I have taken a lot from the forum and i feel that I need to give back some. Today I want to talk about my opinion on creating music that is appealing to yourself over what is "hot" or what everyone else is listening to.
This seems like something obvious but as an artist I think one of the most important things is to always stay true to yourself. I see many people trying to copy others styles because that person is famous or had huge success and they want the same to happen for them. I do think it is okay to take concepts from others and try different things to expand on your experience but in the end you need to focus on what is appealing to you.
Although taking into consideration of ideas from others can be helpful, copying others is not going to help you grow as an artist. I believe you should be able to listen to you own music, even after production is finished and still enjoy it as much as you did when you were making it. Personally there are songs I've made over 2 years ago that I still listen to regularly and get the same effect as I did when I first made it. I have made the mistake though where I really liked someone else's sound and tried copying it. I ended up hating the song and I don't enjoy listening to it anymore.
I don't know about everyone else but personally when I am driving I take that time to listen to my songs. I do not like listening to the radio so I have all my songs on my phone and just plug it up when I'm in the car. This may be weird to some but my music is my favorite music to listen to. I feel this is how it should be as an artist. On a side note, something else I get from listening to my own music more is that I can listen to a song I made and think about things I could have done differently to make it better for the next time.
Basically what I am trying to say is to play to yourself. You will get more enjoyment out of making music and it will help you grow more as an artist. Again, I do believe it is okay to like sounds other people have made and try to incorporate some of their style in yours, but that's as far as it should go. In the end it is YOUR music.
On a side note I want to talk about feedback real quick. Although feedback is useful most of the time ( I don't think i've ever been steered wrong from this forum) be weary of some feedback. After all it is just someone else's opinion. Listen to your track with the feedback in mind and make sure it makes sense to you and you like it before you change it.
Again this might seem obvious to most but hopefully this can be useful for someone.
Cheers!
