It started simply enough a few years ago. Some musician friends got together one night every week or so to write some songs, or at least sketch out some song ideas. Pooling resources and using each others’ feedback as sounding boards, the song snippets began to gel and some of these ideas eventually became complete songs.
More importantly perhaps was that these musicians began to develop an efficient songwriting workflow together, and in process drawing closer and tighter as friends.
The thing is, none of the songs were consistent in styling. In fact, they were pretty much all over the map stylistically, owing to the diversity of each of the contributors. The lack of a focused stylistic direction has traditionally been a guarantee that aspiring musicians would never be successful. The thought process was that music consumers in the past have wanted to know a group’s style of music, some familiarity that they could sink their teeth into, at least in some fashion.
This gave birth to the “let’s chase the hottest thing” movement that has been so ubiquitous in all entertainment fields for ages. The point that most aspiring musicians consistently seem to miss is that by the time they become aware of what’s hot, the “Next Big Thing” is already waiting in the wings. Thus, these wannabe’s end up no closer to the current hot style than the last entertainment “hit” cycle. Or worse. Truly successful musicians are more often than not twenty year overnight successes.
We’ve seen it countless times in the music industry. An artist is blessed with a fantastic amount of talent and sometimes true originality. But they, in their search for greatness, kowtow to what’s popular today, and frequently end up at best becoming second-rate mimics of the major stars they want to surpass. At worst they become cynical and bitter.
Trouble is, that ground is already well-trodden, so the up-and-comer has limited his scope right out of the chute. Recently a singer-songwriter started his bio by saying “I want to be Van Morrison.” How sad, because the world already has a Van Morrison, and this artist has automatically pigeonholed himself, decimating any chances of developing his own style in his own right. While it’s true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s also true that kind of flattery will get you nowhere.
See, the real problem is the focus. What most aspiring artists want, admittedly or not, is to be recognized by the masses. Instead, it is perhaps better come to the place to try not to focus one’s expectations on how far in the trek to success the song will deliver them career-wise, and to focus expectations on how closely one can answer what each individual song is asking for. The artist paints the landscape differently on each canvas.
Above all, the focus needs to be on one thing: the music. It should be catchy, memorable. It should be relatable to the listener. It should be substantive. It should be unique. Most importantly, it must be honest and complete. It should move the listener.
It does not have to necessarily be weird. Weird for weird’s sake only satisfies some of the requirements.
It’s simple…the success is in the song. A good song is forever.
What one finds is that the best way to bring forth a song’s maximum potential is to listen to it closely as it is forming, see what imagery it induces, and work toward bringing that vision into focus. In other words, ask the song what it wants. Be a servant to the song, not the other way around. It’s the only way to woo and cajole the Muses; after all, it’s a two-way street.
The real success stories from our superstar heroes, our most honored original artists, are where they did what they naturally felt, and the prevailing style du jour ultimately came around to them. They are the true originals.
Let the songs blaze the trail for you. At the outset of each journey you might only have a rough idea of what the final destination will be. In the process the songs will transport you to new landscapes you’ve never before seen. Some beauty, some spirituality, some tension and chaos, some angst, some whimsy and humor … the whole ball of wax.