HAPPY BIRTHDAY, READY TO FLY!!!
I can't believe it has been two years since I released my debut album. I am honored to know that fans and listeners took a moment to learn my story, learn my drive and the beautiful struggle of finding myself through grief. Every moment since that album, I've only elevated. From Live Performances to new music, everything post Ready to Fly has been an honor. The continued elevation has been a joy but now a new chapter is upon us and I look forward to sharing my journey with you all here, social media and everywhere else I plan on delivering this next chapter.
Every lyric was intentional and every song was recorded in the order with which you heard it. I'm honored to have started the book, now it's time to write more.
Thank you all!
In Other News: The Grammys finally got it right!
I often treat music with the same intensity of a professional athlete. The goal is to win. In fact, not only is the goal to win... The goal is to DOMINATE your competition until there's no doubt left about who is the greatest.
The problem with this intensity and competitive spirit is that music is Art and based on opinion, rather than statistical facts. There's no real benchmark in music that determines greatness. What I've come to find defines greatness in music are as follow:
- Critical Acclaim
- Commercial Acclaim
Commercial acclaim is relatively simple... The catchier the song, the more commercial success you achieve. The problem is that you don't need technical skill or talent to have commercial success. You really just need a moment and that isn't enough for me. It's unacceptable.
Next is critical acclaim. This is one is difficult to assess because it's all opinion based. If you lean a direction that combines commercial appeal with experimentation, odds are you're going to have critical acclaim and potentially success at Awards shows. The problem is that when gaining critical acclaim, often times an Artist is sacrificing commercial success (shouldn't be the case but it's the reality of the music industry).
To be considered dominant in your field, you need to find the balance amongst critical and commercial acclaim. Very rarely do you find Artists that meet both demands.
Last night at the Grammys, I saw dominant Artists win awards, legacy Artists honored and much more. It was a joy to see the Grammy Awards honor the truly dominate Artists and not the Artists who had a moment. We should continue in this direction and see the shift in the music industry that was needed many years ago.
Last night was a sign of better days in music!
I'm excited to see where it goes.