I've been regarded as different my entire life by more or less everyone, from teachers to peers, to employers, my parents, my brother, my friends. In most cases, for better or worst, I'm the odd one out. There have been people that I've met that have been able to operate on the same psychological wavelength as me sincerely, to understand and relate to me; there have been people who have been able to understand my perspective without relating to it directly. That being said, for the most part, I tend to confuse people with the way my mind works. I've been told by quite a few people that they've never met someone like me and that my brain is operating on its own level, and this has intimidated people, it has annoyed people, it has inspired awe, even (I'm not trying to be arrogant, it's just the truth). Usually when I relate to anyone, it's a very intense relation because of how inexplicably rare that is. I barely have any friends because I don't relate to anyone. Relationships are difficult to foster. I often feel alienated by default, and the alienation becomes apparent to everyone involved, very quickly.
I think something that separates me from the general population here is that my musical inspirations and my perspective on what my music should be has existed in my psyche long before I even knew about electronic music. I've noticed that a lot of the music here is an emulation or a refinement of preexisting concepts. People want that Zedd sound, they want the Diplo sound, etc. I understand that inclination and am victim to it to a certain extent. That being said, I don't want to emulate any of the artists I'm inspired by, even remotely. I've had musical ideas in my head for as long as I can remember, and I view my inspirations more so as stepping stones as opposed to ideals that I want to match.
As an artist, personally, I place extreme importance on authenticity and progression. An artist takes the torch from the artist they are inspired by, and hands it off to the next artist, and when you receive that torch, that spark of inspiration, and you can't simply stand there, stagnant, emulating. You have to push forward if you want to change things. I don't want to be my inspirations. I want to completely outdo them to such an extent that they are rendered obsolete. I think it's actually easier to "make it" as an experimental artist that pushes boundaries in the underground world. The mainstream is exclusive and overtly monetary and a product of hyper stagnation and consumerism, based purely on luck, being in the right place at the right time. What separates Skrillex from anyone here? There are producers in sharecube who easily outdo any of those mainstream dance artists but it doesn't matter because the mainstream doesn't care about artistry, rather about branding and marketability. I'm not trying to turn this into an anti mainstream EDM post, I just don't know why any of you strive to be the next Zedd when you could push literal boundaries and actually change electronic music and be a catalyst that it can evolve through. I think that's something that separates me from a lot of people here. The best thing you can tell me when you hear my music is that you've never heard anything like it.
Another thing I think that separates me is the way I view the place of the artist in society. I'm not trying to offend anyone, and I understand the appeal and the enjoyment that comes from EDM and I actually enjoy mainstream, generic EM for what it is, but for me personally, if you aren't using your platform as an artist to incite political or cultural change, you are doing a disservice to humanity. I don't want to be one of those people who cites Ayn Rand and I'm totally not a fan of hers, but she talked about how every role in society is important and vital for civilization to thrive as an ecosystem. When you look at art in that context, one can argue that the role of an artist is to inspire and to incite cultural and political change. Art has probably changed and influenced culture more than any single thing. The only thing I think that rivals art in terms of cultural influence is religion.
I think that art that exists solely to be consumed and enjoyed on a superficial level is rather pointless. We are all very privileged to have these opportunities. There are people who are getting blown up everyday, children who go hungry, people who have no rights, people living in warzones where severe mental illness is just the normality. I honestly don't know how someone can even BE an artist without addressing what is going on the world, whether literally or existentially. I think something that separates me is my belief that if you have an audience, you HAVE to be saying something. It can't be art for art's sake. It NEEDS to be a platform for some underlying message. Art NEEDS to push boundaries -- political boundaries, cultural boundaries, emotional boundaries, and the boundaries of art in of itself. If you have an audience, you are extremely privileged and it is your obligation as a person in a position of privilege to make things easier for people who aren't in that position, or at the very least provide some level of dialogue.
I guess that perspective makes me 'different', although I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said millions of times. I guess my ultimate point is that none of us are really different. We are all hoping to carry that torch. I guess what makes you different is what you do with that torch when the time comes.
I don't think it's necessarily about striving to push boundaries, although that is a good mindset to have, rather the predisposition to do something that pushes these boundaries.
Oa sonic level... if you want to be different, you have to experiment. People who have come up with crazy unique sounds that blew up and started artistic movements achieved that by ignoring normality. That's why Van Gogh said that the paved road is easy, but no flowers bloom there. I think that the definition of artist is a subjective one, but to me, if you aren't going off the beaten path, it's not really artistic expression, rather half-baked emulations, which there isn't anything inherently wrong with, it's just rather useless to society as a whole. I guess my views and my approach to music and my hyper conceptual production style is what makes me different.
I'm such a pretentious asshole lol
