the company opted not to resign. Not one to be discouraged, Combs jumped back into perfumes this year with "3am," although he would really prefer that you don't look at it as a "celebrity" fragrance, as that takes away from the legitimacy of his products as legitimate fashion brand. "I take my hat off to all celebrities who have a fragrance to give people a part of their lifestyle. But for me, it was important to take a break from celebrity persona fragrances, because we were kind of jumbled up with them," he told WWD.com. "We're a true fashion label and this is something we take very seriously. So to make people miss it, that was my plan." Which is not to say he doesn't appear in its commercials.
Avril Lavigne
In case it wasn't obvious that Avril Lavigne was trying to change the way the public perceived her by way of the music on her The Best Damn Thing ("Girlfriend," anyone?), the pop star broke from the safety-pin mold even more during 2009 by launching her first fragrance through Procter & Gamble. Both the first and second installments in the collection—"Black Star" and "Forbidden Rose," respectively—packed titles that implied darkness and beauty, kind of the goth rock ideal (of course, nothing about Lavigne says "goth rock"). We laugh but the "Black Star" product won an award for Best Women's Scent at the 2010 Cosmetic Executive Women awards.
Prince
Prince has never struck us as the ideal performer to base a fragrance around, but perhaps that's just the Lovesexy album cover stuck in our heads. He's always been an innovator in moving albums however, including the idea to package concert tickets with record-purchase deals. That was a success, but his plan to release a scent, "3121," with his album of the same name during 2006 was dead in the water...supposedly because the performer wanted nothing to do with his own brainchild. Revelations Cosmetics sued the performer during 2008, alleging that he had done nothing he had promised to promote the fragrance, losing the company million in the process. Revelations suggested that Prince had agreed to do store promotions, give out free samples at his concerts and even make a stop on the Oprah Winfrey Show to promote the product. He refused to do any, and a judge ultimately made him pay $4 million to Revelation because of it.
Tim McGraw
We imagine Tim McGraw and Faith Hill getting ready for bed in the following theoretical conversation, the male country star somewhat tuning out his wife while he reads The Economist.
FAITH: Honey, you know I've been making a lot of money off of that fragrance line with my name on it...
TIM: Hmm hmm...
FAITH: I was thinking that maybe you should pursue something along the same lines for men.
TIM: Hmm hmm...
FAITH: I know it might seem strange for a male country musician, but all the ladies would buy it for their guys if your name was on it. And I figured we should act before Keith Urban tries it first, or Luke Bryan gets a candle or something.
TIM: Hmm hmm...
FAITH: Great. I'll call my people at Coty tomorrow.
And that's probably how McGraw ended up with four fragrances via Coty Inc., the same brand that markets the perfumes with his wife's name on the bottle.
Jesse McCartney
One Direction has a few fragrances in its name, and why shouldn't it? The band is one of the highest-earning touring acts in the world, with a diehard fan base that would buy anything with the group's name on it. OneD is hardly the first boy group to try to exploit its popularity with a scent however. Perhaps you remember Jesse McCartney, the former soap star who reached his peak of popularity during the early '00s with Dream Street? He released his own fragrance during 2011. Wait, what? Yeah, we guess he capitalized on his band's popularity about nine years too late. In his defense, McCartney has done rather well for himself by returning to the acting world. In not-defense of himself, his scent is titled "Wanted by Jesse." We understand what it's TRYING to say, but it comes across as if he's the only one who wants his own fragrance.
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