For solo musicians, the pressure to create more music is real. Whether it’s from fans, friends, or family, you will find many people waiting with bated breath for your next release.
Often, the pressure can be self-imposed as well. You may feel like you’re constantly competing against yourself, need to produce new material at an alarming rate to stay relevant, and that your fans will disappear if you don’t release new music frequently.
While creating lots of new tracks can be rewarding for you and your fans, you don’t do anyone any favors by rushing through the music creation process.
Here are five signs you need to slow down and devote enough time to your creative process.
5 Signs You Need to Slow Down Your Music Creation Process
1. All Your Songs Sound the Same
All musicians yearn for that magical moment when a song comes together naturally in no time as if it were meant to be, but it happens much less frequently than you think.
Most of the time, it takes trial and error to create creatively cohesive music. You must give it time to see what works and what doesn’t.
If all your songs sound the same and follow a predictable course, it’s a strong signal to slow down your music creation process and let your ideas flow naturally.
2. Your Lyrics Seem Shallow
While all songwriters have unique opinions and approaches to the words in their songs, the audience certainly cares about the lyrics. The wrong choice of words or a shallow line or two could make a fan turn your music off.
If your lyrics lack depth and it seems like you’ve just thrown random words together, you’re rushing through the music creation process. You must slow down and take your sweet time to develop an emotionally cohesive story that tugs at the heartstrings.
3. All Your Songs Revolve around the Same Theme
In addition to making your songs sound similar, rushing through the music creation process can make them predictable and boring. And musicians who only create boring songs are often forgotten by the audience.
Your music becomes boring when you pick topics and ideas lying around the closest instead of digging deeper to explore new outlooks. To ensure your songs are unique and gripping, you must take risks, ask questions, and open yourself to the world of possibilities. This will only happen when you throw the fear of failure out the window and stop believing you’re in a time crunch all the time.
4. Your Recordings Don’t Cut It
Sometimes, even the most well-written and thoughtful lyrics fail to transform into blockbuster music because your performance on the recording isn’t solid.
Here’s something you don’t often hear: most musicians don’t nail their recordings in the first go or on the first few takes, for that matter.
If you’re struggling to get the recorded elements of your song right, chances are that you’re rushing through the process. The key is to take it slow and wait for the inspiration to strike so that your music has the perfect emotional depth.
5. You’re Never Satisfied With the Final Product
Not being able to create something fantastic can quickly bring down your morale and make you doubt your talent or passion for music. But more often than not, it only happens because you rush through the music creation process.
You need to give your songs enough time to bloom into the perfect products you can’t wait to share with the world.
The Bottom Line
Slowing down and working patiently in developing a song to its full potential is easier said than done, but the results will blow your mind.
Look out for these signs that indicate you’re rushing through the music creation process, and make a conscious effort to devote more time and attention to each aspect of your song.
Good luck!
Eric Dalius is The Executive Chairman of MuzicSwipe, a music and content discovery platform designed to maximize artist discovery and optimize fan relationships.Along with his work at MuzicSwipe, he also conducts in-depth interviews with prominent entrepreneurs on his weekly podcast “FULLSPEED.” Eric also dedicates himself to educational initiatives through the “Eric Dalius Foundation,” which provides four scholarships to US-based students. Keep track of Eric’s endeavors on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,YouTube, Instagram, and Entrepreneur.com.