Authenticity is a widely used adjective as it pertains to music and art. If an artist is deemed authentic, than their work is generally perceived as high quality. If one does not like an artist or a specific type of music, one can often hear the excuse, “Their music is fake”. The problem arises in the fact that due to everyone’s specific taste, likes or dislikes, and backgrounds, their criteria for authenticity is going to change.
What makes a musician or a piece of artwork authentic? Personally, I do not think that an artist needs to fit into a cookie cutter genre to be deemed authentic. I think that their art needs to fluctuate and have a wide range in order to express their life and emotions to their audience in their music. Life doesn’t fall into a specific mold. Life changes and with that so does one’s emotions. I think it is only logical for an artist to have music that can bounce from one genre to the next because it allows for creativity and does not stifle emotion. While some music critics may not understand the music because of its lack of roots to a particular culture or audience that does not mean that it is not authentic. So I have come to the conclusion that an artist’s emotion and heart that they put into their music is what makes them authentic or not. Authenticity has nothing to do with culture, genre, or a particular audience. Trying to please a particular set of people to be considered authentic will only take the true emotion out of the music.
What makes a musician or a piece of artwork authentic? Personally, I do not think that an artist needs to fit into a cookie cutter genre to be deemed authentic. I think that their art needs to fluctuate and have a wide range in order to express their life and emotions to their audience in their music. Life doesn’t fall into a specific mold. Life changes and with that so does one’s emotions. I think it is only logical for an artist to have music that can bounce from one genre to the next because it allows for creativity and does not stifle emotion. While some music critics may not understand the music because of its lack of roots to a particular culture or audience that does not mean that it is not authentic. So I have come to the conclusion that an artist’s emotion and heart that they put into their music is what makes them authentic or not. Authenticity has nothing to do with culture, genre, or a particular audience. Trying to please a particular set of people to be considered authentic will only take the true emotion out of the music.
For example, let us take the artist Celine Dion. Most listeners of Celine Dion’s music all agree that she has incredible vocal abilities and can hit the high notes, but she is not able to connect with an audience. The phrase, “She has great pipes” comes to mind, thus relating her to a machine rather than a person. This is a very valid critique of her work in my opinion, because unlike other artists whom Celine is often compared, people don’t really know who she is, or why she is singing in the first place. I suppose it can be from her rags to riches past, but in reality, many artists have a rags to riches story, it does not really make her different, or understood as an artist and a person. It only makes her one of a group. Now, I think what makes other artists stand out that are generally in her same genre. Whitney Houston, or Amy Winehouse, you can hear their pain and emotion in their music. They sing about what is close to them, and they sing about their personal story, making them artists, not just singers with really talented singing ability.
Again, it comes down to personal preference or your taste. What do you like in your music? Do you just want something that you can blast and roll your windows down to on the freeway? Or do you prefer something heartfelt that you connect with on a deeper level while you are feeling all emotional for whatever reason? Do you like rap or do you like pop? Do you even want to hear lyrics or do you just want to listen to EDM and let loose. Authenticity is determined by your personal taste and there is no right or wrong way to experience and express your taste. Even though your tastes might be judged, and in particular, I judge artists whom I feel are not very talented or exemplify good taste, it comes down to the person, their experiences, and why they like or dislike someone or something. There really is no such thing as good or bad, it just changes according to the person.
