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just my two cents, i think many musicians get a chip on their shoulder when it comes to ‘showiness.’ it’s so normal to have technique held over our heads with any kind of formal or informal music training as a kind of validation to what we do https://twitter.com/summetmusic/status/1345502282482237442
obviously making music isn’t a sport, so many folks gravitate twd musical realms where technique isn’t a prerequisite to distance themselves from the mentality that’s pushed on us.
now enter jacob collier (or dirty loops, or yngwie, etc etc) who wears his proficiency on his collar and looks like an absolute mf doing it.. for me at least it triggers a “teacher’s pet” “gives u 20% for 200% attention while u give 100% for 10%” kind of feeling
obv he’s worked his ass off to be super skilled (note how im *not* saying ‘successful’) but i think with technique, many of us have a tough time appreciating it without taste at the helm. and seeing the ‘teacher’s pet’ get comically hype to make a stupid meme feels in bad taste
i do think there’s a wealth of enjoyment and appreciation you can get from admiring someone’s technique, but feeling like that’s the driving force just doesn’t hit for me and many and I think that’s perfectly reasonable.
as for me personally, i have a complicated relationship w the idea of technique.. summing it up, it’s like jacob collier is what every musician who’s ever lorded technique over me or my peers wanted me to turn out as so i get triggered when i see JC on the TL lol
anyway the point of this wasn’t to shit on JC as much it was to shed light on Why people get upset about his footprint and what he does to leave it. saying it again, i don’t hate JC at all, but i am irritated
