Grain of Salt
I read an article about an album I love. I watch a youtube review of a film album I love. This leaves me questioning my own opinion. Suddenly, I’m not as sure as I had been. Doubt snuck its way in. It works two ways. Sometimes I gain more respect for that album or film. Other times, the opposite.
Why is that? Perhaps because of my own insecurities. I developed an opinion but I don’t feel adequately versed in music or film to hold that opinion. Maybe because mobs of twitter talking heads say that my opinion is wrong. Just look up “hot take” on twitter’s search bar and see what happens. The hotter the take, the more inflammatory the replies. Sometimes that irritates me. Perhaps it shouldn’t. But, as someone who is passionate about all art (particularly music), I find myself irritated that so many people reduce music to an opinion that they shall defend to the death. It’s almost like vile political conversation.
As a contributor for this magazine, I write about my experiences with music. I try, however, to not assign “scores” though because such an arbitrary rating does a piece of music a great injustice.
The album DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar comes to mind. Maybe it’s not his masterpiece. Sure, it won a Pulitzer Prize, but it’s not as genius as To Pimp A Butterfly (according to a bunch of random so-called music experts on twitter).
So, there I am, left wondering again:
“What should I think about the album?” I ask myself.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? I shouldn’t be asking myself that question at all. I should just listen to the album. Soak it in like a beautiful sunset. It wasn’t created to be dissected and nit-picked. It was made to be listened to. Enjoyed. Basked in.
That is because all art boils down to this same idea, and should be taken with a grain of salt. The creator (or creators) of any art (music, painting, film, et cetera) you observe made that art in a deep emotional state, and that yields a unique result. Even when the result is seemingly derivative, the outcome is still unique to the origin. To judge the end result smugly makes you a shark. Do you care about the actual art? Or do you only care about the way you interpreted the art? Maybe you care about the way you perceive the way art interacts with your current mindset and coalition of ideologies. In reality though, most art is made without specifics in mind. So nitpicking about art is sometimes a fruitless exercise.
It’s not always fruitless, of course. Interpretations of art allow consumers the opportunity to look outside their own perspectives. Many times in my life I’ve gone from hating an album or film only to fall in love with it later. What changed? Not the album. Not the film. Me? Probably. The times and social climate? Likely. Did I read a review that made me rethink the album or film. Maybe.
Because most art is not made to absorb criticism. It’s meant to reject criticism. Art is just a reflection. Art is unique in all circumstances. Sometimes a person does something and doesn’t even realize that art is being created. It’s spontaneous. It can appear without warning--like magic, and how does some stranger have the audacity to criticize it and say that it’s “objectively” not good? It may be that the role of critique has lost its way. Something that started out as useful, has become less about exploring the beauty in created things--and more about being “right”.
Here’s a small but common example I come across. I like the movie Fight Club, but I don’t consider it one of the best films ever made or anything. Yet, many people do think that. And if that film resonated with those people that deeply then they should absolutely feel that way. The fact that I feel like it’s not even a top 3 David Fincher film does not mean it doesn’t mean a boatload to someone else.
I can line up the criticisms, but no matter how much I talk about something, some people are going to hold their opinions in their chests. And those people are often right as many times as they end up being wrong. Who’s to say?
Why?
Because loving something should not be governed by a critic or thought influencer. If you love something, you should love it unabashedly, earnestly, and passionately. Never let a writer from a magazine tell you how to think—or at least take that writer’s words with a grain of salt.
