Being The Artist Vs. Being The Songwriter

Contributed Anonymously:

I just wanted to bring up this topic because it’s been bugging me lately. I am starting to find it so tiring that people always have to diss Britney Spears and say, “well she didn’t write her own songs, she co-wrote it, that’s not the same as writing a song,” or “oh, if she was really talented she could write her own songs,” and how people also diss Christina Aguilera and say, “oh, Beautiful was such a lame and unoriginal song, the lyrics weren’t deep, and she didn’t even write the song!” And this just doesn’t go for them, but it just goes with every artist out there.

People always have to act as if they HAVE to write their own songs to prove that they are great or talented, and always have to act as if each song HAS to be deep, complicated, and original. Well, don’t you know that many legendary artists never even wrote their own songs? And as for the songs message, or the lyrics itself, how deep, complicated, and original does it have to be? If you can give an example of a latest song that was deep, complicated, and original, than talk about or give an example of an artist like that instead of acting as if Britney and Christina have the most unoriginal songs on the face of this planet.

And I also find it annoying how some of you say, “oh it’s so unoriginal, and the concept is the same as somebody else’s.” Well, SO? Give me one song today that has a topic or concept that hasn’t been done before, just one. Because jeez, quite frankly, every song out there is based on the same concept of songs or ideas that have been written for centuries in music history.

So my point is, a song doesn’t HAVE to necessary be deep, complicated, and original to be good or liked by a lot of people, nor does it have to be mediocre and simple for it to be bad. If you are listening to each song and judging the lyrics solely on its depth and originality or what not in such a technical way, then you aren’t getting the point, nor will you ever get the point to any song if you are always going to look at a lyric as if it were some equation of music science, and be so technical with it. I consider Britney’s “Stronger” to be a great song, and yeah it was popular, but was it original? NO. Has a song about being stronger been sung before? Hell yeah, many times, it’s one of the most common songs that any female artist can sing and relate to. Was the song written by Britney word for word? NO. And with Christina’s “Beautiful”, were the lyrics new or original? NO. Was the concept new? NO. Was it written by Christina? NO. And the same with ballads, how many people have done love songs before about the “I love you this” and “I love you that” theme and concept to it? Pretty much everybody for the most part.

So yeah, sometimes it’s OKAY if the artist doesn’t write their own song or if the song has the same concept as somebody else’s song. I mean seriously people, what’s the point in being so technical with music, lyrics, and artists? How can you possibly enjoy anything of that sort if it’s all about judging on whether or not the artist wrote the song, or whether or not the song is new or original? A song doesn’t have to be the most original and complicated song in the world for it to be good and liked by millions of people. And an artist doesn’t have to write songs to be talented in what they do.

Why do you expect artists to write their own songs anyways? I love watching J.Lo act, but do I expect her to write the script, direct, and produce her next movie? NO. I respect those artists that are just comfortable with the talents they do have rather than trying to do something that just isn’t their gift or talent. All in all people, at the end, it’s just music and artists. If I like the song or the music, I care less about who wrote the song. I just enjoy it, how about you?