For many of us as artists there is often a feeling of competition that lurks beneath the surface of our calm collected exterior. It’s not even necessarily a specific fight against another competitor or artist, it’s more the general ongoing feeling that there exists, “out there,” more people doing what we do, and the evil little questions under it all that cause us to doubt if we are as valuable, or if our skills measure up, to the rest of our community.
This is a completely incorrect and destructive perspective!
I think we all need the constant reminder that first of all, no two people are identical, and therefore, your art is one of a kind. But more importantly, I think the bigger call to action is for us to embrace collaboration like never before. To exit our often too isolated ruts and connect with other creatives as a means to make something new, something better, something that could not have happened without a mixture of minds.
In songwriting, the co-write is fairly standard. When I had first entered into the world of songwriting, it felt super awkward. I was confused at how I was supposed to step into a room with a complete stranger and open up my creative process and make a song happen. But then I slowly began to see what would happen. My process would suddenly spark a new perspective in my co-writer’s mind. This would then spur on new ideas, then suddenly, as I am energized by the ideas being placed in front of my own ears, I was fueled to think of new chords, or new melodies that I would typically never shoot for. In the end, a new song was born, and it was typically a song that I know full well I could never have created on my own.
So should we never work alone as artists? Of course we should. In fact, much of the time it is vital that we spend that focused time in our individual processes honing our craft and growing our own perspective as artists. The warning here, or the encouragement rather, is simply to be confident in the fact that your art is unique, and then to open the door to collaboration and working with others in the creative community as an avenue to new art and perspective.
This is very much the heartbeat of AVVAY. To bring our community together like never before.
We have exciting news headed your way soon. Thank you all for your amazing support as we continue this journey together.
