Hi all,
Welcome to 2026…what a wild ride it has been thus far. I hope you had yourself happy holidays in spite of all the goings on of the world & are looking forward to the coming year, no matter how deflating the first ten days of it have been.
If you hadn’t guessed by the title of this here blog, we’re going to call a spade a spade & talk about it. At least to a degree. I won’t be going into the gruesome details, we’ve all seen the clips. Nor shall I be diving into the news or any other specifics around the current events that are circling us all like black buzzards in the sky. I want to instead talk about this weird phenomenon that seems to only be centered around artists. That is the idea of people saying “shut up & sing.”
It’s not something exclusive to singers/songwriters either, it often applies to actors, painters, novelists, anyone within the creative field. It’s this idea that the politics of the person creating the art should never be heard…even though art, in all of its forms, is inherently political. Art is always saying something, that’s the point. It is the entire point actually, & this philosophy that we as artists should never be pundits, is nothing short of ludicrous. When in reality artists are often the ones we turn to most for their punditry.
Every artistic movement in history has cropped up in response to the happenings of the world around it. Every. Single. One. The rise of certain trends in music, styles of painting, types of literature are always intrinsically linked to the goings on in the world that surrounds the creator. It’s natural. It’s logical. It’s what makes art, art. The problem that emerges comes from the discrepancy of assigned meaning which also, in every natural way possible, is intrinsically applied to a piece of work.
We as artists can self express & create endlessly. We can emote, put pin to paper, put paint to canvas, motion to clay, fire to metal, lyrics to music, produce recreations & extensions of our self, our feelings, our thoughts til we’re blue in the face. And let me be clear, that has immense value, creating to create is the ideal motive for art. However, that is not the world we live in unfortunately. A lot of the time we are creating for the goal of monetization. We are creating a product, something that connects to a consumer & has them feel some sort of way about the art they are consuming. The broader the scope, the more lucrative it is. Yay capitalism I guess… The dissonance comes from when the ideals & preconceived notions of the consumer do not line up with the intent of the author. And for all intents & purposes, why should they? We all live in our own human experiences with our own beliefs & emotions, & we find commonality in the communication of said life lines through said expressions of humanity. It upsets us when our assumptions don’t match the intended message of a work because it creates a rift between our personal experiences & that of the creator.
In that instance I understand. This then leads to a lashing out. You expressed something contrary to what I believed about something that I consumed & enjoyed & I take that personally because in essence, this has become an extension of who I am as person & the ways in which I express myself. That then falls back onto the artist instead of the consumer whose job it should be to look at these two diverging fields of thought & try to understand the commonality between them. Remember, the artist will never know your point of view on their piece. They created their art as an extension of themselves. Its intended purpose is as they have stated & if that doesn’t align with the way in which you have interpreted their art, it is up to you as a consumer to understand why & potentially a different way of looking at the piece. The artist cannot cater to the ‘x’ amount of people who engage with their art, the only thing they can control is themselves & the way they express their feelings & beliefs. Please do try to remember that going forward.
In the current world & its political climate I often see this idea of “oh, I wish they’d just shut up & sing” reflecting what I just talked about above. The crazy thing to me is that it typically is directed towards more liberal ways of thinking. As if art & the expression there of are not ‘liberal’ ways on engaging with the world. To be an artist is to be a free thinker, to interact with the world in a way that is often abstract & can vary wildly from the nuanced to the brazen. No one on the left side of the aisle is out here saying “shut up & sing” we just (typically) choose to no longer engage with art that we see as damaging to the psyche & wellbeing of those around us. It’s also statistically a much fewer & farther between practice as, again statistically, a more rigid, conservative mind, seldom produces art of measure & social impact. I’m sure some of y’all are going to be maddened by that statement, I’d challenge you to examine why that is.
I think at this point I’d like to take this out of the broad scope that I’ve presented & narrow it down to myself specifically. After all, I am the artist involved here.
I mean that not just as in “I am the artist (musically) involved here,” but also as the artist (writer) involved here. You are reading what equates to a piece of art, I have something to say, I am saying it here. It will stir up feelings within you that either align with my way of thinking to varying degrees, or completely oppose it. Either way, I am the creator & my intended purpose for the construction of this piece of ‘art’ is as stated by me the artist creating this piece of art.
We are seeing, around the globe, the rise of fascism. Many of you don’t want to call that specific spade a spade because you voted for it, but it is. In every single definition, it is. I am seeing more & more people speaking up against the growing pressure of this regressive political movement & with said rise in vocalization, I too am seeing this narrative of “shut up & sing” rearing its myopic head & it’s stirred some thoughts within me as someone who finds themselves on the receiving end of this thought.
My dad always used to say that to me. When I was starting out in music I would get called out by him for posting things that were political, that spoke out against injustice. He would tell me that it would cost me my career, that, especially in country music, I was throwing away my chanced & maybe he was right. Maybe, after all of this time trying endlessly to make it in this industry my father was correct, but I think I’ve realized something. I think, especially over the last year or so as the authoritarian BS rains down upon America, I have been standing in front of this problem & not allowing myself to have the revelation that I needed to push through. Maybe he’s right. Maybe my insistence upon sharing the ugly, calling out the hate, the damage, the corruption, my need to stand with the disenfranchised, the broken, the targeted has cost me a foot hold or hundreds in the music industry or in the pursuit of creating a fan base. Maybe that’s true. It probably is. But if the price of this career, this job, is my silence in the face of suffering, injustice, atrocities, & malicious intent then I do not think the job is worth the price.
I do not think any job is worth me being complicit, is worth my silence, is worth not standing up for what I believe to my core to be right. If that is what costs me the thing I’ve worked towards for over a decade of my life, then so be it. It’s not worth it anyway.
I don’t feel that’s the case though. If anything, I think all that it has helped me to do is weed out those who I don’t want by my side anyway, those who I would rather not have as fans. It removes any chance of that dissonance & allows me to carry on towards something that is whole heartedly aligned with who I am as an artist & person.
As Always My Dears,
Much Love To You All,
-C