SoreThumbThinking #1 - Imagine There's No Right Track Baby

Re-blog

When I asked my mum and friends about what influential creativity meant to them, they all said something different; my mum said “Oh well, it’s advertising, isn’t it?” whereas my friend who’s a professional singer confidently said “It is Music!”

Have you ever asked yourself what influences you in this world?

Are we even aware of what influences us? Some of us will say “Yes, that’s why I’m taking control of what I put on and in my body”. But even then aren’t we influenced by a new movement that dictates us to lead a more natural way of living?

And this is my point, influential creativity is all around us, from everything we see and hear. People who want or need to creatively influence you will go about doing it differently depending on their own surroundings and influences, and will choose a certain vector they will be comfortable with to convey their message.

For example, music is a big influence in my life. From the beat to the lyrics, I feel and love songs for different reasons. Some songs are more influential than others, either to me, you or the world. I associate songs to moods and life events. And when I have to recall events, I’ll usually first remember which songs I was listening to at the time.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one to do that though, am I?


Some songwriters are more influential than others for different reasons, and sometimes for reasons we can’t even explain because we weren’t touched by the message or weren’t the targeted audience.
An example of influential songwriter could be Stephanie Germanotta.

How many of us knew of her existence when she was an unremarkable-looking piano player and not the Lady Gaga we now know?

She wasn’t getting her messages across so she chose to alter her looks and do all sorts of attention-seeking stuff to draw us within her world of music. I’m not saying there are hidden messages in her songs, but even if she’s not your cup of tea, you can’t deny that through her extraordinary attires and catchy tune “Born this way” she was trying to use influential creativity to make us feel and behave differently… Beyond the act of buying her album.

In earlier days, other songwriters didn’t have to go to such length to achieve a similar goal. I’m thinking about John Lennon and his iconic song “Imagine”.

The goal of “Imagine” was and still is to make you think about what the world could be if we stopped focusing on borders, religions, and material possessions. Is it working? Obviously not at the moment but John Lennon’s song still appeals to people because we all want to live in peace, it’s an ideal we would all like to reach. John Lennon used his influential creativity to make us question ourselves in the hope that it would make us behave differently.


How we use creativity to influence our surroundings through music, art or advertising, to me, is about connecting with an audience on a personal, emotional or practical level; it is about understanding their lives, getting comfortable with them and letting them know that you are there to make them feel better, or be better, or make them question themselves by providing them with an emotion, an ideal, a service, or a product.

And there you have it, what influential creativity means to me!

But what about you? What are the first words that come into your mind when you hear “influential creativity”?

(The title of this article is a mash up of 2 songs, can you guess which? Clues are in the post)