Yes. But not all adversity and not all art. Many artists I’ve met make things very hard and complicated about the adversity they face on the daily in socials they log in to, in close-mindedness, in getting heard, in simple concentration. Their adversity is a lifestyle choice.
me playing djembe drum in black and white, headless shot..I play djembe while processing things
You see, when I was on socials, I noticed a kind of personality that drank coffee and smoked pot all day and posted about being anxious and paranoid. Like many musicians, these folks are on the verge of a revelation.
When I wrote songs as a kid, I was attempting to get attention. Songwriting is horrible for getting attention, on the average. What it’s great at now that I’m older is me giving myself attention. It’s an inside job. I was facing a lot of adversity until I realized that.
I was facing a lot of adversity on social media too. I often wanted to talk about stuff no one wants to talk about. I shared our music. Wasn’t terribly popular. Felt it. The reason? Because I was trying to be popular with songs I wrote. They were for me, how’s anyone going to feel they were for them?
I also talked about a lot of topics. Social media does not reward this at all. Not only are there robot accounts, but people who act like robots to get popular being only interested in one thing. FYI, relationships or friendships don’t typically work this way. Variety is the spice of life. Before algorithms, I was called a “Renaissance Man” for being interested in a lot of things. Now what used to be a quality is a setback.
It’s the algorithm. Many folks don’t even perform for people, they play for a spot in the algorithm. I have found playing for numbers isn’t as fun as playing for brains. I’m not certain who has a brain or not on socials.
There’s also time. We only have so much of it. I’ve realized the time I invested in social media since quitting and it’s nice to get it back.
There’s folks out there who even use AI for lyrics:
-(post from a “songwriter” on Mastodon a few months ago.)
This poor dude didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Nothing to do here. Don’t even know where to start.
Adversity will happen. How you choose to face it is up to you. It’s been my experience that when fighting adversity, it is a good time to look inward for solutions, not at a screen.
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