Almost Forgot This Was The Whole Point

Finding meaning in content creation, reconnecting with real people, and the work we put in to be able to do the things we love.

Hi everyone!
As some of you know, I had a live show this week… but it turns out a lot of you didn’t know. That in itself is part of the story I want to tell here.

I want to talk a little about the process and experiences over the last couple of weeks leading up to the show, because they’ve really highlighted (again) just how unpredictable and complex building a creative career is right now.

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Example 1: The Algorithm vs. Connection

A week ago, I filmed a quick video talking directly to the camera. I was reflecting on how I’ve been learning to create different types of content for different platforms and different purposes.

I woke up that day feeling energised, and wanted to talk about something that had been bothering me—how some of the content I put the most work into was getting the least views. And even though I wasn’t making it for views, it still got me down. Because whether we like it or not, we’ve all internalised this idea that a high view count means something is “successful.”

To counter that feeling, I’d started breaking my week into two content types:

1. One post to try reach new people (usually the more “cheesy” ones), and

2. Other posts that were more about building my world and connecting with people already in it.

What I noticed, though, was: the posts that got the most views had the least interaction. But the posts with the fewest views? They sparked actual conversations—DMs, messages, people reaching out to learn more about my work. So I shared that thought in the video. I opened it with the line: “I’m not meant to post this here—it doesn’t work on this platform.”

And yeah… it didn’t really “work.” Not in the traditional sense. Hardly any views. I even hovered over the archive button, tempted to delete it.

Then, out of nowhere, I got a message. Someone said my song “Real Friends” had helped them through a really hard time in their life, and they’d only discovered me on socials for the first time because of that video. They’d never followed me before—but now we had connected. (Thanks for the message Katie!)

That one message reminded me: the small connections are the ones that matter. The content that “doesn’t work” algorithmically is often the stuff that helps me find the right people—the ones who support the journey, the work, and the vision. This is such a head fuck cause how many views your content has has an external impact, to the industry and other people it still signifies success or status even if its not serving the purpose of finding people who love your music. It why we need our friends, listeners and fans to comment and like our posts, by doing so they are helping us reach new people and grow, it’s why I always make an effort to engage with my friends and favourite artists socials posts. The little things can go a long way.

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Example 2: Playing to Real People

The show itself was intimate, and that made it beautiful. It wasn’t overcrowded or intense, and because of that, people felt comfortable coming up to me afterwards to say hello and chat.

That kind of environment is invaluable—it’s what gives us the energy to keep going. It’s a reminder that all the stuff we throw into the void of the internet is actually connecting with people. It’s so rare we actually get to connect with people that love our music, and we musicians assume that if someone loves a song they will reach out to the artist and want to support, but playforms like Spotify are not set up to facilitate those connections, instead they are set up to stop them, to make listeners feel connected to the artist without ever actually connecting

But here’s what’s mad: even some of the people who came to say hi—who already followed me—still didn’t know the show was happening till the last minute and it took me running Facebook ads just to reach them.

It’s just another reminder of how hard it is to connect with the people who actually care about your work in today’s digital systems. Everyone’s different. Everyone engages in different ways. There’s no one-size-fits-all model for reaching your audience, and the algorithms are set up to feed us what stops us scrolling not what brings us deeper value emotionally.

But here’s what I’m certain of: when I focus on making emotional connections and music that makes people feel something, it works. Talking to people after the show—hearing their stories about how the music has mattered to them—it made me feel excited about creating again. It gave the next releases a sense of purpose, and one of the best things I heard was some of you saying you had met today and started chatting in the audience which made my night.

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Example 3: The Show Must Go On (Export Pending)

This show was a collaboration with WAIVE, a company developing ways to use AI responsibly in conjunction with archive audio footage. Those of you who were there saw the visuals on the back wall—my first time performing with a custom visual setup designed to support the emotional arc of the music.

It was a lot of work. I spent three days editing personal footage together with archive footage using the Wave plugins. Finally, on Thursday night—the night before the show—I finished 1 hour and 20 minutes of storytelling visuals that synced perfectly with the set.

I hit export.
10 hours export time??!!!! arrrrggggggg

All I could do was trust it would all be well.. why wouldn’t it be?

I went to sleep, crossed my fingers.

Woke up… it had crashed at 96%.

Cue panic. The day of the show, I was scrambling—trying to get it all rendered and exported in time. I have to break it into sections so if it crashed again at least I would have some of it that I could loop. My girlfriend was checking on export progress while I packed gear, and I literally sat in the taxi with my laptop, visuals still exporting. At the venue, I was transferring the files part-by-part and stitching them back together just in time for the show.

Somehow, it worked!

I’m sharing this not because it was smooth—but because it wasn’t. The assumption is often that things just come together effortlessly, but the reality is very different. That pressure, the unexpected chaos, the things that nearly fall apart—they’re all part of what makes these moments mean something. I had planned to spend that last day have a relaxed run through, getting to the venue early.. but hey it all came together in the end :)

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Final Thoughts

The last couple of weeks have reminded me that:

• Most people don’t see your posts, even when they care.

• Real connections often come from the “unsuccessful” content.

• We’re all navigating broken systems, but the people do exist.

• It’s the moments we almost fail that make the wins feel real.

So thanks to everyone who came to the show, reached out, or shared something with me. You reminded me why I’m doing this.