Attention #1
The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence by Baltasar Gracián, Trans. Jeremy Robbins (London: Penguin, 2011), pp. 48 (ePub edition):
All things are now at their peak, above all being a true individual. It takes more today to make one sage than seven in years gone by, and more to deal with a single person than an entire nation in the past.
First things first, I am not in the zone to write anything today. But then again, adulthood includes doing things even when you’re not in the mood. I feel like a sack of potatoes; let’s blame the shifts in mood on the moon. I have been listening and dancing to music with a lot of heavy bass to lift my spirits. Travis Scott’s latest album seems to do the trick – at least for now. It's interesting how easier it is to dance and sing when no one is watching. Through out this week, I have been intermittently bursting some dance moves while still in my robes. I tend to avoid melancholic music when my mood is low. You can start with an album that is on the border between sadness and cheerfulness, and then slowly transition into more uplifting tunes. But please avoid the temptation to start off with a very sad album. A sad album will drag you across the room. If you were wondering, the song I like the most on Travis’ Utopia is ‘THANK GOD.’ I suppose my Christian upbringing won’t let up. It’s been a while since I listened to an album that was over an hour long. But I have replayed this album multiple times and haven’t lost interest. I can think of a few reasons why I like the album. First, Travis Scott experimented and moved at least 70 degrees away from his signature sound. I'm inclined toward artists who continually reassess and significantly enhance what they are offering the public. I've often wondered: How can you switch up your style without entirely alienating your fans or audience? What percentage of change is safe? It goes without saying that it takes a lot of courage to even switch up your style by 5%. People connect with your music due to its distinctive sound, which becomes a defining aspect of your brand. Because of this, the fans not only give you their attention and money but with an expectation that you will do more of what drew them to your music in the first place. So you start to pander to what you have accustomed your fans to and hesitate to experiment. One of your responsibilities is to let your art reflect your life experiences or take on the world. 🧃
It’s easier for experimental artistes to explore different sonical territories. They are expected to do so because they've already created an expectation in their fans. Björk for instance can experiment all she likes, no one will fault her for it. If anything we might be disappointed if she doesn’t. Here’s a kicker: If she tries to hop on anything that’s in the mainstream, she will definitely alienate her fans. In my own opinion, that would be the real experimentation for Björk — making a globally embraced album that even a five-year-old in Nigeria could dance to. Of course you know the kind of music I am talking about. People often downplay how hard it is to make things popular. Now imagine holding global attention, a rather fickle thing, and you decide to experiment. I don’t know what you worship but that takes guts. There are two factors to consider when an artist wants to evolve their style or try new things: How far do you want to venture out (degree of change) and how often (frequency or pace of change)? For example, if you change your sound by just 10%, you might gain or lose some fans, but if you change it by 70% you might have a catastrophe on your hands, especially if you are already a commercially successful artist. That’s the first part, the second part is how many times do you think your fans or audience will be OK with your change in sonic direction? The fans might indulge you the first time you do it, but what about the second or third try? Your music career success becomes more uncertain with each subsequent attempt. In 2013, Kanye West released Yeezus. I turned off the player less than a minute into the opening track of the album. I glanced at my friend, who was listening to the album with me, and he could practically read my thoughts – ‘What on earth is this?’ It was abrasive, loud, and uncompromising. I didn’t like the album, at least for the first two weeks. Because I was a fan, I had to put the effort to listen to the album over and over again until it became my favourite album of his. 🧋
When that album came out, many people thought it was a “musical and commercial suicide” for Kanye West. I too thought the same; but if they were to ask me what opened the floodgates, it was that album. It gave me the permission to scour the internet and look for things that were just as far out. It was a polarising album, you weren’t sitting on the fence with that one. The next project after Yeezus was The Life of Pablo. He returned his listeners back to the familiar. In the world of music, sometimes the artist has more influence over the fans and other times, the fans have more power over the artist. Like shareholders in a company, the fans can nudge the artist towards a certain direction. That is, the fans can wield a significant influence on the artist. Some artists break free from that shackle by acting in a way that renegotiates the power dynamic. Kanye West knew making Yeezus would alienate fans but he went ahead and did it anyway. It was a bet of some sort. It’s extricating yourself, as an artists, from the chokehold of fan expectation and instead taking charge and setting expectation for the fan. This reminds me of Henry Ford's remark that if he had asked people what they needed before he built the car, they would have said they wanted a faster horse. Despite Kanye’s commercial success, as fans, we don’t know what to expect from him. He could wake up one day and create a heavy metal album, and we wouldn't be surprised. Another reason I like Travis Scott’s Utopia is because it sounds like Kanye’s Yeezus. It is Yeezus (sonical landscapes) made accessible for a lot more people. The last Travis Scott album I listened to was Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which was released in 2016. Since then, I have occasionally chance upon his singles, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to look for a Travis Scott song. While scrolling through YouTube, I came across ‘K-pop’ (Nice clickbait, Travis), the first single released from the new album. After watching the video, I was hooked. I was impressed because I wasn’t expecting something like that from him. If you want to increase your chances of having a hit song, one of the strategies is to sample a song that was once a hit. This taps into nostalgia. For instance, Burna Boy sampling a Toni Braxton song on ‘Last Last,’ or Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj sampling Aqua's 90s hit ‘Barbie Girl’ for their track ‘Barbie World.’ ❤️🩹
In my opinion, while Travis Scott was experimenting on this new album, he managed to mitigate the risk of it flopping by tapping into nostalgia. He paid homage to those who had ventured out before. By releasing this album, he probably expanded his fan base and also set a new expectation by letting the world know that he’s got range. If you enjoy Kanye's Yeezus, you'd probably appreciate Utopia as well. The issue with experimentation is that if it flops, you become a cautionary tale in the industry. Your project becomes a feeding ground for inspiration — like vultures to a carcass. Since your project serves as an example of going to the extreme, others will approach the edge you ventured to but won’t cross into that extreme territory. Fast forward a decade later, and someone does exactly something that sounds like your project and everyone applauds. If you are not seeking applause or recognition for your work, then all that doesn’t matter. It's like in zombie or horror films where the first one out the door gets shot or infected. In tech or business, it's the first mover disadvantage. It’s not like Apple can’t make an aeroplane or do something in space tech if they really want to, but they employ a controlled innovation technique in their offerings. It's incremental innovation, not exponential. Besides, Apple has already established a reputation and doesn't want to offer something that flops, as it would inevitably affect their brand image. As usual, the company is playing it safe. If a product is introduced too early, it often fails upon arrival. I'd say, don't bother coming up with new ideas; instead, search for ideas whose time has now come and work on those. 🛫
Thanks for reading. If there's anything you'd like to chat about, or if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you. :)