TOBI!!! I’m sooo into this. I mean this intro alone has me droolin! I’m going to take your lead and make sure I set up a little ritual (tea, incense, SOMETHING) as I partake. in your delicious goods this summer! PS I’m so happy you bake, but you’re not the baker.
haha thank you Kate! you know what's crazy? in an earlier version of this project, I considered suggesting a song or wine pairing to go with each essay. but i sort of abandoned that. if you do create a little ritual, pls let me know what you do!
Excited, inspired, ECSTATIC for your written album! I love the cover, I love the idea. I want more creativity in my own life and following your journey is the seeds of inspiration I am craving. Cannot wait for this series!
LOVE the idea of a “written album” - I too envy the musician’s ability to retreat and drop a body of work at once. Might think about creating something similar as an reflective artifact of my year-long sabbatical once it’s done next year
I highlighted, underlined, and dog-eared this piece in my mind so many times. Thank you for being such a champion of deeply meaningful & intentional creation.
I feel overall, I'm making a push towards creativity. It started out last July as a simple and naive piece I titled, "How do you do art?". I was feeling a bit out of it after grinding away at a 9-5 summer internship. I knew something else existed but didn't know how to "get there".
This opened up a whole floodgate of growth for me to do subconsciously over the last 10 months. I've only been publishing when I "feel" like it, which I suspect could be the direction I need to head creatively.
Overall though, I'm understanding creativity simply cannot be "understood". My current belief is that individuals can get closer to the source, but that process in of itself is extremely intrinsic and feeling based. It's been incredibly difficult for me to slowly peel back the layers of societal and western conditioning, but each time I make a significant push inwards it is the most rewarding and grounding experience. I guess in totality, this is what my discography is about.
(this is all heavily influenced by rick rubin btw)
i hear you, my favorite way of thinking about creativity is "creativity wants to play, it doesn't care about your goals" which helps loosen the tension sometimes I feel between trying to "productionize" my creativity. It can be really difficult to disentangle our ideas of self (ambitious, hard-worker etc) with the fact that creativity at its heart is play. even the idea that we "understand" creativity might not necessarily be the right frame, it's like a whole other living thing that we play and tango with, like you said we get closer to it and eventually live in symbiosis with
"I'm calling it an album because I'm jealous of other artists (musicians, filmmakers, clothingmakers) who can disappear for a while, get inspired, experiment with new styles, and make seasonal drops around a theme or emotion." - This resonated, excited to see what you have cooking up!
Congrats Tobi!! It sounds like such an amazing project. Can’t wait to see it out in the world. Proud of you and excited for folks to experience this juicy, impactful work ❤️
Tobi! What a treat to see how all these projects you've been working on are culminating. I particularly appreciate that you named how writing can also turn into this mad dash to create "content" that feels exhausting, exploitive, and a bit like empty calories. Yes to giving us that "fuller fibre wholemeal."
I also very much loved what you said about AI won't be able to replace human expression and imagination. Thank you for writing the "human things" - can't wait to read <3
🥹🥹 thank you Jasmine! Glad you got to see what all those rambling ideas from our writing sessions ended up turning into. Yes, the human things are so so important. I feel like my timeline has been so AI-oriented (for understandable reason) over the last year but I feel we shouldn't lose what's unmistakably ours!
TOBI!!! I’m sooo into this. I mean this intro alone has me droolin! I’m going to take your lead and make sure I set up a little ritual (tea, incense, SOMETHING) as I partake. in your delicious goods this summer! PS I’m so happy you bake, but you’re not the baker.
haha thank you Kate! you know what's crazy? in an earlier version of this project, I considered suggesting a song or wine pairing to go with each essay. but i sort of abandoned that. if you do create a little ritual, pls let me know what you do!
You know I will!
This is simply awesome, I love the album concept. Can't wait to read it.
thank you Emily! I'm excited for you to check it out too 😬
Excited, inspired, ECSTATIC for your written album! I love the cover, I love the idea. I want more creativity in my own life and following your journey is the seeds of inspiration I am craving. Cannot wait for this series!
thank you friend ! i appreciate you reading drafts of the stories and giving your feedback. excited to see what you too will create in the future ❤️
LOVE the idea of a “written album” - I too envy the musician’s ability to retreat and drop a body of work at once. Might think about creating something similar as an reflective artifact of my year-long sabbatical once it’s done next year
thank you Caitlyn, glad that concept resonated with you. if you do create something similar, pls share it
Will do!
Intentional writing.
🙏🏾🙏🏾
I highlighted, underlined, and dog-eared this piece in my mind so many times. Thank you for being such a champion of deeply meaningful & intentional creation.
I’m taking so many notes.
thank you for the kind words Riley! hope you enjoy the series :)
This is cool. Something I’ve also been doing subconsciously without realizing on my substack. Now it feels like my “discography”
ooh love to hear this, what themes or genres are you exploring?
I feel overall, I'm making a push towards creativity. It started out last July as a simple and naive piece I titled, "How do you do art?". I was feeling a bit out of it after grinding away at a 9-5 summer internship. I knew something else existed but didn't know how to "get there".
This opened up a whole floodgate of growth for me to do subconsciously over the last 10 months. I've only been publishing when I "feel" like it, which I suspect could be the direction I need to head creatively.
Overall though, I'm understanding creativity simply cannot be "understood". My current belief is that individuals can get closer to the source, but that process in of itself is extremely intrinsic and feeling based. It's been incredibly difficult for me to slowly peel back the layers of societal and western conditioning, but each time I make a significant push inwards it is the most rewarding and grounding experience. I guess in totality, this is what my discography is about.
(this is all heavily influenced by rick rubin btw)
i hear you, my favorite way of thinking about creativity is "creativity wants to play, it doesn't care about your goals" which helps loosen the tension sometimes I feel between trying to "productionize" my creativity. It can be really difficult to disentangle our ideas of self (ambitious, hard-worker etc) with the fact that creativity at its heart is play. even the idea that we "understand" creativity might not necessarily be the right frame, it's like a whole other living thing that we play and tango with, like you said we get closer to it and eventually live in symbiosis with
"I'm calling it an album because I'm jealous of other artists (musicians, filmmakers, clothingmakers) who can disappear for a while, get inspired, experiment with new styles, and make seasonal drops around a theme or emotion." - This resonated, excited to see what you have cooking up!
thanks man! yeah I hope this model becomes my norm in the future. seems more sustainable than constant delivery, you know?
Super cool, Tobi. Love to see you pushing boundaries on here!
thanks Sara! some of these stories were written in weekly Foster sessions :)
Nice!!
Congrats Tobi!! It sounds like such an amazing project. Can’t wait to see it out in the world. Proud of you and excited for folks to experience this juicy, impactful work ❤️
thank you friend!! ❤️
and thank you for reading the drafts of these stories 😬
Awesome idea— you might be onto something with the album framework. Love the concept.
Love this idea. I’ve long wanted to do a podcast album lol
Tobi! What a treat to see how all these projects you've been working on are culminating. I particularly appreciate that you named how writing can also turn into this mad dash to create "content" that feels exhausting, exploitive, and a bit like empty calories. Yes to giving us that "fuller fibre wholemeal."
I also very much loved what you said about AI won't be able to replace human expression and imagination. Thank you for writing the "human things" - can't wait to read <3
🥹🥹 thank you Jasmine! Glad you got to see what all those rambling ideas from our writing sessions ended up turning into. Yes, the human things are so so important. I feel like my timeline has been so AI-oriented (for understandable reason) over the last year but I feel we shouldn't lose what's unmistakably ours!