I don’t usually have thoughts of, “will people like this?” That might sound selfish to say, but it’s also a really important part of the process. If you try to please everyone—even just everyone in the room with you—you’re going to be quickly met with conflict and you’ll end up making something that doesn’t really please anybody. It certainly won’t make you feel good. It’s an impossible goal to make other people like what you’re doing as much as you do.

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As far as my style, it’s important to note that nothing happens in a vacuum. That’s the beauty of it. As you work with certain people, you discover different parts of yourself and learn new things. In those circumstances, suddenly some artistic change appears that you could never have predicted, just from the experience of being in the room with those particular people.

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The visual aspect of my videos is very important. Of course, visuals have always been important for opera, which is both a visual and an aural art form. If I can visually present my music in a way that I’m excited about, and if that aesthetic also taps into something that others get excited about, it’s more likely to be interesting to the viewer. With any aesthetic, of course some people won’t like it, but as an artist and a human being it behooves you to accept the fact that not everyone is going to like you, and not everyone is going to like what you like. And that’s okay. That’s part of the beauty of life. We’re all different, right?

by Arlan Vriens
& Michael Zarathus-Cook

A Big Year for Emily D’Angelo

After the release of her debut album enargeia, D’Angelo spoke with smART Magazine about curation, artistic integrity, and the communicative powers of technology.

“As far as my style, it’s important to note that nothing happens in a vacuum. That’s the beauty of it. As you work with certain people, you discover different parts of yourself and learn new things.”

Find this, and more, in the forthcoming print edition of Issue No.8. 

In the meantime, checkout Issue No.7.