Self-Expression in 2022

The proliferation of disparate corners of the internet have permitted artists to stay true to themselves. There is an audience for any subject matter or sound palette. Somewhere in the dark depths of the World Wide Web there exists the people who want to hear your story in your style of song. 

What that means is that artists are now freer than they have ever been. Successful artists of yesteryear needed to cater to mainstream audiences as they attempted to amass fans, radio play, and television appearances. Artists of today are not nearly as impacted by these decades old economic imperatives. 

TikTok, Google Ads, and algorithmic advances in streaming are delivering your music to the people most in need of hearing it. You can thus tell the stories that you want to tell. This new reality means that LBGTQ+ artists can pen songs using the pronouns of their preferred partners. It also means that off-kilter communities like HyperPop audiences can throw Zoom raves and connect. It also means that guitar wielding singer songwriter chicks can speak directly through the screen to you as they strum their songs on TikTok. 

You no longer need to hide behind artifice. You no longer need to play some role that a label ascribes to you. You are free because you know that somewhere out there your audience is waiting.

There has never been a better time to be yourself.