Artist Growth: New vs Old

As an artist continues their career connecting with people around the world and reach many demographics; it’s safe to say that no matter what art is subjective and they can’t please everyone, in particular their fans. When an artist reaches a new era musically they seem to face somewhat of a backlash from fans.

In a decade where we romanticize the past and where nostalgia is potent, we seem to encounter the phrases such as “I miss the old…” or “I want the old…” and vice versa. Numerous artists have gone and/or still are going through the criticism. Kanye West on The Life of Pablo acknowledge his new path and his fans criticisms of it with his song “I Love Kanye”.

Tyler the Creator has greatly changed and evolved from 2010s Bastard, he has been frank about his stance on “the old vs new” topic when it comes to fans. With tweets such as “"i miss this i miss old ___" - you know, legit everything you like from whatever time period ( interviews, photos, videos, and most importantly music) is legit still available haha. how you missing something that you can access at any moment u dumb haha” and with a post “why cant i share my joy with the world? ohhh, it was cool when i was raping girls and telling you how sad i was on records, but when shit changes and im feeling great and i f**k with myself you cant deal with it? cause you cant relate? is that why?…then later state…”when you have a favorite artist, you tend to grasp onto an era, trust me i do that with artist that i love but i also know they grow and see new things and change and mature and all of that. im sorry that im not in the same place to talk about those things that were happening in 2011.”.

Which leads to a valid point, we tend to latch on to our favorite era of artist mainly due to that defining our lives but it’s easy to forgot that art is a reflection of our reality. When your favorite artist made your favorite album, they were in a different space. Eminem isn’t a angry 27 year old fueled on drugs, Chance the Rapper isn’t a 22 year old taking acid, Kanye isn’t a 26 year old up-in-comer trying to earn respect, and this topic spans several genres. They’ve all grown and had new experiences and are better places in their lives than before (or it’s perceived to be in a better place). Granted there are times where their growth