Hello there, you’ve probably at one time listened to that absolute fire song or the favorite jam you can’t go a day without and just wondered; what inspired such a masterpiece?
For most artists- big and small, there are almost always inspirations behind the music they set out there and while the magnitude of the inspiration differs, its role of it doesn’t.
To some artists ideas are instantaneous and just the hearing of a beat is enough to evoke an idea that is soon transformed into a song with near-universal appeal. For other artists, the exercise is marvelously excruciating and thorough involving pen and paper and a thousand rushing thoughts all striving for the attention- this can be particularly hard for artists who strive for perfection. By now you’ve probably heard of simple songs made without any intention that went on to astonish the musical word and top charts and others that were made with immaculate attention to detail and didn’t make it past a few listeners! Well that’s the business side of it but the question of the day still lingers- Where do these musicians get inspiration from?
Life
I didn’t know where best to start if not on this mammoth inspiration source that is as wide as it gets.
Life is huge, with gargantuan creatures and limitless possibilities. For many artists, life has been a major source of inspiration for their music.
Many artists have drawn from their life experiences to make smash hits with a timeless feel and indeed many others have drawn from other peoples’ life to make mega-hits that have resonated deeply with listeners across the globe.
In life, there is love and hurt and these two right there have been a colossal source of inspiration for boundless artists.
Juice WRLD for example drew from his struggles with heartbreak and drug addiction to make emotionally vulnerable emo-rap tunes that endeared themselves to a generation of listeners- many of whom were fighting similar emotional storms and found so much solace with his tunes.
Countless songs about love and loss have permeated the music industry which is to say these two emotions top the charts when it comes to inspiration. Wasn’t Beyoncé’s own album inspired by the hurt of being cheated on?
Nature
Some artists just get inspired while admiring the elegance of nature.
Whether sat somewhere in quietude watching trees as the wasp of tranquility washes over them, or just out in the ocean.
They take in the extravagance of the ocean waves as the water pushes strongly and calmly against the waves.
Or even somewhere in a park touring the animal habitats as they feed their adventurous souls with the wonders of the world.
And it is in such magical moments that they get inspired and write a song or even make a full-length album.
Art
Well, there are different kinds of art, and music itself is a form of art. Artists really get inspired by looking at the art performed by other people.
It can just be some Mona Lisa painting, some choreography even other simple museum art pieces and their musical thoughts will be put on high alert and the next time they get in studio, they will be having a masterpiece!
Beats
This may sound crazy right? But a large portion of the hip-hop and many other genre artists are inspired by a beat. By just hearing any type of beat, they spontaneously conceive an idea. Lil Wayne has been on record saying that he does not write his lyrics and just gest in the booth, the producer plays the beat and like a miracle of sorts, he is inspired to start spitting some heavy bars. We have countless occasions where artists have been inspired by a beat they had the producer play and certified bangers have come from them. If anything, a huge portion of artists are inspired by the beat and always work towards breathing life into the beats with their own lyrics.
Movies
Movies are also a crucial element that fuels the creativity and imagination of many artists.
Frank Ocean was on record saying that he was imaginatively inspired by the series; “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones”.
That’s just how it is for some artists whose inventiveness is fueled by a blockbuster film off of Hollywood or a favorite Television show.
Others battling with endless thoughts and struggling to fit them in actually binge-watch some shows and their thoughts are streamlined towards a specific and orderly route where a melodic transcendence is born!
Reading
This has to be obvious because we know the power of books and it doesn’t even need to be documented. Books yield so much influence and impact and to most people and indeed artists, apart from quenching their thirst for knowledge, they inspire mega tunes and in other cases wholesome albums. Books carry with them so much weight in wisdom and creative imagination and this is in line with music that needs to be as inventive as possible to grab the attention of a listener. So it is not surprising that an artist can just be reading a novel from a #NewYork best seller and all these ideas come crushing down and he will then have to rush to a studio and run with the ideas into making a mega hit.
Pen and Paper
Believe it or not, some artists cannot get any coherent thought in place without a pen and paper. While it is easier for some to create thoughts in their own head and follow them through in some beats, this is not the case for others. Some artists are inspired by the mere fact of having a pen and paper and it does not matter where-camping, vacation, out in a diner, playing golf or cooking! They will always walk around with a pen and paper and if any idea crosses them, the scribble of the pen as its ink mark the paper results in intellectual lucidity!
Others artists songs
You have no business being an artist if you don’t listen to other artists’ songs really.
It is not just the work of other artists that can bring inspiration, but the artists themselves.
If you are a singer, for example, listening to interviews with your favorite artist can give you insight into their songwriting process and who they listen to for inspiration.
Additionally, don’t forget about what goes on behind the scenes in the music industry as well.
Artists can find inspiration from producers and songwriters whose work they admire and learn more about what it takes to have a successful career in music.
Pure Fantasy
When I talk about fantasy, I include meditations, introspections, dreams, reveries, and such kinds of inanimate illusions.
Great music has been born out of bad and good dreams- an artist trolled out of bed, in the middle of the night, after having a dream and they grabbed a pen and paper, and on they went about their dreams transforming it into an effective melody that got them nominated for a Grammy!
The mind is always a powerful and essential tool for any artist and any rushing thought, meditative or otherwise can be transformed into an exceptional hit song that can go a long way in astonishing the music world.
For any type of artist seeing, thinking and hearing are inextricably linked as they literally see the music while thinking about things or hearing people talk.
People
That’s right! People are a major source of inspiration for artists; seeing people talk, watching people dance, seeing kids play or even seeing lovers in public holding hands or fighting can inspire a generational tune. If anything, artists make music for the people and it would be bad manners not to get inspiration from the intended target market. The best part about this is that they are endless traits and behaviors in people which can result in infinite inspirations being drawn from this!
Countries
We weren’t just going to talk about people and leave out the huge spaces and shelter they cave in, were we! Artists are inspired by different countries and if you searched ‘songs about countries’ on Google right at this moment, you’d be spoiled for choice with the enormous tunes that were all inspired by cities, towns, beaches, and all manner of landscapes of different countries. So the next time you are on vacation and you are an artist, look around- you may never know what will inspire your next album; could be the islands in Maldives, the lifestyle in Jamaica or the extravagance in New York!
Social Media
The social media is one of the most useful and detrimental tool for any kind of artist. This is where artists are showered with love on one side and on the other side are attacked with all sorts of hate. That’s just the way it is and since you cannot please everyone, you accept it for what it is. The best part about this is that social media- either through the love, hate, trending topics and all that actually inspires artists to make great music that transcends the lyrical and melodic boundaries of “Just Music!” So the next time you make a hateful comment on an artist’s page, you might actually inspire their next hit!
There are endless inspirations for various artists and cannot be confined to just these- one thing that is certain is that inspiration for any artists remains to be a process that cannot be fully comprehended since it transcends the limits of any artist’s reason; these lose ideas, incoherent thoughts, rushing thoughts are intertwined in a certain way and everything begins to make sense and prompts an artists to create a song- that is the power and magic of it all.
For artists with wealthy enduring hits who couldn’t let an idea go and others who just got into studio, listened to a beat and everything came rushing or even the one who just made music inspired by their own voices in the back of their tiny bedrooms with nothing but simple instruments; music came off of it and there is nothing quite powerful like music so it doesn’t matter how, where or when- only the music matters!
Relationships
Relationships provide endless potential for songwriting topics: there’s joy and pain involved in love, friendship, family, etc.
Other times, there are more specific or unique situations that can inspire artists to write a song: the joy of being in love or the pain of being in love, “friends with benefits”, how complicated it can be when friends become lovers (and then go back to just being friends); or maybe an artist wants to celebrate having a strong relationship with someone else in their life.
