Essay

Fan 1

Patrick Fan

Professor Walters

English 134

26 October 2019

An interview analysis of a musician

An interview is considerably one of the best ways that can help the interviewer to

understand the type of person he or she is interviewing or handling. And when it comes to the

music industry, interviews can enable musicians to express their performance creativity. Here in

this paper, I will provide an extensive review of some of the elements relative to the media

sample from my interview dialogue summaries with a modern-day musician.

An interview analysis of a Musician

In our case, the interviewee's audience is teenagers from the age of 14 years up to 25

years. This is a youth group-age, and most of them love music. And as one of the biggest fans of

rap music, I am confident that my interviewee’s music would reach broadly especially to those

who love rap music. And as such, I consider myself as part of his target audience because I am

looking forward to listening to more of his songs in the coming days, which shouldn’t be

surprising because I fall perfectly well into his audience’s age-target bracket. Therefore, I am

interested to know more about him in terms of his music and the message he is trying to pass to

the youth through his work.

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My expectations of this interview were to learn various things about Motta – things such

as what motivates him, where he gets inspiration from, what is the story behind his music like

Work Ethic​, what are his life goals. A highlight from my interview with him, was when he said he hoped that one day he will be in a position to give back to society by fostering needy children

as well as making the foster home system of the country better. And as such, to realize his dream

and fulfill this change, Motta needs to acquire enough amount of wealth, and most importantly,

have the perfect niche of the right influencer in society. All in all, his songs are moral and of

high relevance to the society because they not only express his emotions, but they also give a

fantastic feeling when listening to them – a feature that suits his set of audience and fans, i.e.,

people between 14 and 25 years.

And so, to say, with my solid understanding of how social media can affect musicians,

the main reason why I chose to interview this particular musician is that he accepted and okayed

my offer for an interview. When musicians are willing to engage in interviews such as mine,

there is no doubt that it would help them to win more audience and gain more attention in the

media mainstream. And as such, I am confident that my interview with Motta will be helpful

towards his goals and interests of wanting to transform the society through his music and talents.

There is no doubt that Media is emerging as the best platform that the vast majority of the

musicians use to advertise and promote their music. Whenever musicians produce albums, their

hope and aim are that these albums would impress their target audience. In other words,

musicians hope that people will receive good reactions once the music is released. And this is

usually done by using media services since there are fewer faster ways of letting people hear the

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music as soon as it has been released. For instance, Motta – my musician interviewee, uses

Soundcloud to showcase his music to the world.

Unlike a generation ago, thanks to the advancement in technology, musicians can now

use various kinds of media to promote their work. And one of the fastest-growing media

platforms that have taken the world by storm is the listening and visual media. The internet,

televisions, and even radios are some of the most convenient ways the vast majority, if not all, of

the musicians, are using to promote their work. Thanks to these social media platforms, today,

people all over the world are well connected in a manner that was only imaginary a few decades

ago.

Consequently, the writings of a musician play a significant role in their work. For

example, musicians get to express their innermost feelings about various issues or topics more

effectively through their lyrics. In addition to that, social media has dramatically changed the

way individuals used to interact with one another. This omnipresent connection not only eases

communication across the globe, but it also plays a critical role; especially when it comes to

conducting business across borders, and as such, industries such as the music has grown to be

one of the most significant beneficiaries of this global connection. And it is because of this

reason that the vast majority of present-day musicians and bands have changed tactics in terms of

how they market themselves as well as interact with their fans through social media. In my case

of an interview, Motta acknowledges the massive impact that technology has brought to the

music industry through various social media platforms.

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To that extent, Motta has helped me to change my perception of the musicians in the

hip-hop industry. I thought that all the rappers are in this business to gain fame and material

wealth. However, during the interview with him, I have understood that not all rappers, are in

this category. For example, Motta looks forward to being helpful to other individuals. Also, it

has helped me to alter the perception of music being a career; it is a talent. And from my

dialogue with Motta, it clearly shows that being a musician is a talent and not a career as most

people think. However, it is possible that one can start it as a career, but within a short period, he

or she may not succeed in it because it requires the talent to connect people through music

emotionally.

And with this impact, I will keep in touch with Motta because I would like to know more

about his progress shortly and see if he will implement his goals and objectives in life. However,

I am confident that with time he will achieve all his dreams in life because he is a go-getter

person and if he maintains the same spirit, there is no doubt that he will go far in the music

industry, and most importantly, accomplish his goals in life. For independent and right-minded

musicians like Motta, it is possible to transform the society in various ways because of their

willingness to support other people with their talent. Another reason that would make me want to

keep in touch with Motta is to see how his music writing, composition, and presentation is

progressing. For instance, soon, I would like to see and hear how he has transformed his music,

considering that he has written some immature music in the past.

Conclusion

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In conclusion, having a dialogue with a musician is considered to be vital as it helps them

to express what they usually go through. To the audience, interviews are helpful in terms of

learning more about their music, as well as finding more about the person(musician) himself or

herself. During an interview, musicians should tell their stories thoroughly because this is what

people usually want to hear. It is also essential for the musician and the person interviewing him

or her to be fully prepared for the interview. The more people enjoy the interview, the more

likely they will share the musician with friends – thus promoting his or her music as well as

making them accessible.

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References

Motta, Christopher, In-person interview on October 18th, 2019 Work Ethic by Motta, Soundcloud

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Appendix

Interview Transcript Me​: So what made you want to pursue music? Motta​: “The amount of emotion that is able to be expressed through music is one of the

biggest draws to me, and just the way you're able to change a whole person's mood with just

music is something that's really beautiful to me and for me to make music that could help people,

or you know just give him something nice to listen to is an amazing feeling and that feeling

kinda is what motivates me to make music.”

Me​: Nice nice. Where do you get your inspiration from? Motta​: I get a lot of inspiration from Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, XXX, J Cole, and

Chance the Rapper mainly because a lot of their songs you're able to feel the emotion and you

don't just listen to them you know their songs aren't just sound it's a movement and that's what I

want my music to be.

Me​: That's great. Let's talk about your song​ ​Work Ethic​. What was the story behind this song? Like what made you want to write this song?

Motta​: What I had in mind for that song that's kind of like how as you get older you evolve your thinking, in the beginning of the song I start off with the lyric "used to want to talk

to the baddest bitches now i only talk when we talking riches" like this really shows how you

know when your younger you kind of have the mentality of you know I want to talk to these

Bomb Girls and all that but as you get older you realize that the only talk that really matters is

money talk and trying to get up to that next pay grade, and in my song I also talked about how

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maybe you got to cut some friends off because either they don't have the same work ethic as you

or they don't have as big as dreams as you and you got to surround yourself with people who are

the same mentality, and that also translates who you're with romantically because if you're

somebody who doesn't want to work as hard as you then you gotta cut them off to.

And find a way to replace them with a significant other that wants the same things as you

want to be as big as you and wants to do their own thing and not just ride your coattails.

A good example of this would be Jay-Z and Beyonce because both artists were doing

great before they married each other but they realize that they were both people trying to grow

trying to be better and once they did get married they became you know a billion-dollar couple.

Me​: Damn alright I get it. Who do you want to present your music to? Like who are your intended audiences?

Motta​: I guess my audience would be teens from 14 to 25 who are rap fans. Me​: So what would be your ultimate dream of your music career? Do u ever wish to be

the next xxx or Lamar?

Motta​: Yes actually do because I want to focus a lot of my attention to helping out foster children and bettering the group home system of our country and the only ways to make that

change and to make what I want to happen happen is through a great amount of money and a

great amount of influence and for me I feel like getting to their level would be one of the only

ways to accomplish that I want to accomplish.

Me​: That’s great. So how has your music change over time? I know you have written a couple of songs since you had started, and of course your music has gotten better, what have you

done to improve your quality of work?

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Motta​: I feel like my music has changed over time in its subject matter because my early music is very immature just kind of talking about girls, sex, flashing off money, and those types

of things and around the time of my song ​Crazy ​ and ​Banks​ which are two of my earliest tracks they don't have too much substance those songs don't mean much to me they don't have too

much of my emotion into it.

But my newer stuff I'm trying to make it more personal more about my experiences with

love and my experiences with other people or seeing what's going on just kind of around me and

writing more stuff that I give my perspective about it and that's why I think my new music is

shining because one of the biggest comments I get about my music is that people can really feel

the lyrics and they could understand where I came from.

And actually this past Saturday I did a performance at one of my best friend's birthday

parties and there are about 20 to 30 people in the crowd at the time because I was opening and

once I finish my performance and a lot of people telling me that they were able to really feel the

vibe that I was trying to put out with the music and they saw that I really believed in my music

and that's what kind of help them resonate with it, so my goal now is it kind of makes stuff way I

put myself on the track as much as I possibly can.

Me​: that is impressive. I am happy for you! And how do you wish to change the current situation of the music industry? It’s totally fine if you think there’s no need for changes.

Motta​: I think right now the music industry itself is in a very weird spot because now more than ever smaller artists are able to put the music on platforms like YouTube Spotify

SoundCloud and other online listening platforms like that which gives them a free platform to

show their music to an unlimited amount of people through the internet and people nowadays if

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they Market themselves correctly don't need the benefits brought by a label due to that fact. So I

really like how now it's easier for smaller artists to get their foot in the door is not as much of

you need to know a guy who knows a guy.

Me​: I agree with you. What about the contents of the songs that are being put out？Do you think they are bringing positivity to the society or is it still much about money and power

and all that immature things you were talking about?

Motta​: Well for an older audience I feel like people are able to put aside all of the money drug and power talk in music now, but I think most of the damage happens with the youth

because they don't have that filter fully developed yet, and they could get a false sense of how

life is supposed to be lived through the music that they are listening to.

Me​: Yeah that’s true. younger ones are easy to be misled. Thank you Motta, I hope your music gets viral and you can help all the kids you want to help!

Motta​: Thank you so much too! (Edited to formal English Writing)

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Index of comments

1.1 Rather than explicitly state this, why not introduce the interviewee and the purpose/main point of conducting the interview?

1.2 Wordy and vague.

1.3 Again, wordy and unclear.

1.4 Him, who? Introduce the subject of the paper at the beginning.

2.1 Quotation marks, not italics for short works.

2.2 Not sure what this means.

2.3 Is this the main point? His songs are "moral" and appealing to a younger audience? Why would younger folks be interested in moralistic lyrics? Examine this as it may be your thesis.

2.4 Rough transition and you've lost me here. What does social media have to do with your interview?

3.1 Which is what, exactly? Explain. Also, where is the analysis of the song, "Work Ethic"?

3.2 What does this have to do with your interviewee? What does he have to say about this?

3.3 Long, rambling sentence that doesn't really connect clearly with your interviewee or a main point. What is the main point?

3.4 Is this the focus of the paper?

4.1 Rough transition.

4.2 Again, how does this connect with social media and with his altruism?

5.1 This essay had the seeds of an interesting paper, but the ideas are scattered and lack a center, a central point, that unifies all of these threads.

6.1 Works Cited. Also, the song is not cited per MLA.

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