This new release from yesterday 7.17.26 definitely highlights a combination of being influenced by my surroundings and my own ethos and values. There’s definitely a buzz and a unity going on because of the World Cup.
The song also addresses an overarching themes of the Artemis Amenti title album “Victory Joy: Unboxed” of sovereignty and interdependency, as well as defining one’s own success, and celebrating the victory of one’s life, in and around the greater context of society & culture and even cosmos.
This is a great example of starting a song with the title first, which doesn’t always happen, but for me this can be a really great starting point, and one of inspiration, enough to finish the rest of the song.
Whenever I have ideas, or even fragments of ideas, I record them on voice notes – sometimes I’ll piece fragments together. Victory Joy was groups of phrases and melodic fragments that eventually coalesced as a song. I keep a rolling list of ideas going.
I knew that for the vibe of the song I wanted a driving, inspiration track like U2 or Coldplay, something fitting the subject matter but not too obvious. I like to give myself the harmonic and subject matter freedom, especially functioning as an indie label, and also as a writer and producer of classical and electronic music.
When it comes to staying in motion and staying creative, I will use whatever I have available to make songs or tracks. In that way it becomes sort of journalistic or like a travelogue. Wherever and however one can capture the moment and that the mood, that becomes part of the character of the song.
There’s much to keep on learning – that will always be the case. I have definitely become skilled at staying in the flow though, and continuing the creative process in different circumstances.
There are a couple of methods that really help me: I assume right away that the song I am writing or that I have in mind is a good song and secondly that I have to finish it no matter what.
Back in the day, I would leave fragments dangling and not finish tracks. That is no longer the case and I am so much more satisfied overall because of that, no matter what people may say or not say, there is a body of work I’ve produced and I can see and track the evolution of that. It becomes a part of my personal history, in addition to wanting to speak to people, and circulate, and add to the music culture.
It is so much more interesting to realize as much of the possibilities as one can, in my opinion. Even though I’ve become really productive – there is always more to make, like the pages of a journal or ongoing story.
I’m definitely not a perfectionist, and as a result I am positive and encouraging of others’ output as well. While it’s difficult to keep track of everything that’s going on around oneself, you can be on the right side of history in encouraging people’s creativity and development, rather than the opposite. It’s that simple.
The lyrics of “Victory Joy” and the music as well, express different flavors of the feeling of success or achievement in whatever that is that’s important to someone. Joy is a feeling one gets from constructive positivity, clarity and transparency.
When I’m producing a song, I may plan first, or just try to let my mind go blank and get into the stream of consciousness – whatever words come out I jot them down, understanding that I can always change them later. For the melody, I tend to prefer soaring and a combination of expected and unexpected / conventional and unconventional. Sometime I use the piano or keyboard; other times I sing. I try to give myself the flexibility of different approaches. Sometimes I start with the drum track. And I’ll keep developing.
I hope that someone finds this useful, in allowing yourself to freely create and then edit a bunch later – or not! As far as what’s popular, I typically consider what I like first – unless it’s composing a commission with specific requirements, which can be equally fun – because then I feel good about sharing my results. From my outlook, authentic expression and variety come first, alongside accessibility and relatability. Whatever floats your boat or is important to you! Would it be great to have a “hit song” – sure! Right? That depends on a lot of factors, though, what type of music you’re making, and for what purpose. There are so many meaningful and purposeful contexts for music. I keep making music because I love to and that’s ingrained – that’s absolutely number one. And the “music industry” certainly continues to fan out and expand a lot because of technology. What was once accessible to only the majors is now available to everyone.
Happy Creating!