The power of positive envy
Why wanting what other artists have isn't a bad thing
Recently I went to the album release show for Brooklyn outfit Adeline Hotel. (the album is called Hot Fruit, and I recommend it.) I had very little idea of what to expect, but I went on to have my mind melted as they performed in nine-piece-band form. While I watched, I noticed my music-making brain experiencing a now-familiar, enthusiastic wanting toward the performances I was witnessing:
EXCERPTS:
“I love how many unexpected turns this melody has, and that’s exactly what I’ve been searching for in some of my own songs”
“That vocal phrasing is phenomenal–I want to practice more so I can achieve something similar”
“Ahhhh! Those woodwind arrangements are beautiful, and much more harmonically impactful than the ones I wrote for my last album–what are they doing?”
I’ve had this feeling consistently, if infrequently, since I was a teenager. I’ve come to know it as a sort of envy–an emotion we tend to understand as negative, dangerous even. The thing is, when I think about the times I remember feeling it, each feels like a wholly positive experience that left me energized, inspired, and ready to give more of myself to an art form I love. It’s a positive envy.
The other thing is it really doesn’t happen often. It IS relatively rare. I wish it would happen more.
Here are some ways I’m thinking about cultivating positive envy when it comes to music-making:
Go to shows of musicians you admire–my hunch is if these folks are in your scene, or adjacent to it, this works better because the thing you envy is more likely to feel like it’s in reach.
Find folks with whom to regularly share new work. This is not always easy, but it is worth it if you can. You don’t necessarily even have to all be songwriters, just people making art who want to share what they’ve been up to at a regular interval.
Organize a record pull [an idea from This Is What It Sounds Like by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas where you share songs with a few friends based on a theme or prompt] with other songwriters based around the idea of ‘songs you wished you’d written’.