With streaming services like Soundcloud, Youtube, and Tidal, getting your music out there and listened to is easier than it's ever been before. But it's like Sydney Deane told Billy Hoyle, "There's a difference man. Just because you're listening to him doesn't mean you're hearing him." The hardest part about making and sharing music nowadays is getting people to really hear what the music is about.
When it comes to creating something like a song, many routes can be chosen. The possibilities are just about endless when it comes to picking a genre. When it comes down to it, my thought would be to pick the genre that my voice sounds the best when paired with, as well as finding the genre that I most closely identify with. A friend of mine has chosen Hip-Hop as his path.
Understanding this, I already have a bit of an idea of what he's going for. The last few times we've talked, it's been a bit of idea bouncing back and forth, just kind of brainstorming. We spoke about exactly what topics he'd like to cover in his music, and he told me he was aiming for a sort of suburban theme, similar to what Odd Future was known for. I asked if he wanted to go really in-depth with his lyrics, or keep it simple and easier to consume for listeners. That's when he spoke of just wanting to make music, and it made me think. My friend's goal is to make something real, that sounds good, and that a lot of people will like, but the problem with the last of those three, is the first of those three.
When it comes to real music, with a real message, and true emotions, that sort of thing can be either hit or miss. With Beyonce's "Lemonade" it was obviously a hit for the fans, but with Kid Cudi's "Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven", the same acclaim wasn't really there. Why? Both were just as real as the other. Raw emotions coupled with melodies and chorus. These are things that avid music listeners and art enthusiasts claim to love. Why is one praised while another is shamed?
I find most of it to be simply because they're uncomfortable hearing a sound they weren't expecting. If I'm right about that, a lot of people missed out on a beautiful album by Kid Cudi simply because they thought they knew what was coming and didn't like being proven wrong, and not giving the album a chance to show them a new, different form of expression, and that's their loss. So what is my friend to do, after seeing something like that unfold?
My advice to him was to figure out his vision, and what he wanted to create. To make it as real as he wanted to, and to hope that the world enjoyed hearing his art, as much as he enjoyed making it for them. My only hope is that they don't just hear it, but that they do like Sydney did with Jimi Hendrix, and "hear it".
