Art Yes Art

My best friend I were talking about a later album of an artist we both love. She said she was slowly making her way through the album and mentioned that she knew I didn't care for it. And I really don't. Now, with this artist, there may come a point where I am just in the proper frame of mind and when I listen to that album, I may finally love it to pieces. For right now, though, the album and I are not close.

My friend said that she still respected the artist and respected the fact that this was the album she felt she needed to make. I agreed and said that it didn't change my love for her. It just wasn't to my taste at the moment. I knew it was what she wanted to do and I respected her for it.

A while later, I was reading some of the annotations on Grimes' album and noticed that she's had a lot of problems with indie fans. While they were accepting of her at first, as her sound has changed, some have become hostile to what she's doing.

This is one of the problems with being an indie artist. Even though you choose NOT to go the popular route because it can be very limiting, there is an element of indie fans that also try to limit what qualifies as indie sound. And they really shouldn't. The truth is, artists are allowed to make whatever they want. We don't have to like it, but we certainly don't have the right to tell them not to make it.

There is a lot of art out there that offends me. There is a lot of art out there that I disagree with and don't want in my life. And far, far more than that, there is art that bores the shit out of me Interestingly,  a lot of that is trying as hard as it CAN to be offensive and edgy and problematic. It just does it in the most predictable way possible.

However, an artist is not under any obligation to please me. Artists are only there to do what art they feel compelled to do. I firmly believe that and also firmly believe that if that is lost, our world really can't progress. And yes, I get that a lot of mean spirited people produce a lot of hateful and horrible things. The thing, I would rather them produce it and show it to the world. That way I can know to stay away from them.