Creatives and the Messy Middle: How Feedback Makes Us More Successful
Creative individuals and artists can learn from feedback by asking the right questions to the right people, starting first with themselves.
A few months ago, I was working on a song for a colleague’s nephew — this past May, he graduated from High School and is venturing into college after a challenging K-12 education. Personally, I really connected with his story. I had my own set of challenges during school, graduated, and was excited to venture into college learning more about a deep passion of mine: music.
This song was also a big challenge for me. I had to go through my own personal, childhood feelings while thinking, “what would I have wanted to hear when I graduated High School?” — almost like I was speaking to my younger self through song.
I had found this beautiful chord progression on the piano, wrote out the lyrics related to venturing into the unknown, and really loved my arrangement. I had a great song on my hands and I was excited to show the world.
After singing it to my partner, a fellow musician, I asked him: “What do you feel when you hear this song?” At which point, he said: “hmm, I’m not sure. Sounds good though.”
I’ve been singing and writing songs since I was 7 years old, and later in life, pursued a degree in Music Education before switching to Music Business. However, I was never taught or shown how impactful feedback can be for artists.
Instead, I often sought out feedback from the wrong people. I’ve posted my songs, music, and projects on social media or sending it to friends + family. Then, as I waited patiently to know what others thought, I became surprised why I only ever received surface-level “feedback.” I continued this trajectory for over a decade.
There’s something electric about the business of creativity: how much we as creative masses produce in the global economy… it’s unreal! (actually, it contributes a very real $800 billion per year to the US economy, Bloomberg in March 2019.)
Yet, if you search for “creative feedback” in Google, you’ll see a list of articles, how-tos for how to give creatives feedback.
Which begs the question: why are we so concerned with giving feedback to creatives (i.e. making sure it lands), but we’re not first wondering how creatives need to seek out and receive feedback?
Almost 3 years ago, I co-founded a tech startup, Day Dreamer, which facilitates the connection for creative collaboration locally (think: musicians for a band, videographers for a music video, etc). I’ve personally been able to witness some incredible collaborations + see first-hand how artists seek to work with one another.
Through this endeavor, I’ve learned how creatives can use the same thinking that startups use when starting a new business. When we have a creative idea, what’s the first thing we do to get closer to what I like to call, Creative Market Fit? Who is the audience? What are the hard and soft costs? What are the essentials for this opportunity?
Currently, a year into my first HR + Culture role for Austin tech startup, Square Root, I’ve learned how valuable — and important — feedback is to both our personal and professional growth (“Radical Candor” by Kim Scott is a fantastic read for data points). Every year, we conduct 360Feedback through Small Improvements so everyone at Square Root (including our leadership team) can have a safe space to give + receive constructive feedback.
This feedback can be so powerful in the business world and in company culture. Yet, only 10 years into my career post-college, I’m now getting constructive feedback on how my work helps other people, what leadership thinks of my value, and ways in which I can elevate my career forward.
But then I thought: what about creative people?
After recently launching myself into writing and producing custom songs for my team during the pandemic, what started as a fun, random project turned into a new business opportunity for my art form. This process was incredibly impactful, both for me + my colleagues, but also showed me the inefficiency of my art and how feedback can help me grow as an artist.
So now I’m going to provide you, creative folks everywhere, what I learned through this process + how you can ask for better, constructive feedback.
1. Why do you need feedback?
It seems so simple. Yet, more often than not, we don’t ask ourselves this first before reaching out to others. We just launch our request out into the world (often, the void of social media) and then are stuck wondering what to do with these opinions.
By asking ourselves why do I need feedback? it helps us then craft the latter parts of the request. Here are some of the ways I go deeper into this question for my own projects:
- What are my intentions with this song?
- How am I trying to deliver this for the greatest level of impact?
- What are my values? How does this song or project connect with those values? (i.e. yet another reason why it’s crucial to have your own personal values. If you haven’t defined yours, I’ve found a lot of success reading through Dare to Lead by Brené Brown)
- Am I stuck on something? Is my intuition telling me that there’s something missing or just not right?
Granted, this is not an exhaustive list.
I hold my own therapy sessions when creating. There’s a lot of sitting with myself + reflecting on questions.
If I’m creating something and it doesn’t jive with my values, or I don’t have clear intentions for a song, why am I creating it?
As creative people (in my opinion, everyone on this planet), we have to always resonate with what we create. If your intention is to make money, then you need to figure out how to make as much money as possible with it. If it’s to give someone joy, then you should feel joy, too.
2. What feedback are you looking for?
This question naturally follows the why. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, then I’m sorry to tell you — you’re going to get random opinions that might leave you feeling lost. And that is so inefficient to our time and energy.
Time is a zero sum game, after all. When you spend it, you can’t ever get it back.
So you better try your best to use your wonderful and creative time wisely! When you know what you’re looking for, you’ll have a higher chance of receiving the right information. It’s a win-win!
Have you ever put something up on social media with the ask “Here’s my new X, would love to know what you think!”? Well, what kind of feedback did you get? Were the respondents friends or family? Did they offer any suggestions or constructive ways to make it better?
In my experience, when I put something out into the void, I usually receive some of the following:
“This is so beautiful!”
“Great job”
“Love it!”
I don’t even know what to do with those responses anymore. Also, to preface, I have provided these answers to friends’ posts, too. We all do it, and it will continue to happen if we don’t give others clear direction and specifics for what we’re hoping to learn. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have such positive responses and know that some people like what I create.
But nowadays, I’m looking for ways to grow, get better at my art, and challenge myself to dig deeper, go outside of my comfort zone. In those areas, that’s how we excel and become successful as artists.
Let’s go back to the story at the beginning. In the past, I would’ve just taken someone’s feedback, “sounds good though,” and continued on the same path.
But then I think about what John Lennon did when he sought out feedback for Imagine. He played the song as a B-side to musicians in his network, and with every piece of feedback, he’d ask “Are you sure?”
(Seriously, go watch “John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky”)
So, I prodded further. I asked my partner, “Does it feel too sad? I want this song to be uplifting and motivating! Does it make you feel like you’re accomplishing amazing things?” To which he responded: “In that case, you need a different progression. It sits in the minor key too often, but it’s beautiful. Save that progression for a different song + work on a different sound for this one. I didn’t get what you wanted me to feel.”
If I had just taken the “sounds good though” and didn’t dig deeper, I wouldn’t have found a better sound for this song. Plus, having this thoughtful, constructive feedback allowed me to (quite literally) turn around, grab my ukulele, and strum a more upbeat progression.
10 minutes later, the song was infinitely better because of it.
3. Who should I ask for feedback?
Now that we understand our why and what, the who becomes a whole lot easier.
Here’s what I believe is a no-brainer — don’t push feedback out into the void of social media. If you’re looking for applause or surface-level reactions, then by all means, go for it. But if you really want to get some feedback so your project/product is more successful, avoid social media at all costs.
Back to John Lennon, he struggled with getting constructive feedback, too. But he didn’t let that stop him from manipulating, contorting, and evolving his songs to the masterpieces we know + love today.
Pro tip: businesses + startups don’t ask the world about their in-development products, so why should artists?
Example: I don’t ask my mom for feedback on my music unless I want to know how it feels to hear a song. That is something she’s really good at! She knows when something sounds off key or not right, but doesn’t quite know how I could change it. And that’s okay. Plus, when she dances or sings along, I know I have something good.
But when I want to know how to change something, I go to my creative network. I’m grateful to have other songwriters, musicians, and those in the business (as well as visual artists) who I can ask for specific feedback and perspective. Here are a few examples I ask as a songwriter/musician:
- To a fellow songwriter: “what do you think about this structure?” or “what do you think I’m trying to say with these words?”
- Music arranger: “are there any places where I could add more depth to the music?” or “how do you think I could arrange this to fit with the story?”
- Producer: “how does the sound come across to you?” or “is there any areas where I can mix this better? what would you recommend?” (this is particularly of high importance to me because I’m currently learning how to mix + master my own music)
- Music/creative business mentor: “this is a new project I’m working on, what do you think of this as a business opportunity?” or “how do you think I could make this scale so I’m efficient with my time and energy?”
This is why creative networks are so important, and why the Day Dreamer community is a so impactful. Create a circle of those who you trust, value, and inspire you. Find mentors, advisors, coaches, and other artists who you can help and can help you, too. Be clear with what you’re looking for so they can be clear in return.
This is also not new information. I don’t have original ideas — none of us do — but I create in a way that is authentic for me.
From my experience working in tech and with startups, I use the resources from business and embed it into how I create my art. For instance, if a software engineer is trying to grow their deployment skills, they wouldn’t ask someone from Sales to give them advice — they would ask their director or someone on their team who knows the process + can help them grow.
So to summarize, as much as I know my friends + family want me to succeed in music, unless they have experience in the music industry, I’m not going to ask them for actionable feedback on a project. Instead, I’m going to go to a more experienced source, ask them clearly what I want to know, and then use that to help me define what I do next.
ICYMI: I’d love to help you succeed in your creative pursuits, even if it’s just a 30 minute chat to brainstorm your goals. You can reach out to me via Instagram or LinkedIn if you have any questions or need advice. I believe mentorship + advisors are not solely for the traditional business world — we need them as creatives, too!
If I can’t help you, then I will help you find someone who can. Whether it’s music, visual art, graphic design, videography, photography, or even help with business development, accounting, or legal guidance.
Together, we can succeed while making some dope s#!@.
