Hey <<First Name>>,

Normally, I try to avoid recycling stuff I've already posted in my messages to you but I was pressed in online debate recently and thought my answer was worth sharing (how humble of me?)

I had taken the side of "album" in an "album vs 12 months of singles" debate (actually, on that matter - where do you stand?)

My initial remarks were how I didn't think it had worked out for me but the original poster was after more, so I gave it :)

If you'd rather watch a video - here's a short update on how my projects are currently progressing...
 

The reasons are myriad… I had a lot of trouble coming to terms with taking (in some cases) two years to realise the full version of a song that it would only get a month in the limelight before something else replaced it. It felt like they deserved longer? Not that we always get what we deserve…

Also, being that I’m not at superstar level (yet, haha) I wasn’t convinced that there was the appetite for the output from my follower(s) - and the streaming stats would back that up - part of the reason I got a little down about it. Not that there was a bad reaction but there was no reaction to some songs, and in the absence of positive or negative feedback I guess we make our own assumptions. I think I’d rather have people hate something I did than feel ambivalent about it. The most valuable thing I think you can experience through music is a connection and when you think you’ve done something really worthwhile and it completely misses the intended audience it’s deflating - a definite momentum killer.

I wasn’t organised to fully support the whole package either, I wanted to do a film clip and a chord chart as well as a podcast episode for every song I did - that lasted two months.

I have come to realise though that I was asking people to buy into an ambitious personal story when they knew next to nothing about me - so I committed to going back, examining everything (including the songs), reworking them where necessary and coming back with something more holistic. I want to invite people inside my creative process and see if we can share something meaningful to all of us, because songwriting is something that I feel like I have to do. Not necessarily meant to do, I’m not here to save the world, but it has saved me more than a few times.

There’s a lot of merit in putting a deadline on yourself such as “a song a month” - I’ve participated in FAWM (February Album Writing Month) a few times and found it a valuable exercise, but were I to embark on such an undertaking again I’d make sure I had a very solid plan for the 12 months - some framework to hang everything on.

So… if you’re still awake after attempting to read this in one go, check out the first of my video series on my page or YouTube - and hopefully you’ll see me get it right this time :)

Thanks for listening (and reading!)