The Biggest Threats To My New Song
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- Опубликовано: 11 янв 2024
- I'm dangerously excited by a new song idea. I know the evil twins (ambition and fatalism) are lurking around the corner. In this video, I try to explain why I fear them, and how I keep them at bay.
Listen to my music at:
jordanseal.bandcamp.com/
/ jordanseal
#songwriter #diy #recording #songwriting #newsong 
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I always liked the U2 lyric "It's no secret that ambition bites the nails of success". In part because it doesn't "LEAD to success", it leads to anxiety about success. It approaches success. But also shoot for a ten, you might hit a seven. Shoot for a seven, chances are you'll hit a five. Failure is built in. I remember it blew my mind - I don't know, fifteen maybe twenty years ago - Alice In Chains put out a boxed set including a bunch of super early pre-facelift stuff and you could hear they were doing a pretty poor Guns n' Roses impersonation. But in that failure you could also hear the seeds of what they would eventually become. OH - Failure is actually inherently part of it? ::brain explosion::
..or as someone said "You can measure someone's success by how often they fail.".. or as someone else said (Samuel Beckett? I don't know anything about him aside from the quote.) "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." ..so get busy striving for that next failure. :P
Absolutely agree, on every point. For me, at least, the key is to have enough ambition/ego to try, but not so much that I become paralyzed.
This also reminded me of why I think a good box set can be like a public service. I love when an artist releases their early material… the good, bad, and ugly. It busts the myth of the auteur, but boosts the reality of their hard work and perseverance.
I struggle with fatalism too. There's this passion and hunger to create... But it's never as pure as that (with me, if I'm honest). I wan't the music to be appreciated and to affect people other than myself... So it's not just therapy... But then when I realize how much content is already out there by far more talented artists, and how astronomically unlikely it is that more than 40 people will passively listen to the art that I spent so much time and energy on - I tend to talk myself out of doing anything at all. This is a flaw that I am fighting against. But you and your energy inspire me. Thanks!
Two thoughts that you might appreciate (as the same things go through my head on a weekly basis). One: Lately I've come to the conclusion that my life/brain is worse when I don't work on stuff. It's not drastic like "I lost my job, my cats died, and my car got totaled", It's subtle, barely noticable, but it does add up. I don't tend to think "today was a better day because I worked on stuff", but I do tend to think "It's been a better few months because I've been working on stuff".
Two: why "put it out there"? Jordan does it, so why shouldn't I? He's just a dude, he's not special. But he inspires at least two random people on the internet. I'm just a dude, I'm not special.. I suppose I might inspire two random people on the internet. That's worth the couple minutes it takes to upload something.
Also - with the state of the arts/culture/the internet in 2024.. being "successful" seems like an awful way to live.
I really appreciate your comment, and I relate to every bit of it. I wish I had sage advice that could help you see a path through (or around). If I did, I would have given myself that advice a long time ago 😂 But I'm going to throw out some thoughts in case any of them help:
- Your songs can have observable effects on your life, even if they aren't reaching other people.
- Your songs can matter to people for reasons you might not expect.
- When your work ~does~ connect with someone, it may not affect you the way you expect. For example, I have pretty severe imposter syndrome about making music, and to my surprise, attention and positive feedback do little to help it. It turns out that I'm just a little bit sad and anxious 😂
I hope that's helpful... and if not, I'm sure there's someone out there with better advice. But either way, if you keep leaning toward your music, I'm confident you'll find a way to make it. Sometimes it just takes time. Good luck!
All of this resonates with me... especially the second point. I've always wanted to be part of a music "scene," but struggled to find one in the physical world. But after a lot of searching -- and just putting things out into the ether -- I feel like I've found some people who are like me. Their music may not be like mine, but there's still a shared experience. There are other people making music alone (or in small groups), with little commercial ambition and virtually no relationship to the mainstream. And we can find and support each other because of a shared experience.