What is the Purpose of My Art?

This is a question that I often find myself asking: What is the purpose of what I’m doing? Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of my art? What do I want people to understand from the creation that I am putting out there? What do I want people to gain? How do I want people to feel? I think these are some big questions you need to ask yourself as an artist in order to help you relate to your audience at the end of the day. What is the purpose?

For example, one purpose of Kidz On Acid is to show all kids and everybody that they can be as creative as possible. They don’t have to conform to societal norms; they don’t have to become doctors, engineers, or pursue anything that, at the end of the day, is considered "safe." They can be very ambitious. They can pursue creativity and be free spirits. So, any piece of art or anything that I do with KOA is to enhance that purpose. At the end of the day, one of the big questions that I have been asking every single artist when I interview them is, "What is the message?" You know, I think purpose and message go hand-in-hand because often the purpose of our music is directly correlated to the message we want to send, or our message is directly correlated to the purpose. Those two things go hand-in-hand. I've noticed that a lot of people inspire others to essentially be themselves, and it gets me thinking: Why is it that in our culture, people are often not themselves? Why is it okay not to be who you are and who you want to be? It's like I feel like it’s almost... Why is it okay to wear a mask every day? At the end of the day, to me, I feel like it's not okay to wear a mask. It's not okay to put up a front. You should always be uniquely yourself and stay true to who you are. But my thing is, I feel like a lot of people... I don't think people really want to be themselves at the end of the day. I think a lot of people just want to conform and just be accepted, be appreciated, be loved, not for them, but just for what people want. I think at the end of the day, that wouldn’t particularly be fulfilling. I wouldn't be happy if I were somebody else and not who I am. 

So, I think at the end of the day, it’s most important that we all stay true to who we are, especially as creatives. I can understand getting wrapped up in the mindset of, "Oh, I have to be this, I have to be like this," but I think at the end of the day, in all aspects of life, we just have to ground ourselves. What is my purpose? Why am I here? What do I want to serve as my purpose, and what is the message that I want people to take from my life? So, if you’re struggling to determine that in your art, in your music, in yourself as a person, some of the things you can do, obviously, are meditate. And I think it really helps to take a step back from everything, you know, almost readjust, and come out of it with a fresh perspective because when you come out with a fresh perspective, a lot of the old thoughts are dissolved, and a lot of new evolution is noticed from what you initially had, and a lot of growth comes out of that. So, at the end of the day, I think one of the biggest questions that you can always ask yourself to help yourself and guide yourself, especially being a creative—I know being a creative is very, very challenging—is, "What is the purpose of my art?" Always ask yourself that your art is always aligned with your purpose and the things you want people to receive, so that you’re not putting up a false persona and that you are staying true to yourself.