How great artists derive inspiration from their everyday life
“My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why I
Got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
And I can’t see at all.”
These lyrics are from Eminem’s song ‘Stan’ (ft. Dido). The music video of Stan illustrates how one of his crazy fans wrote him letters but none of them reached him in time. At the end of the video, when Eminem finally got to write back, it was too late — the fan had died in a car crash in the middle of the night as he was at the wheel, emotionally vulnerable and in over his head.
This music video wasn’t based on a true story. Therefore it gives us an idea of why great artists are so much appreciated by everyone. It is because of their unique thinking process.
But what exactly is it that helps them be so special? While some may say that it’s their innate talent, others would argue that they develop their skills as they learn from observing. That they see things differently — they see what most people don’t.
Most of Eminem’s songs are actually based on his life. He wrote many songs where he mentioned his daughter Hailie and his wife Kim. In some of his music videos, he also mentioned his uncle Ronnie. But all of those songs are worldwide hits, each with more than 500 Million views.
When thinking about art, people always assume that it needs to be aesthetic, greater than life, and have some obscure meaning that’s phenomenal. And what people overlook is the essence of being able to express a simple situation with ingenuity.
Now let us hover over some great examples of that. Have you ever wondered how Monalisa was just the portrait of a woman, Picasso’s greatest paintings were of a night sky and his self-portrait? Things that we see every day but don’t observe. None of these renowned pieces of art were of an imaginary stairway to heaven or a chandelier that no one had ever witnessed. But what set them out as extraordinary was how the artists were able to reveal the simple hidden stories behind the ordinary.
Even many popular Bengali songs can be relatable to real-life stories. ‘Bela Bose’ depicts the story of a failed lover and the struggles of the middle-class youth in our country to find a job in time so they can marry the person they love. ‘Rajahin Rajjo’ by Shunno portrays beautifully how some people exhausted with their tedious schedule decided to get lost for a day in the kingless kingdom of Shonargaon.
It is always good to find happiness in small things. It is always a blessing to have the people we have in our lives. It is a gift to be able to spend time with friends. These are the things that we often take for granted. People who became great artists always tried to perceive anecdotes from the smallest of things. They became great not because they were always surrounded by impressive things, but because they had a wonderful sense of remark for the things that happened in their everyday life.