Is “be consistent” really advice for creating?
Folks mean well when they give advice sometimes. You can tell. They don’t try to embarrass you. They are nice and supportive and may even buy your stuff they like. But they’re projecting on you saying things like “be consistent.” They think that should be a goal or a quality you need. If you’re like me, it sounds boring.
I consider myself on a journey. My goal is discovering things. It involves learning from whatever life throws at me. It would be awfully hoity-toity of me to think I could consistently make that a pretty song. Sometimes life ain’t pretty. It’s also rarely consistent. Folks wanting all my songs to sound the same aren’t looking for consistency, they’re looking for a radio station or a jukebox. That ain’t me.
Don’t let money eff’ you up.
Life isn’t consistent. People are not consistent. Some are interesting, some aren’t yet. But folks consistently talk about being consistent. I don’t understand it unless they’re talking about selling stuff. It makes sense if you’re a capitalist jerk.
When we pay for something, we expect it to hold up to certain standards. We want to justify our purchase. We want to brag about it to our buddies. We want to feel good about having paid for it. Understand that when you buy art, you are not investing in a company. You are not a shareholder. You don’t get a vote. You supported the celebration of being human. That’s it. Surprise! It’s entitlement that makes folks think they steer the ship. They do not realize they’re simply there to watch or listen for their enjoyment and fulfillment.
You be you, (I’ll Check it Out, Consistently).
I don’t want artists to be consistent. I am happy if they’re on a journey and they let me watch. I don’t require them to stay in one place to enjoy the stuff of theirs I like. I don’t want them to think about money or popularity. I don’t want them to churn out material that resembles the material they’re most popular for. I want to feel like whoever I listen to crafted this message out of their sweat and desire to shout it to the world. I want to hear freedom of expression. That is simply not consistent.
When we give what we consider helpful advice to artists or musicians and bring up consistency, we’re telling them we don’t like all their music. We only like some of it and they should make more like that. I don’t know why we have to play. That’s what we’re telling them.
I have come to enjoy life’s little inconsistencies. I’ve come to enjoy the same thing from my favorite music too. I try very hard to not project on musicians. I feel like they know what they like better than I do and they’re telling me about it when I hear them. It’s not an exchange. It’s a one way message. If I wanna’ talk back to them, I consistently grab a guitar.
I hope whoever prioritizes consistency realizes they’re marching to the beat of someone else’s drum. I play the drums, turns out. I don’t need them.
Take care, be inconsistent.
Back to home.
Good Link and a Quick Story:
For more on projection and the crazy things folks say to strangers they don’t know from Adam, I’d check this page out. Thanks!
Psychological Projection (+ Examples)
(Quick side note: folks will project anything. For a long time on social medias I didn’t show my face. This would often result in dudes thinking I was a woman. I got d*ck pics, I got advice, I got called “sassy.” It made me hate a lot of dudes. When I started showing my face, it dramatically cut back on the occurrences of this kind of harassment. My name is a “girl’s name” I was told the day folks saw my beard. Projection, among other things. Haha.)