What do you think of singers who call themselves "artists", but don't write their own music?

Question

I thought that an "arist" made their own art based on their own life, feelings, and experiences, not someone else's.

Answer 1

Under that definition, classical musicians aren't artists. Any painter, sculptor, author or composer whose work is in any way a derivative of earlier work in the field may not be an artist either...and ALL art is in some way derivative of earlier work.

I would humbly suggest that you're right on the money about art being the communication of self-expression. It is a complex language unto itself, that communicates with other humans on a manifold, sundry levels.

Ella Fitzgerald didn't write her own stuff. Vladamir Horowitz didn't either. I could go on and on, but you get my drift. Art has more to do with honesty and the struggle to express oneself in new ways. In this sense the source of the composition is related but not a requirement.

But what you may be getting at is the dishonesty of the current popular music machine (of which 'American Idol', the Mouseketeer pop singers, etc. are part of) that produces sterile, heartless music that panders to the masses.

Anyone who really cares about music (or art in general) can immediately perceive the cynicism and lack of real humanity in the 'product' - and recognize it as devoid of any real artistic expression.

Very good question, best to you.

Answer 2

No, there are creative artists .... the people who compose the music, say ..and
there are re-creative artists, so called because they sing what is already made.... but it is not their own, so to speak. They must see into the intentions of the composer and try to sing it the way the composer intended. Sometimes they get to add a little something of their own.


Singers do not necessarily sing their own music.... think of all the Broadway musicals... the people who star in them did not write the music ....For Example, "The Sound of Music" was written by
Rogers & Hammerstein.... but the starring roles in the movie were sung and acted by Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The story/script was written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, but neither of them had an acting part in the movie .. or the play when it was in the theater.

As you know already, there are some singers who both write and sing their own music. They are lucky to have both talents. Not everyone is so gifted.

Answer 3

Good point, but Frank Sinatra didn't write his own music, was he an artist? And Elvis Presley wrote very little music. Many of the songs they sang were written especially for them.

You'll get some arguments.

Answer 4

I do. I am always inspired to write and I love to do it. I started writing songs when I was 16. I doubt a lot of these newer singers write most of their own stuff but a lot still do. Those are the best songs when the one who performs it also wrote it. Comes from the heart.

Answer 5

They are merely performers and tools of corporations. Those singers like Spears, Simpson, N'Sync, etc... are advertising mechanisms and nothing more.

You are correct in your definition of an artist. They create the art of music. Performers just.... perform. It's really quite simple.

Answer 6

To me an artist is one who creatively expresses.

A singer brings creative expression to music. No matter if they've written the song or not . . . it's how they put their own personalization through the singing of that song that is 'art form' . . . thus a singer being an 'artist'.

Answer 7

It's HOW they sing that song that makes them the "ARTISTS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For example #1, take the song originally sung by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway:: Today, Beyonce and Luther Vandross(R.I.P. Luther!!) sings the song "The Closer I Get To You" but, the song had been switched:: Luther sings Roberta's part, and Beyonce sings Donny's part. The song is on both artist's albums:: Beyonce's "Dangerously in Love", and Luther's "Dance With My Father".

Example #2:: Notice the MANY newer versions of Patty LaBelle's original hit, "Lady Marmalade"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are artists because they sing the song THEIR OWN WAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THAT IS MY POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

it might be more appropriate to call them entertainer. you can argue that some of them sing, and singing is an art. but odds are, the people who aren't writing their own stuff aren't really singing live either.

Answer 9

they're fakers. they don't sing the songs that well cuz they can't put a lot of feeling into it. if they rnt even smart enuff 2 write their own songs, then they rnt smart enuff 2 understand wut the song they're singing is about!

Answer 10

I don't care wether they write their own music or not, I still consider them as artists.