“You are no longer relevant!
” That's the scariest sentence a popular musician could hear. Its a crushing reality that haunts even the strongest artist, nobody wants to be irrelevant, not even a popular musician and No one wants to hear those words from anyone. Why? It's like all of an artist deepest darkest fears coming to reality and draining the life out of them.
Apart from the chance of being able to make money from their national relevance, one of the most important aspect of the life of a superstar is the power and importance the fame provides. A popular artiste is a mini-god; their human experience is the opposite of normalcy.They move between worlds and social classes with acceptance and worship following them through every space that they inhabit, no matter how brief. Imagine D’banj walking into a secondary school class.
That surprise, ecstasy, joy that the children might feel for him, its feels very normal for someone like him but its a huge part of his life. That's his human experience, being fawned over and greeted as a double takes as a superstar. It's very important. Young artists dream of that. People work all their lives for such a wonderful reality, no matter how fleeting it might be.
Fame is a drug that takes over your system. It reaches its hands slowly as an accessory to great music and drags you in. An artist starts out with feeling surprised at a great reception for a song. Keep that up for a year, and it becomes his life. Depending on the length of his career at the top, fame deludes everyone with the promise of permanence. The longer an artist wins or stays on a winning streak, the deeper he gets couched in that fame.
They even come to expect it, and demand that for every public function, they need to be put on a pedestal where they will be adored or “feel the love.” If you’ve ever witnessed a situation where an artist failed to get his due, you would be amazed at how this thing matters. Artists have been known to offer a bad performance, or cancel engagements because they were treated like the rest of humanity. They hate that. Give them some glitter, a little scream, and a vain request for a selfie. That is the ultimate drug.
Irrelevance comes for us all, across all spheres of life. As a musician who depends on the public as a livelihood, it has fatal consequences. Apart from the loss of status, it also signifies the start of a barren financial run.
That’s why an artist kicks harder when they notice that they are losing relevance. Have you ever met a musician on the decline? Have you been opportuned to see what living in that state does to them? They are like broke junkies in dire need of a shot in the arm. They are restless and lack peace. They run from end to end, seeking solutions to halt the process. It’s a valid problem, one that they have to find a cure for. It is at this point that you get to know the difference between a smart and dumb artist.
Smart performers understand that fame is an accessory. They know that their power comes from the art and the control they wield over fans, come from the potency and spread of it. They aren’t deluded by the intoxicating “love” that they have enjoyed so far. While they revelled in the happiness, they never forgot that it is only happening because the music strikes a connection. That connection is why their ‘normal’ photo on Instagram gets thousands of likes. It’s also why there are air importance and value to whatever they say, so the seek for a solution no matter the cost to address that slump.
I have seen a number of artists orchestrate pathetic public beef to get back into the news. Blatant lies are told for clicks and retweets, false relationships are engineered and promoted. The dumb ones lack the range to understand their plight. And their desperation diminishes them.
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