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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nEvery artist gets there. For some, it\u2019s a departure from their normal mode. For some, it IS their mode. For some, it\u2019s a concession to age. For some, it\u2019s a defiant statement of not being pigeonholed or thought of as less \u201cserious\u201d. You know the moment I\u2019m talking about. When an artist writes & records that extra special \u201cheartfelt confessional\u201d, that song that reveals something truer and more personal about them. And I\u2019m here to tell you it\u2019s bullshit.\n\nIf you watched my podcast on Thursday, you\u2019ll know that this is the second of several episodes I\u2019m doing that deal with illusion in art, specifically in music. This one has to do with the idea that the WAY a song is crafted and recorded tells us something about its content. THIS \u2026 is an illusion. It\u2019s one of many forms of trickery that all artists employ for effect.\n\nI mentioned on Thursday that art IS artifice. That no matter how \u201ctrue\u201d a work is, it\u2019s still crafted. The word \u201ccraft\u201d itself is used all the time to indicated trickery. Think of \u201cwitchcraft\u201d. When you \u201cmake up\u201d a song, that song is \u201cmade up\u201d, which can also mean it\u2019s \u201cnot real\u201d. So many words having to do with art also somehow mean \u201cnot true\u201d. Even the word \u201ccreate\u201d means \u201cform from nothing\u201d. Nothing, meaning something not real.\n\nOkay so let\u2019s get back to the main point here, that how a song SOUNDS indicates how true or deep it is. This really is total and complete bullshit. I can tell you as both a listener and a creator that the style \u2013 or let\u2019s even say genre \u2013 of a song is a full-on illusion. Do certain types of instrumentation better convey certain emotional intentions? Yes. Do artists hope to make listeners feel a certain way by how they produce their songs. Absolutely. Does that mean the lyrics in those songs have the same emotional content, or the same perceived level of depth, or the same intended \u201cmeaning\u201d? No fucking way.\n\nThere are thousands of examples of songs that sound one way and have lyrics that go a completely different way. Or songs whose \u201cdeepness\u201d goes as far as how they sound, and whose lyrics don\u2019t nearly measure up \u2013 deliberately or not. The style of a song is its clothing. Its skin. It\u2019s not the guts & bones. In fact, many artists get a real kick out of this kind of misdirection, this kind of illusion. For one, it\u2019s fun to mess with people, to buck expectations, to surprise. For another, that juxtaposition adds a whole other level of meaning.\n\nIt forces the listener to \u2026 ACTUALLY LISTEN. To not be fooled by the surface. Lots of songs with amazing lyrics often get short shrift because they\u2019re produced in a way that doesn\u2019t immediately convey \u201cdeep meaning\u201d. Pop songs. Rock songs. Dance songs. Power pop. Hard songs that hide sensitive lyrics, and vice versa. The surface judgments miss the truth, miss the real substance.\n\nSound familiar? We ruin our discourse, our ability to connect with each other, by judging people based on how they look or how they talk, instead of paying attention to what they\u2019re doing or saying. How often have you heard someone with a certain accent or dialect and immediately dismissed them as dumb or incapable of meaningful conversation, or on the other side too cold, too proper, too intellectual? Or how often have you been fooled by someone\u2019s appearance: assumed they\u2019re rough or suspicious, or alternatively trustworthy and knowledgeable, based on how they dress or what their skin or facial features look like?\n\n...\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices