Who is more important - the audience or the artist?
Artists are emotionally attached to their works. There's also a place for ego.
On the well-received Forevatired debut album, Those Kids Next Door is a track titled, ‘MAGIC.’ On the 28-second track, a voice presumably belonging to one of the 11-man collective dismissively says, “You mean to tell me that I’ll be making shit and it all comes down to what people think? Nah nigga…”
His voice was plastered with copious doses of irritation and his tone was pitched for a soliloquy good enough to produce rhetorical questions. His thoughts once again reveal an eternal duel between ideals, art and conscience. The creative thinks that the audience doesn’t matter, but the audience doesn’t really care unless it feels attacked.
Why do artists feel that way?
Well, it’s not just artists. Creatives in general are very defensive and protective of their work. That’s why, for better or worse, they like staying in control of their own narrative. Endorsement of one’s own creative output comes from the excitement that one generates from creating it.
Protectionism of art is usually a subconscious result of what a creative feels he expended on creating that art - in finances, energy and effort. Creatives are also very cerebral people - it takes incredible self-awareness before they learn to accept criticism; either constructive or bad. It’s why Jay Z only reads two reviews of his own albums.
It’s why artists continue to attack critics and why food critics will probably die from Ogun if they become commonplace. It’s why an artist might retweet a great review of their album and never touch a bad review.
In April 2019, Lizzo’s infamously tweeted that, “PEOPLE WHO ‘REVIEW’ ALBUMS AND DONT MAKE MUSIC THEMSELVES SHOULD BE UNEMPLOYED.” That tweet was directed at Pitchfork’s unsavory review of her album, Cuz I Love You.
In response, Hershal Pandya wrote about tension between The Source and rappers in the 90’s for DJBooththat, “Considering how much of hip-hop’s rise occurred specifically because of the absence of these gatekeepers, it’s not overwhelmingly surprising rappers have pushed back vehemently against the ceding of this sort of power to an outside force.
“From the moment The Source began to gain cultural prominence, many prominent rappers—everyone from KRS-One to Ice Cube—sought to discredit it, even, on occasion, taking this beef to wax. Unkut published a great breakdown of the contentious relationship between rappers and The Source in 2013.”
Should artists feel this way?
To be honest, criticism of creative output will never be fair. But artists need to understand that energy and effort expended in creating exciting art for the audience - by the creator’s judgement - isn’t a shoo-in for acceptance by that audience. Once the art goes out, the art stops being in control of its creator and exists at the mercy of an audience.
Some pieces of art receive universal acclaim, but even those ones have their critics because nothing is perfect.
As much as artists create music to make money, some artists will argue that they only make music fundamentally as a means of expression, so that people in similar mind states can live vicariously through that music. While the latter is persuasive, you still create it for certain people and not all of them will like it. You should accept that you don’t create art for yourself.
And yes, it comes down to what people think because you are just one person, or one unit. That means your opinion is subject to what people think of your art. You might say you don’t care, but boo, you do.
Multiple research has shown that because creators are also human beings, the defiance in the expression, ‘I don’t care what people think about my art…’ is usually a function of fear of bad reviews/reception. Some researchers have even linked it to the brain’s way of protecting a creator from being hurt by negative reviews.
It then becomes imperative to ask…
Is the audience more important than the creative/artist?
The answer is yes.
In 2019, Motolani Alake wrote an article for Pulse Nigeria in the wake of Peruzzi’s assault on influencer, Pamilerin.
A section of the piece reads, “When it comes to art, there is a process. The artist creates the art, and the audience consumes.
“But you see, the artist is always at the mercy of the audience and so is his art. The audience doesn't need the artist, the artist needs the audience. Thus, he's always at the mercy of the audience.
“The audience is why Peruzzi has a job. If he wasn't creating, the audience wouldn't know him. The audience is forever there while artists come and go. You can't replace the audience, but you can replace artists.
“The artist creates for the audience, his livelihood depends on their reaction to his art. The audience are tastemakers. Whatever they say goes.
“Sometimes, some members of the audience beg the artist to release content, but that's just a few sentimental ones. In the grand scheme, these fans consume other artists and there is never really a void for them.
“The artist needs to understand that once the artist creates, his work is done. The audience doesn't owe him anything other than consuming his art and giving their reaction. Bad reaction is part of the risk of creating.
“Creating is risk-taking that will either work or won't work…. Art exists and thrives over some form of emotional reaction and fails by same. If the audience accepts your art, good for you. If they don't accept it and they criticize and dissect you, chest your L and deal with it.
“How hard you worked on the project doesn't always equate quality or good reception.”
It really is that simple. Selah.
#ListenAfricaExtra Here are additional bits of content from the past week;
You can read Motolani Alake’s thoughts on why he rejects the tag, ‘Hip-Hop Head’ HERE.
Fu’ad Lawal, Editor-In-Chief at Zikoko starts a newsletter, Vistanium.
Veteran Culture Journalist, Ayomide Tayo launched the first installment of his newsletter, Naija Times. You can also get his podcast, 234 Essential HERE.
Veteran Journalist and Tech professional, Chiagoziem Onyekwena also manages GetDotAfrica, a weekly newsletter on happenings in African Tech.
Davido Adeleke, Head of Communication at Eko Atlantic started Communique, a newsletter.
Veteran Nigerian Journalist and Director of Marketing at OPay, Osagie Alonge is back with a new podcast titled, A Music In Time.
Here are the song on the Listen Africa! Playlist on Apple Music, YouTube Music, Audiomack, Deezer and Boomplay;
Mr Eazi ft King Promise - Baby I’m Jealous
Simmy ft Sino Msolo - Ngihamba Nawe
Mthunzi - Ngibambe La
Chike ft M.I Abaga - Forever
Somi ft Common - When Rivers Cry
Simmy ft Sun EL-Musician - Ubala
Ryan Omo - Belema
Oberz - Ezinne
Kizz Daniel - Padi
Zinoleesky - Ma Pariwo
Forevatired - STEW
Solve The Problem & 808x - TREAT$
POP BOYS & HVRRY - done did it (feat. PsychoYP)
KwesiSoul - Loose Lizzy
Miss Pru DJ - Price to Pay (feat. Malome Vector & Blaq Diamond)
Maya Amolo - Lush Green
Mpho Sebina - Loves Light
Ipeleng - A Need
DePartyAnimals and Chike - If You No Love Me (Refix)
Obed - Breathe
You can get the playlist on all five streaming platforms HERE.
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