Love is blind!

I wrote about this a while ago on a different subject but thought it would be worth sharing the thought as it relates to music.

Love is blind right? We all know it, people say we must be 100% passionate and in love with our music to succeed, but is that true?

You certainly need a lot of passion to keep your focus, but there are advantages to not being sooo in love with your work.

Firstly, if you are in love with your work you will find it very hard to take criticism or any kind of constructive feedback. This will ultimately hurt your career because feedback is important and can give you a sense of balance.

Also, have you noticed that the things you really really really want in life seem to elude you? Take a guy trying to get a girl, if he tries too hard he doesn't get her, yet the girls he doesn't care so much about are all over him!

Ok, this is all a bit tongue in cheek but in my music career the same is true of the successes I have had. The songs and projects I wasn't in love with seemed to do the best. Now don't get me wrong, everything you do needs focus and commitment to make it as good as you can, but without labouring too hard.

I recently watched an interview with Phil Collins about his 'But Seriously' album in which he said they never laboured over anything. It was done quick and if it felt right it was right. Lots of people were involved and there was constant feedback on the song developments. Nothing was too 'precious' that it couldn't be changed, which ultimately made for a better, more rounded album.

All too often us musicians will spend weeks on a song without playing it to anyone in case they don't like it! That is crazy if you think about it, surely we should spend a couple hours and then get feedback to see if we should devote more time to it?

I would say passion is great, but balance is better, especially with music.

I like to follow these 5 rules when writing songs:

1. Get feedback as often as possible
2. Work with others
3. Take regular breaks
4. The best stuff comes easier and quicker
5. Don't fall in love with a song too much, there's are many more waiting to be written!

Visit our recording studio website for more information on recording and songwriting and of course use Audio Rokit to pitch your music to record labels, TV/Film and more!