e.l.f. turns its second album into a bigger entertainment play
Mirror Mix shows how e.l.f. is using rising artists and cross-platform distribution to deepen its entertainment strategy.
Getting ready has always had a soundtrack. e.l.f. Cosmetics is leaning into that ritual again, but this time the beauty brand is treating music less like campaign decoration and more like a piece of its entertainment business.
Its new album, Mirror Mix, brings together seven rising artists across pop, R&B, Latin and rock. The lineup includes Brasko, Flau'jae Johnson, Hello Sister, Joaquina, Mamii, NEZZA and Sadie Rose Van. It is the second original album from e.l.f. and another project built through e.l.f. Made, the company's entertainment arm.
For beauty audiences, the fit is easy to understand. Music already sits inside the getting-ready routine, where makeup, clothes and playlists become part of the same self-expression ritual. e.l.f. is trying to make the brand useful inside that cultural behavior instead of simply placing products beside it.
Table of contents
- Why e.l.f. is building around rising artists
- Mirror Mix is designed to travel across platforms
- A second album turns music into a repeatable brand format
- What marketers can learn from e.l.f.'s entertainment play
Why e.l.f. is building around rising artists
The interesting choice is not only that e.l.f. Cosmetics made an album. It is that the brand built the project around artists who are still expanding their audiences.
According to the official e.l.f. Beauty announcement, Mirror Mix includes original songs from seven performers working across different genres. Joaquina, a Latin Grammy-winning Venezuelan singer-songwriter and e.l.f. ambassador, contributes “Ya No Estoy.” WNBA player and recording artist Flau'jae Johnson appears with “What Can't I Do,” while NEZZA contributes “Bésame.”
That gives the album more of a discovery role than a conventional celebrity campaign. Fans are not being asked to watch a famous face endorse makeup. They are being invited to encounter artists through a brand-created music project.
Patrick O'Keefe, chief integrated marketing officer at e.l.f. Brands, said the company wanted the artists' voices to “speak for themselves” and let the music carry the brand story rather than impose creative constraints.
That approach gives e.l.f. a useful cultural position. The brand can show up as the platform enabling the work, rather than needing to dominate every track with product language.
Mirror Mix is designed to travel across platforms
The album is not living in one place. Tracks are available across Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, and they are also being added to e.l.f. UP!, the brand's Roblox experience.
e.l.f. has also partnered with Genius to bring the platform's Open Mic series to a live audience on Sept. 30, giving the seven artists another setting to perform and meet potential new fans.
That distribution matters because it turns one creative asset into several kinds of audience experience. Someone can discover a track while streaming, encounter the project through gaming, watch a performance, or see a social clip without needing to enter through a beauty ad.
For marketers, the lesson is less about being everywhere and more about giving the same idea a reason to exist in each place. Streaming supports listening. Genius supports performance and artist discovery. Roblox gives the songs a role inside an existing branded world.
A second album turns music into a repeatable brand format
The biggest difference between Mirror Mix and a novelty brand album is that e.l.f. has already done this once.
Its 2024 debut, Get Ready With Music, The Album, generated more than 500,000 Spotify streams and 10 million YouTube views, according to e.l.f. Beauty. That first project helped establish e.l.f. Made as a vehicle for entertainment work across music, sports and gaming.
Now the second album suggests the company sees music as a repeatable format, not just a single campaign idea.
That puts e.l.f. in the same broader conversation as brands that are building entertainment structures around themselves. Gap, for example, has been turning music and emerging talent into a longer-term brand language through its Fashiontainment platform.
The common thread is commitment. A brand gets more cultural permission when audiences can see a pattern in how it participates. One music video can feel like rented relevance. A sustained series of projects can start to feel like a recognizable part of the brand.
What marketers can learn from e.l.f.'s entertainment play
e.l.f.'s second album points to a shift from campaign-led entertainment to format-led entertainment.
First, the brand is building around a consumer ritual that already exists. People already connect music with getting ready, going out and expressing identity. e.l.f. does not need to manufacture that behavior.
Second, the company is giving emerging talent a visible role in the story. That creates a different relationship from a top-down celebrity endorsement because artist discovery becomes part of the audience experience.
Third, the project is designed to move. Music can live on streaming platforms, in a gaming world, on social media and in a live performance without becoming a different campaign every time.
The test is whether e.l.f. can keep making these entertainment projects feel worth seeking out even when no product launch is attached. Mirror Mix matters because it shows the brand is willing to try that more than once.
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