How Artists Become Legends
A Theory Behind Legendary Artists.
[This post was originally published on Sep 15, 2021]
I felt extremely sad when I heard about the passing of musician Sunil Perera last week. The amount of sadness was somewhat surprising because I did not know him personally, nor have I spoken with him ever.
It made me wonder what makes us so emotionally attached to personalities like musicians or, on a wider scale, artists (actors/writers/creators) that we adore. I'm trying to gather some of my thoughts here.
1/ Art relates to our identity
The memories went back to my childhood when my father bought me the ‘Signore’ cassette tape by the Gypsies in 2005. We listened to it on Sundays, laughed, and sang along.
Growing up, being the ‘guitarist’ among my friends, I was a guy who knew these songs and sang them at parties. Experiences with art become parts of our identities. We talk about them all the time.
2/ Artist’s success is his followers’ success
Whenever I saw the Gypsies perform, I saw the audience having a cracking time. It made me proud to be a fan of them and tell others around me how good they were.
Artist’s success somehow translates to their follower’s success. I know it’s a bit weird when you put it like that, but think about the last time talked highly and recommended someone a good song or a movie….
3/ We know all about our favourite artists
The good and the bad. Fame makes artists vulnerable. The ones who turn this vulnerability into impact effortlessly communicate their authentic self to their followers. We love authenticity. This makes us stronger with 1/ and 2/ above.
4/ We cry for the emotions they created in our lives.
In hindsight, I figured I wasn’t sad about the passing of the ‘person’ Sunil Perera. He probably lived a happy life with what he did and his loved ones. But I was sad about the passing of the feelings that the ‘artist’ Sunil Perera had created in my life.
I felt proud when I knew all the words of his songs while singing them with my friends. I felt overjoyed when we laughed at the meaning of those songs and enjoyed the tunes. We simply had so much fun for ourselves with that art.
So ultimately, maybe it’s not what the artist accomplished, but what we accomplished with the art. It’s not what he felt, but what we felt with him. The stronger we felt, the stronger we thought we were connected to him.
At this point, you might wonder whether this is a conclusion about selfishness. But I would argue otherwise. These are natural traits of being human. The point is — it’s only art and artists who can trigger these feelings in us at scale.
RIP Sunil Perera. You have inspired generations…