Last night I had the pleasure of attending the sold-out Lindsey Stirling concert at the Rialto Theater here in Tucson. It was an inspiring evening, not just because it’s always inspiring to listen to good music, but because it was wonderful to see a stage full of people who appeared to really love what they do. Furthermore, I find Lindsey Stirling inspiring because she found her own little niche — dancing while playing the violin paired with dub step music, with forays into geeky themes — and became hugely successful with it. Many of her shows on this tour have/are sold out. She has over 2.5 MILLION fans on Facebook. And the show last night was filled with a wide demographic of people. I saw fans far younger than me and fans older than me. I ran into some of my gaming friends and my hip-hop teacher and later learned that one of our local drummers was there, too.
What I took away from this show is that it’s important to be true to yourself and what inspires you. Lindsey spoke about these themes a few times throughout the night as she explained the life events that inspired some of her songs. As artists, it’s a constant struggle to balance what you think people might like and want to pay you for, and what you really want to create. But I think the audience can tell when you’re being inauthentic, when you’re just chasing the latest trend or shamelessly pandering instead of showing them your authentic self. Oh sure, you might fool a few people and make a few bucks here and there, but you’re far more likely to burn out when you’re not doing what really moves you.
As an example, one of the songs Lindsey played last night was the Zelda themed. She rocked it out and seemed to have a great time with it and the audience loved it. It felt authentic. But if I were to do a belly dance to the Zelda theme, it wouldn’t have the same impact. I didn’t have a Nintendo when I was a kid, I’ve never played a Zelda game in my life, those aren’t my geek roots. To be true to myself, I’d have to dance to something about Dungeons and Dragons or the theme music from Guild Wars 2, because that’s my geek cred.
Obviously there’s no magic short cut to success. I’m not saying that if you find your own weird little niche and be true to it, that you’ll also get 2.5m FB fans and people screaming your name at your concert/performance/gallery opening. Your niche might not resonate with that many people. But it will resonate with somebody, and they’ll feel inspired in turn to be true to their own inspiration.