Invention, Growth, and Reinvention. Michael Jackson changed his face more than his music throughout his 50-year long career, and his music changed a lot! Ditto that of Madonna and now with Lady GaGa. This for pop artists is artistic growth and re-invention. Sometimes we expect this from the music business, but I think their influence is healthy for all creative types, especially those that call themselves artists. The word artist takes a broad swath. So conveniently aimed at those with a paint set, but ascending to imaginative, visual and audible geniuses. It's the later of these two which really gives us something meaty, something of real substance to chew on and follow.

When you become an artist, you become a free creative spirit with not only the ability to go to new places, its sort of your responsibility to explore the outer fringes of you. Imagine being a race car driver getting comfortable with one speed and never testing yourself to gain the extra tenth of a second in a corner to become faster. Fast enough, isn't even in a racer's DNA. Nor should creative enough be in an artist's. But for that racer, faster is deeply rooted, and for artists, deeply exploring their creativity by reinvention should be too. Do you know the term pigeonholed? You might see this as your schtick, your thing, what you do. But the term is truthfully more like being put into prison. No one should seek being pigeonholed. Michael Jackson was raised in the loving arms of Motown music. So many great artists had blazed that trail like The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, and The Imperials, a list that goes on and on, even to include The Jackson Five. ABC, easy as one, two, three, and Stop the love you save may be your own, were great lyrical works of art. But were they masterpieces to the likes of Thriller? No, they were not. Jackson not only had to re-invent himself to make Thriller happen, he actually had to do it twice, and he had to leave Motown Records, and re-team himself with a master producer like Quincey Jones. THAT'S RE-INVENTION!

In the process, he partnered with director John Landis to create Thriller in what was actually a theatrical short film (15 minutes long), and which would not only go on to make Thriller a bigger record-breaking hit AGAIN a year later, it would make MTV a household name. Jackson went from a Motown child star, to pop star, to the king of pop, and he sure as hell didn't do it by remaining the same. He didn't do it by being comfortable. He did it with constant artistic growth and reinvention. The same can be said of Taylor Swift. She began as a young country songwriter, who became a country singing sensation, and is now one of the most played and listened to powerhouse pop stars on the planet. Constant artistic growth and reinvention. Lady GaGa? Not only the same, but she also read the book on reinvention. She learned in her business of music that growth Is not only good for an artist; it's essential. I think the best reason for a reinvention of all though, is expanding the languages for your creative voice. This not only allows you to express yourself in new ways; it allows your work to reach new audiences. If you paint, and you only paint one thing, you will likely master it. But watch out, because it may become the master of you! You'll become comfortable, and creating will become easier and easier, and as you end up doing the same things over and over again, your work will become less and less original. One day you're not an artist anymore, you are simply a renderer. So what drives a lack of growth? I say it's laziness or fear. Laziness is hard to fix, but fear can be conquered. Fear can be based in - If I stop doing my bread and butter thing, I'll starve. Is this realistic? You bet it is. It's not easy "for most" to make a living with their art. So when we find that thing that works, we do it until we're trapped by it artistically. Hopefully not. How do you venture away from security then? Well, one way is to simply try new things at the same time. Using my band analogy, there are many bands touring the country repeating their hits from the past. Does it make them money? Yes. But I'm sure most would much rather be making new music. Instead, they've been pigeonholed into the past. If you've been feeling like you need a change, you owe it to your artistic self to explore and embrace change. Seek an improved you! Live An Artful Life, Tom