[Erik Olson]

Just because most kids get their poetry through some other way, as through song, does that make songs better and more worth pursuing? Should I adjust my art to the mob? If you do you should start singing at once. What if what is most popular, as is very often the case, is not the best quality? Pop music is far more commercially successful with its MTV music videos and flashy and sexualized commercial marketing but it is not better than jazz and classical in my opinion. I think popularity is a poor gauge of quality. What is most commercially successful is not, therefore, more worth pursuing. A ton of what is popular is vapid and engages the reptilian brain and is very successful with scores of young people attuned to fast pace entertainment like video games and youtube clips. No one reads anymore one could say, therefore, I'll just sing or make youtube videos to keep up. That's a bad way of thinking if you ask me for an artist.