#brb making a post of all the times fob talks about expectations and being pigeon-holed as just one thing sucks

[lastoneout]

which fob song were you thinking of?? for some reason i can’t think of it and it’s driving me crazy also i love the idea behind the post so true <3

Oh, it's "What A Time To Be Alive" from their newest album! I'm literally obsessed with it, it's SO good and I am incredibly impressed that they managed to flip to a completely new genre that's so different from their other music and immediately nail it. (I'd embed it here but youtube is evil and hates embedding so here's the link.)

And tbh, if you'll indulge me, Fall Out Boy really is the band that, to me, most encapsulates the spirit of "we can do whatever we want who cares what anyone else thinks". Like all throughout their music is the theme of how expectations are a prison that destroys creativity and the best way to be free is to say fuck it, and I am so fucking inspired by them because of it.

So really, who gives a shit about consistency or sticking to one style or any of that crap! Be an emo rock band unapologetically releasing a goddamn Earth Wind and Fire song. Switch from western cartoon styles to anime to watercolor to oil paints to whatever. Write books and fanfics and poetry and video essays, draw and make animatics and comics and stickers. Stream video games and learn to sing and drop both on the same youtube channel. Make sad things and then happy things and then sad again. Switch genres from project to project just for fun. Because you might make some truly amazing art when you stop limiting yourself to one style, one skill, one hobby, one anything. Just do what you love, do what sparks joy, let your passion take you wherever it takes you, even if you've never been there before.

Like, that's part of why it annoys me so much when I hear people say they don't like when a band tries new stuff, or they wish they'd just stick to the same kind of music that made them popular. Or when I hear people say this about like, literally any type of artist or creator. You do not have to do the same thing forever. We SHOULD try new stuff and drop the old when we've lost interest. Insisting that artists never do anything new is how we get the 50th Marvel movie that's just the same as the last one, or 20 meaningless live-action Disney remakes, or youtubers or streamers or artists who keep saying they WANT to make new content but they lose their audiences when they do so they just keep chugging along with stuff they've lost passion for.

We should let stuff that was good go when it's time has passed and embrace new things, even if we end up not liking them as much, because we only stand to benefit from it. When we let artists and other creators and OURSELVES go out and try new things we get wonderful new creations, and even when we don't we still grow and will make even better stuff next time. We have to try new things and fail and keep going to grow as people and as artists and I will always encourage that.

That's what Fall Out Boy's music is to me, beyond emotional catharsis. It's a reminder that I don't EVER have to be or make just one thing, and that it's better, I'm better, when I don't let anyone convince me I do.

(Anyway that got long and rambly, sorry. And I know FOB aren't the only artists that exemplify this, but I do love them for really going out of their way to make it clear they aren't going to just do one thing forever. Especially because they're proof when people try new stuff they can make amazing art.)