6 Easy Tips to” Energize” Your Music Career
Every creative person or artist, even the most talented, can get into a rut, and feel like nothing’s moving even with the best efforts. The grind of doing the actual work can be overwhelming. Before you throw out the entire baby with the bathwater, did you know that the Chinese word for crisis is opportunity?
Below are some energizing tips to do right now!
- Do something to shake things up – Write a song with someone new, record and sing a song in a different genre (like Pop to R&B, or Gospel to Pop) and learn it. Perform at the type of venue you never have or never thought of playing or take a singing/writing/producing (etc.) class. Try joining an industry organization, or singing with a group (if you’re a solo artist). Take the spotlight as a solo if you’re in a band. Change your look, your genre, or even your performing style, and see what works. If David Bowie hadn’t quit his Ziggy Stardust incarnation, we would never have heard the likes of “China Girl“.
- Get out of your comfort zone – If you’re too comfortable, ultimately, you will lose enthusiasm and energy. Great singers and artists evolve. Theybring in new influences, rhythms, genres, and cultures, always pushing to refresh their art. Sometimes you’re forced to change, for example, the scene you’re in changes, clubs close, record labels change or drop you, or music takes a new turn. When grunge entered the music scene in the ’90s, every ’80s rocker knew that era was over, period, even if they kept on. Other times, things that worked before, don’t work anymore, seem dated or “been done”. This is a clue that you need to change.
- Seek out new people doing new things – Who and what is happening at the edges and down the road? EDM (Dance/House/Techno, too!) was once very underground, and now, it is everywhere. Even Beyonce did her version of a Dance/EDM record this year. Are more & more singers and songwriters making money by song placements in film, TV, and more? Those songs are different from regular Top 40. Check out how that works and find a niche to carve out. You get the idea!
- Sing and perform somewhere else – Los Angeles audiences are not Nashville, Chicago, or Miami audiences. What one region loves, another might reject. This is one part of “finding your audience”. When Chicago & London house music came over to San Francisco in the ’90s, it changed to reflect the artists and DJs in SF. When rock changed, rock musicians and writers went to Nashville (take Sheryl Crow, for example). Now country bands sound like rock bands with a country singer (think about it!).
- See your music as a painter who creates a series of works (or a period in time) – Picasso had a blue period where he painted in blue exclusively. Taylor Swift has her “Midnights” record. Gwen Stefani rocked ska, then went pop. Prince had his Purple Rain period. Maybe you have a “break-up” record or a “got a new life” record, a “back on the road (horse) again” period. Cher went from pop to dance (“Believe“) and turned the world on to autotune! You get the drift.
- Go out to see other artists live – Nothing is more inspiring than seeing someone else do well what you love or would like to do/learn. I saw U2 on their Joshua Tree Tour (2:10 -3:20). Mesmerized by Bono’s singing – to and with the audience, I knew I wanted to do that!!
To learn more about pop technique, please check out my new VIDEO, #1 Pop Singing Tip To Nail It Every Time. To schedule lessons, please contact vocalcoach@teridanz.com or call 310-283-9688.
