Aahana Swrup
M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller, ‘Trap,’ revolves around a father-daughter duo who find themselves at a pop concert set up as an ambush for a deadly serial killer. Consequently, as Cooper’s teenage daughter, Riley, lives out the night of her dreams with floor tickets to pop sensation Lady Raven’s show, her father can’t help but endlessly keep an eye out for a possible escape out of the FBI-infested stadium. Naturally, since her concert becomes the central location of the titular trap, Lady Raven occupies a prominent role within the narrative.
However, her presence remains most intriguing when she’s in the background, fulfilling her role as a pop star, complete with a striking set list, choreography, and surprise guests. Therefore, given Lady Raven’s stage presence, artistry, and cultural impact within the film’s universe, one can’t help but debate whether or not this fearless musician has any origins in reality.
Lady Raven and the Multiple Pop-culture Inspirations Behind Her
While Lady Raven sports substantial popularity and influence in the world of ‘Trap,’ the pop star’s fame and career are confined to the film’s fictionalized narrative. M. Night Shyamalan, the writer and director of the project, fabricated Lady Raven’s character specifically for the sake of the film’s plot, rendering her a product of his and his collaborators’ imagination. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean the on-screen pop star holds no connections to reality. For one, the filmmaker and actress Saleka Shyamalan meticulously crafted a full-bodied musical context for the character. Moreover, Lady Raven’s genesis as a fictional character has many real-life inspirations behind it.
Initially, filmmaker Shyamalan was inspired to create ‘Trap’ through a real 1985 sting operation called Operation Flagship, wherein the authorities caught numerous fugitives through NFL tickets. However, the director wanted to mix things up for the film and set the snare at a pop concert. When discussing his film, he essentially pitched it as, “What if The Silence Of The Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” Therefore, Taylor Swift, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, emerged as an intrinsic inspiration behind Lady Raven.
In a conversation with US Magazine, Saleka Shyamalan, who embodies Lady Raven’s character, expanded upon the same and said, “I think Taylor Swift, in terms of her impact in society, was a really interesting factor. I think, in the world of Lady Raven, she’s not as big as Taylor Swift, but I think the idea of how connected her fans feel to her and how going to her concert is such a big moment in their lives and how they feel in the room surrounded by other girls that are loving her songs.”
Yet, even though the real-life musician inspired the on-screen pop star’s cultural impact, it remains evident that Swift isn’t the only—or the most notable inspiration—behind Lady Raven’s artistry. Musically, the character’s discography and style are more informed by the influences of real-life musicians like Rosalía, Rihanna, and Adele—all of whom Actress Shyamalan has cited as other inspirations.
Likewise, other musicians, such as Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo, can be noted as potential influences on Lady Raven’s musical branding. Furthermore, her ‘Dreamer Girl’ concert ritual, where she brings a fan from the stage to perform one song, seems reminiscent of Justin Bieber’s ‘One Less Lonely Girl’ performance. Therefore, though fictionalized, Lady Raven’s artistry remains inspired by the real-life music and careers of multiple contemporary pop stars.
Saleka Shyamalan: The Real Artist Behind Lady Raven’s Music
Despite being a fictional character connected to ‘Trap,’ Lady Raven has a sizeable discography with fourteen original songs, including features from other similarly fictitious artists. Likewise, she can also be found on social media platforms as a promotion tactic for the film. Even though the character herself still remains fictitious, it brings a certain realism to her music. In real life, Saleka Shyamalan produced and recorded all of Lady Raven’s music for the film’s original soundtrack, to be released as her second studio album.
Therefore, the actress behind the character also becomes the real-life musician behind the on-screen pop star. When it came to creating Lady Raven’s sound, Saleka Shyamalan farmed her own life and artistry for inspiration to further authenticate her music. Speaking about the same in conversation with Consequence, she said, “For every single project I do, I try to create a specific sonic experience and a genre that is overarching for the whole thing. For this particular one—it’s what I want to be making, but it was also designed for the setting of the (Lady Raven’s concert) show and the things that are going on.
Shyamalan continued, “There’s dark tonalities, and the lyrical concepts are dark and fold into the storyline and hint at thematic things that are going on — it’s all very influenced by the film—it was curated for that.” Thus, Lady Raven’s on-screen persona comes into being as an amalgamation of different inspirations backed by Saleka Shyamalan’s music. Nonetheless, the pop star herself doesn’t exist in real life.
Read More: Trap Ending, Explained: Who Sets Cooper Up?
