A while back,
I was approached by some guy after one of my gigs who wanted to give me some music career advice. Initially, I was excited about this idea. What could go wrong, right?
I’m sure you can see where this is going. About five minutes into the conversation, I could tell that it wasn’t going to go that well for me. This guy seemed hyper-focused on me becoming a huge pop star, and was convinced that all musicians should aspire to play big arenas.
I made it very clear to him that that was not the type of career that I wanted, and when he asked why, I told him that I just don’t feel like I would want that type of attention. I’m more interested in being on people’s radar on a smaller scale, and I want my personal life to remain my personal life, which is hard when you’re a huge pop star. His response to this was more or less a confused frown, and a couple of typed words on his computer.
As this meeting progressed, some things became evident to me. This guy had no clue who I was as a person or as a musician. He had a weird vendetta against teachers (“Don’t even go to college for music. Teachers don’t know what they’re talking about. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Write that down. Did you write that down?”). He was pretty anti-indie musician, too (“Indie artists feel stuck, no matter who they are”). And he seemed to think he was bestowing some pretty damned magical wisdom upon me (“It’s good that we’re talking now, when you’re just starting out in your career. I’ve been in the industry for a long time. I know everything.”)
If you know me, you’ll know that my response to all of this (mentally, at least) was, “Dude. I am not vibing with this.” He said that I needed to stop listening to Phoebe Bridgers and Ezra Furman. He said I needed to start listening to top 40 music. He looked down on every single educational musical experience I’d ever had.
Well. The thing about being a songwriter is that if someone gives you shitty, unhelpful advice, you can take it and turn it into a song. Which is what I did with my song “Incredibly Unfamous.” Incredibly Unfamous isn’t just a song, though; it’s essentially who I feel like I am: Someone who’s just trying to make it by being as creative and honest as I can. Someone who’s a little scared that I might work really hard my whole life but still never get noticed. Someone who’s strong in who I am and knows exactly what path I want to follow.
So thank you, random guy from the coffee shop. Not to give you too much credit or anything, but you did help me start developing my brand. Just not in the way you initially intended ;)
Listen to “Incredibly Unfamous” HERE.
