Interesting note (for me anyway): in the process of making this top 10 list and listening to standout songs from each album in a playlist, I’m coming to realize that my own music doesn’t sound at all like any of my most influential albums/artists. I’m no sure what to do with that information. Since I was a teen I always really prioritized finding “my own voice” creatively and working within that. I’m still not sure I’ve totally succeeded (it’s incredibly hard to be unique and original when there’s such a sheer mass of music of all kinds out there, and at a certain point if you overprioritize uniqueness it becomes an affect rather than your true self). Charitably, I could say that I took various inspirations and admiration of elements from each of my favorite artists and synthesized them in the service of expressing something unique to myself without ever copying or being derivative. Uncharitably, you could say that my talent and work ethic are SO far below my favorite artists and the sweat / mental effort that they put into their peak records, that I couldn’t even try to get close - derivative would’ve been an improvement on where I’ve landed, lol. I like to think that good music is (to some extent) less about the time and discipline you put in, and more about things like your outlook on life, how you think critically about music/sound, the sense of energy you bring in, and what you’ve decided your approach will be. But on the other hand if someone leveled that criticism at me, I’d be like “sure, no doubt, ADHD gonna ADHD; also as the child of broke but hardworking Asian immigrants, I was pushed toward and eventually chose a cushy career with actual money over the scary chasm of not having a full-time job and going fully into prioritizing personal creative work, for better or for worse, and most days I think it’s probably been the right choice because ain’t no trust fund or support network here, and ain’t no money in pretentious noise twaddle”
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