I've worked with quite a few high-level musicians and DJs. I noticed that there's always the music they sell and the music they really want to make.

What they're missing is turning the music they really want to make into the music they sell.

They always change the music to match what they think people like, and in doing so, they just become generic. It’s good, people like it, but they're never going to be some breakthrough new artist because they're not letting that real stuff out.

They're too scared of the reaction it's going to get. You have to be willing to be hated.

When I played in my metal band, there were times when we were asked to stop because they didn't like us so much.

There was a venue that played jazz music, and then we came in like Lamb of God. About three songs in, they said, "We will pay you to stop. We're sorry that we let this continue." We had cleared the place out; it was empty, and that was more real.

We were going hard, as if there was an audience of a thousand people moshing. That was sticking to us, putting out the music we wanted to put out, because there was no pleasing this audience.

So, there have been moments in my performer life where I’ve done it for the right reasons, and it feels great when I do it for the right reasons.

I can maintain that forever.

I can always do that.

However, if you get exhausted by your performance, because it's so dependent on getting validation from others, it crushes you.

To dive deeper into this topic, check out the original video here:

https://youtu.be/Ru-Lia8iVTM

‍