What makes an artist an artist?

Setting apart a performer from an artist in the world of music is as pointless as debating which came first, the chicken or the egg.  The simple answer is, we don't know, and never will, because ultimately what makes an artist an artist is completely down to interpretation.  However, that shouldn't prevent us from giving it the consideration it deserves.

The inspiration for this questionable matter was sparked from an article published by NME, which the majority have probably already read, (if you haven't, read the article here).  The piece reported on a comment made by a member of The Vaccines, the indie rock band who stormed into the UK music industry last year with their debut album, 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?'. Freddie Cowan, the band's guitarist, conveyed that pop princess Rihanna is not a real artist because she does not write her own music.

Cowan remarked, "she has 15 writers, 15 songwriters and 15 producers all fighting for space on her albums and she's the face of it."  And in retrospect, this is true. Rihanna's huge international success has quickly sent her to becoming one of the biggest popstars on the planet, but her journey to stardom may not have been so starry without the team of individuals who went leaps and bounds to secure Rihanna's fast ticket to fame.

Nonetheless, does this stop her from being categorised as an "artist"?  In one way, yes.  An artist is defined by their level of creativity and passion, their ability to express their emotions and experiences through the lyrics in their music. Consequently, if a musician were to use the creativity and passion of a songwriter rather than their own, this merely makes them a performer.  In the same way that reading aloud a poem written by somebody else does not make you a poet, singing a song written by somebody else does not make you an artist.

On review, it would seem as though Freddie Cowan has a point.  Then again, his further comment of "I have nothing against it, but I don't want to be associated with it" leads me to question at which point musicians not writing their own music became so repudiating.  Do we lose any respect for Rihanna for not writing all her own material?  While some may say yes, I don't think we do.  After all, there are a number of singers from the past who, like Rihanna, were the faces of songs which they didn't write themselves and are still considered to be legends of the music industry in the 21st Century.  The most well-known hits of the brilliant Frank Sinatra were written by professional songwriters, notably "My Way", "Come Fly With Me", "That's Life", and "I've Got You Under My Skin" were among these.  Welsh superstar Sir Tom Jones did not start writing his own music until he was 62; such tracks as "What's New Pussycat?", "It's Not Unusual" and "She's a Lady" are considered to be the largest successes of Jones' career, yet were not actually written by the singer himself.   Aretha Franklin's massive hit "Respect" was in fact a track written by Otis Redding (subsequently inspiring Franklin to begin writing her own music), yet respect is certainly not something we lose for this highly talented performer just because the song was written by someone else.

Even the king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley, had the majority of his songs written for him.  In fact, it was stated by Mick Jagger that Elvis was "a unique artist...an original in area of imitators."  And there's no doubting that Elvis was original.  He introduced a fresh, new and quirky style of music to the ears of several generations, something nobody had ever heard before and ever will again. Thus, it seems Elvis was an artist, but perhaps an artist of his genre rather than an artist of the music.

These world famous singers were and still are adored and loved by so many, regardless of whether wrote their own music or not.  It is questionable, therefore, as to why the same attitude cannot be applied to the singers and performers of the modern age.  Perhaps, it is the sheer difference in musical and historical eras which set the two apart.  For Elvis, Franklin and Sinatra, the music world was a different place to the way it is now.  The competition has since grown in ferocity, and a singer must fight for longer and harder to attain their own little bit of spotlight.  If songwriting is what defines an artist, diversifying a performer aside from others, then that is what they will do to prove that they are distinctive, new and one-of-a-kind.

It is also hugely significant to contemplate where the songwriting industry would be without a need for songwriters.  There are a vast number of people in the world who have an exceptional talent and gift in writing music, but do not possess the vocal ability to perform the songs themselves.  Singers and songwriters heartily rely on each other - often, neither can gain success without the other one.

When all is said and done, we can probably assume that Freddie Cowan's comment about Rihanna's lack of songwriting credit was evoked by a want for publicity, along with a supplementary inkling of the green-eyed monster.  Maybe if The Vaccines concentrated on their own music rather than denigrating other performers, they might actually have a chance at producing material more worthy of attention.