We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taylor Corn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Taylor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Everyone always talks about how hard it is to build yourself up as a creative, but I never knew how taxing it could be mentally. In the modern age of technology, staying true to yourself and your craft can be hard, especially when so many people are trying to tell you how to go about it or how to showcase your material. Maybe I am more susceptible to external influences than others, but I started to change my process and music to try and fit what I thought people wanted to hear from me. This proved to be dangerous and sent me wildly off course. I did not even realize I had been doing it until I stepped back and looked at the big picture.

I had started to put myself in a box. I developed a series of limiting perspectives, telling myself I was a certain kind of artist and could only make that style of music, not taking opportunities because I thought I was too good for them, or shutting down ideas because I felt like they did not fit this persona I had created for myself. I aligned myself and my sound with artists I wanted to be like and wanted to sound like, but it wasn’t authentic. In all honesty, all it did was push people away from my music and put me in a state of constant anxiety and depression. I had unintentionally started to attach my ego to the results of my music, which led me to feel unfulfilled unless other people were happy for me. I kept doubling down on this mentality, thinking I just needed that one track to make all the difference, when in reality, even if one of those songs had popped, I still would have been unhappy because I forgot how to be content with myself. I forgot the sole reason I started making music: to express myself and understand my feelings.

Many renowned artists have talked about this dilemma before: making art or making what sells. It isn’t necessarily one or the other, but I have noticed within myself that when I made tracks to reach others, I wouldn’t even like the song much myself. As an artist and even as a person, you will never know what other people want. The best thing you can do for yourself and others is to be authentic. Make what you like, make what you want to hear, and create things that make YOU feelFocusingng on the aspects of music that make you happy will by nature create a better end product because it is real, it is genuine, and people can tell. People like music because they find something in it that they can relate to, and the only way to make music like this is by looking deep within yourself to express your feelings, and sharing your unique perspective. You never know who might be going through the same thing.

I know this will not apply to everyone, and some artists do not think this way and are merely focused on getting famous, which is fine, there is nothing wrong with that. I have just gotten to know myself well enough and realized that the pursuit of recognition will not fulfill me. I have been able to shift myself back to my original mentality, making music because I love to and I’ve been making the best music of my life. It is real, full of my feelings, and an extension of myself. It is no longer trying to fit into someone else’s narrative; I’m just telling my story and sharing my unique human experience. An unintentional byproduct of this mindset is that it has been reaching more people than ever before.

I am still actively unwiring my brain from this mentality; it got rooted deep in my brain, but day by day, I’m feeling better and need less and less validation from others to do what I want. For all those who stress themselves out about blowing up and making headlines, this sounds crazy but letting go of that desire is what will actually bring it to reality. Focus on the music, do what you love, and everything will fall into place. You can’t force something into existence but you can attract it by shifting your perspective. Most of the time nothing even goes according to plan anyways, so you might as well let go of your need for control and just enjoy the journey. Don’t focus on the outcome, focus on the process. Fall in love with the process and not only will you be happier as a person, but you will get so much better at your craft. Think about how much time you spend online or looking ahead and imagine what would happen if you put that energy and time into making the thing itself.

This is all the advice I should have told myself 2 years ago, but sometimes you have to do things the wrong way to figure out the right way for you. I hope this can help someone going through the same internal struggle. Take risks, live life, and don’t be so hard on yourself. One of my favorite producers (and now authors) Rick Rubin, has an amazing philosophy on the creation of art. His book “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” really helped me shift my perspective. Numerous quotes stand out, but I want to leave you all with this: “Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice or you’re not. It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, “I’m not good at being a monk.” You are either living as a monk or you’re not. We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.”

So do what you love, don’t expect anything, and it all will fall into place.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Tay Dreamin. I started making music about 4 years ago after a friend introduced me to the production side. I was instantly hooked and have not looked back since. It has turned out to be a longer journey than I ever imagined. As my dreams and visions evolved, so did my music and the parts of my life I wanted to capture. I have finally embraced that it is an ever-changing journey. There is no way to predict the future or how you expect yourself to end up at the finish line. The best thing I have found is to go with the flow and be open to new opportunities because that is where you draw inspiration.

As I have evolved through music, the music has also evolved through me. I first started out writing folk songs and creating very unstructured pieces. The truth is, I had no idea what I was doing. I was messing around on FL Studios, trying to figure out how the hell people made songs on this weird-looking software. Over time, I gradually became more interested, to the point where I would watch production or mixing tutorials every day. I started to develop a more cohesive sound that was moving in the direction of lofi mixed with elements of rap, edm, and pop. The first release I was truly proud of was “Joy Ride”. It was a love song, I was longing for a partner at the time and naturally sought out music to help me through it. I put the track out in 2021 and it has been one of the few older songs that has held its own against my more developed style.

Since then, I have continued to grow my sound and production skills, never finding myself staying in one lane for too long. I like a lot of different styles of music. I had a punk phase, a hyperpop phase, a bit of an edm phase, I’ve been all over the place. Lately, my music has turned into a collective combination of all these styles, I don’t really like to label my music but if I had to I’d say its moved towards electro-pop with elements of lofi, rap, and indie rock. I’ve been very proud of the songs I have released this past year, they feel like the real beginning of my artist career. I have strived to be true to myself lately, and it has trickled down into my music subconsciously. I let go of the need for external approval and have allowed myself to dive deep and make weird stuff that I think is cool.

This has worked out in my favor, because as of recently I have been finding an audience for the first time. One of my newer songs “Odyssey” has garnered a fair amount of attention online and I have been connecting with fans from all over. For me, this song marked the beginning of a new chapter, a more genuine chapter that is defined by the pursuit of greatness, not for Tay Dreamin, but for the music I can bring into the world. My overarching goal is to help people through music, like all of my heroes helped me through their music. I still have a lot to learn, but I am dedicated to this musical journey and so in love with the process of creating itself. It is such a cool thing that we are able to share something we made on our own with anyone else in the world who wants to hear.

I am working on my first album and extremely excited to share it. I am still piecing everything together; I have been creating as much as possible while also living life as much as possible so that I can choose the most meaningful pieces to include on this project. Instead of having a direct vision for the album, I am letting it write itself which may sound weird, but I wanted to create something that was not specific to any one part of my life, but to all of it as a whole. The songs I have been creating for this project are unlike anything I knew I was capable of. I have let go of self-imposed limitations so that nothing clouds my perspective or judgement. I am very excited to continue growing on this journey as an artist and as a human. I’m thankful to be able to share my story with you all, if you want to keep up with my music, you can find me under Tay Dreamin on any platform. Hopefully, I will see some of you all face to face one day, and I hope that my music can help you in some way.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

We have all felt a shift with the digital age that has made artistry more accessible than ever before, which has ups and downs. Anyone can be a creative now, which is amazing; the internet allowed for a widespread platform on which people can share their art on. The only real issue is that in this digital age fueled by consumerism, everyone feels they must sell themselves. This has started to chip away at the artistry involved in making music and other art forms. Everyone is trying to fit it into a box so they can package it and tell people what they can expect to find. But art isn’t supposed to have boundaries, it’s supposed to transcend them.

As a society, we can start to break down these walls and reconnect with simply making art. With things like TikTok and Instagram, many artists (myself included) have found themselves getting caught up in trying to reach people. Everyone is focused on the outcome of what they are doing, how many streams their song will get, and how much they can sell their painting for, but we will never feel fulfilled with those mindsets. We have to create because we love it, let go of all the other bullshit and we will naturally find the audience that connects with our craft.

That is easier said than done, but anything is possible. This generation will get fed up with how chronically online we all are. I may be completely wrong and this is how things will be from now on, but I want to focus on the process and stop worrying about the outcome. I cannot control it anyway, so if I like a song I am making, that should be enough. If other people like it too, that is amazing, and I am glad I could connect with them, but that should never be the intention of the art.

We can also be a bit more graceful as a species, allowing people to explore themselves creatively without so much critique. Everyone is quick to judge because it has become second-hand nature for humans. Maybe we can just try and appreciate things as they are instead of trying to change them. If you do not like what you see, find something else because its surely out there. Please don’t waste your energy bringing someone else down for being themselves or sharing a part of themselves. If we return to guiding the artistic process with love instead of fear, we can all experience a better world.

Contact Info:

• Website: solo.to/taydreamin
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taydreamin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taydreamin
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@taydreamin.