They say that for every single thing you do on earth, you must be able to explain why you do it. Why do you wake up early in the morning to go to work? Why do you have to put up with your lousy job? Why do you have to stay up all night trying to beat that deadline? There is always a reason behind everything. And there is a ‘why’ to this music blog, despite it going against the typical criteria of what defines a music blog.
Let’s start with the obvious one: your music background must be extensive.
They must prove that they have an extensive history with music dating back to the 80s (or earlier). I don’t have it. The kind of music I can tell you from the 80s was Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. Nothing else comes to mind.
I’m also not going to pretend that I know every 10/10 album that has ever been since human beings invented the wheel. That’s what Google is for and I would not mind having a listen.
South Africa’s amapiano deserves the same amount of attention as whatever Slipknot has released
Next, you need to stick to certain genres.
I don’t know about you but I tend to find myself listening to a lot of stuff. Sure, I have my preferences for EDM, metal, and rap music but that doesn’t stop me from discovering new genres. South Africa’s amapiano deserves the same amount of attention as whatever Slipknot has released. If I like it, I will definitely talk about it.
Three, you have to know what you are talking about.
I can tell you right now that I’m never sure about what I’m talking about as a reviewer. It is not easy sitting down and forming opinions about some EP or LP that just came out and hope to express your thoughts in a few paragraphs. It’s not that simple.
Even worse, reading other people’s reviews makes you realize that they too are having a hard time coming up with words to write.
It’s a tricky art to be in and sometimes, I ask myself why do I even bother trying to do this. That brings me back to the topic at hand; Why Music Reviews?
To answer this question, I need to share with you a short story about Doja Cat’s album Amala. It was the first time I reviewed her music after her “Moo” song went viral and I went ahead to call her music psychedelic. What I found amusing about that description is that it was actually used on her album’s Wikipedia page and my webpage was linked to it.
It was one of those few moments in my life that I felt that I contributed something to society. Not only that, I was one of the few people at the time who actually knew how good she was. Hot Pink took her to the next level of stardom and the rest is history.
The point is, I like reviewing music because it gives me an opportunity to discover new music every week. There is so much good content put out by awesome creatives that deserve a chance of being heard by someone. My job is to do just that and do the little I can to spread the word that they are worthy of a chance.
I am fully aware that I don’t have a big voice in this industry but I am willing to enjoy my time discovering and sharing content with you guys. One day in the future, perhaps, I will look back at this article and reflect on how silly I was writing all of this.
Hey, that’s what makes life interesting, no?
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