Don't Read The Comments
The album is out. Thank you to everyone who has listened and shared it. Especially if you've listened to it front to back, no interruptions. (My favourite way to consume music*.) I’m quite happy with how cohesive the record is as a whole. I won’t say too much about it, because I do find it a bit laborious to talk about music. As the maxim says, “talking about music, is like dancing about architecture.” I find that to be very true. Sometimes I’m asked to write a quote about my latest song and my visceral reaction is to think, “What’s there to be said? Just listen to the song. If you like it, great. If you don’t, it wasn’t for you. The music speaks for itself.” On the other hand, I get that it’s fun to discuss music too. (I did try to make a couple videos about specific production elements in the songs, which I did find fun btw).
Release day can be weirdly stressful for me... so lately i’ve been focussing on one thing: Don’t read the comments. Neal Brennan mentions this on his Blocks podcast, with the caveat that the positive ones can be as bad for you as the negative ones. For me, I feel that if I don’t acknowledge the nice comments, I’m not grateful. Which I am. I’m super grateful. But I will say there’s a slippery slope of getting addicted to the comments, and that can alter your perception of your work. Which I’m extremely protective of.
Let’s run through a scenario. If “current release” received “x amount of comments” and the next one receives considerably less, is that release of lesser quality? I don’t think so. But it sort of feels like it, in a fucked up way. But there’s so many factors that can affect that metric. Time of day, how you present it, someone’s mood for christ’s sake. It’s endless. It’s better to not think about outcomes entirely and focus on the process of creation (which is way easier said than done). There’s so much great music in the world that has affected me tremendously, but if you asked if I commented on a post about the song, 99 times out of 10 it’ll be a resounding “no." That doesn’t mean the music didn’t change my life. And I actually think that’s a beautiful thing. Someone’s song can change your life and they won’t even know it. How cool is that.
So if you’re an artist, just remember that if there isn’t x amount of comments, or likes, or insert metric; that doesn’t mean your art isn’t appreciated. And if you’re a fan that is leaving a nice comment and it gets no response, just know that all artists are SO appreciative of this! But sometimes in order to protect their process and keep creating, it’s best not to engage at all.
-felix
* my fav albums to listen to front to back, in no particular order. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Tame Impala - Currents
The Beatles - Abbey Road (side B hits every damn time)
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Radiohead - Kid A