Question speaks for its self. I don't really mind but i do have more respect for people who write their own stuff.

Leave Janet Alone! Lol
[Edited 8/11/09 22:35pm]

As long as the music is great, I ain't got no complaints.

if they're a great performer or a great musician, then i don't care so much about whether they write their own music.

think about opera singers...they don't write their own music, but they're skilled and trained and admired. or classical musicians...

As long as it's not shit hop in even the slightest resemblance that they are making, I'm fine with them.

I loved Aaliyah!
so yes.

vainandy said:

To an extent.

If the artist is 3+ albums into their career; and, they still haven't made any major lyrical contributions to the albums that they insist on slapping their names on and get most of the credit for, than I don't have much respect for them. I don't like artists who take the majority of the credit for their album's success and all they did was open their pie-hole and use a voice that will probably end up being over-produced and/or autotuned within an inch of its life anyway. However, there are lots of artists who write their own music and the lyrics are absolute crap, so it can become a double-edged sword in the end.

Since song-writing is a very important element of the career that they chose to take up, I would like to think they should have something meaningful to say at some point otherwise I see them as just being lazy and getting over, because song writing is definitely the biggest challenge in the music making process IMO. Lyrics are the most important part of the song for me, because they carry the message of the song. If there is no message, than it would just be an instrumental track and you really don't need a singer for an instrumental track. Just my
[Edited 8/10/09 17:15pm]

I'd respect the songwriter for writing better songs more than I would a singer who chooses to do them.

Timmy84 said:

Hello!

As long as I'm MOVED,,,,I could care less.

L0tusFl0w3r said:

Yes I can respect any artist as long as the music itself is good.

I don't respect any hip-hop artist who don't write their own lyrics.

Krytonite said:

I think they won't respect you if you can't freestyle, if you can't do that, then you're automatically shit according to real hip-hoppers, lol.

I hate to sound harsh, BUT.....

An artist is a person who creates art. And if that person doesn't create the art itself by writing the lyrics and/or composing the music notes, how can that person be consider an "artist"?!?

Think about it.

Timmy84 said:

Too $hort never did a freestyle rap a day in his life. But that never stopped him from releasing 15+ rap albums.

Of course you can. Equate it to a great actor and their movies, it's really no different.

I used to harp on about writing the music/material, but I really think it's more about whether the artist portrays some sort of honesty with the emotion and feel of the song.

of course.




It's not about what the do but how well the do it and how sincere they are.







That being said, I obviously hold Prince in higher esteem than Q-tip or Common, so playing instruments and writing does factor into my overall appreciation. But it doesn't mean I don't respect an artist for his or her craft.
Pavarotti rocked the shit out of Puccini, and I respect both to varying degrees.

estelle81 said:

Yeah, sometimes it can be the case that singers with a great voices might not be confident in writing their own lyrics/songs and sometimes there might be great composers who don't feel confident by singing their own work.
And it's not always the case that singers won't give credit to composers either.

anyone who can't should get their head out of their ass

TonyVanDam said:

it's just notes on a piece of paper unless someone can make it into a sound others like.

As long as the music is good it doesn't matter if they write their own stuff or not.

TonyVanDam said:

Yeah you said that once,,,,I thought your logic was absured and I still do, Tony

I think the notion that an artist has to be 'self-contained' and write their own material or else they're somehow incomplete is probably the single worst thing to happen to popular music in the last 1/2 century or so. Performing & writing are two completely different functions: there are a select few who can do both very well, but for the most part we'd see much better results if writers & performers would focus exclusively on the products where they enjoy a comparative advantage.

It certainly seems to me that there are far fewer classically melodic, genuinely well-crafted pop songs about these days, and I think the demise of the professional writer & the rise of the self-contained artist is likely to be the biggest cause.

Harlepolis said:

I hate when people say "I can't listen to them. They don't even write their own songs!"

They forget that not everyone is a one man band. There are people who can't sing but can write wonderful songs, so what does that say?

ehuffnsd said:

If "it's just notes" then we all here should get the heck to work at composing Didn't know it was that easy.

InsatiableCream said:

If the composing-talent is simply not there, you can attempt to nail down quality lyrics till ya see blue in the face lol. Everyone has their specific qualities imo.

TonyVanDam said:

So?

no one expects Placido Domingo to compose his own operas or wanted Mozart to perform his. can I only listen to the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra if the musicians write the music themselves? did anyone expect Franks Sinatra or Billie Holiday to compose all their songs? or Cole Porter to sing?

I see no reason why it should be different in Pop, Soul or Rock music

.
[Edited 8/11/09 2:16am]

Dancelot said:

I think Prince, The Beatles, Todd Rundgren and Stevie Wonder spoil it for everybody.

Timmy84 said:

I think the Beatles were pivotal in that, it all changed once the record companies learend, that you can make even more money if the artist performs AND writes


.
[Edited 8/11/09 2:16am]

Dancelot said:

But that also gave some artists a hard pill to swallow because those that spent their careers having someone write for them, that didn't work anymore or if it did, the performer had to get some credit for it.

but I have a different level of respect for those who do write their own music & it happens to actually be good