Motivational speaker and frequent @SpotlightFirst contributor, Tonte Bo Douglas shares some good advice and tips. This is to all the music artists out there!
The Dream
It seems like every day, someone new becomes inspired to pick up a microphone and wants to start rapping and singing, with the eventual goal to be famous or well respected within your craft, a goal which is realized for many people.
These days it’s easy to be inspired by musicians that you see out there that are raising the bar and standards in the culture and being successful while doing so – musically, business wise etc. Many strive to follow in the footsteps of these people, however many aim for this at the expense of a lack of originality on their part. The result of this is that we get many artists who do similar music, have similar styles and generally are just the same as each other. And that is very annoying to see.
We Can See That Originality Wins In The Long Term
It’s easy to see that the artists who have tried their best to add something original to the game have had the most success than their peers and have had longer careers while doing so, because that originality came from a place of authenticity and being themselves – thus which allowed them to connect to their audience in a deeper fashion and allowed them to reinvent themselves while still being true to their Brand. When you look at the Jay Zs, Eminems, even here in the UK – the Dizzee Rascals, the Kanos, the Wileys etc all added something new and original to the game and lo and behold, they’re still doing it now to a high standard and still popular and relevant among their fans and the public.
Branding is just simply making yourself and your quality stand out from the rest – if you can do that in a crowded field such as music, that’s half the battle there. The next half is making consistently great music.
What Does Originality Mean?
Now, when I say adding something original it doesn’t mean jumping out the window and doing something crazy – it simply means, just be yourself and make music that you and the people around you and that you want to attract can identify with – your stories, your ideas, your style. I’m not a musician myself but if I was, I would try my utmost best to not sound like any other artist around me because I would be trying my best to stand out amongst them. I still hear similar cadences, flows in many different songs from different artists which I always found funny, but whatever.
How many artists in America do you hear doing the Migos flow? Too many. It’s so easy to tell who is trying their best to add something different. No surprise that you can actually tell them apart when they’re rapping.
What Career Are You Trying To Have?
This all stems down to what career you’re trying to have. Doing the same kinds of songs and being like everyone else is cool, you might get some hits out it which is great but will it make you stand out? Will it make people want to tell their friends about you as a new artist? Will it make people want to earmark you as a potential star for the foreseeable future? I’m not too sure if it will.
Add something original to the game and you will ALWAYS stand out from the people doing what you do. Its as simple as that.
Words by @TonteBoDouglas
For more be sure to check http://www.tontebo.com
