"Musician" is a song by American record producer

Porter Robinson Porter Weston Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Robinson began producing electronic music during his adolescence. He sign ...

. It is the fifth single from Robinson's second album ''

Nurture Nurture is usually defined as the process of caring for an organism, as it grows, usually a human. It is often used in debates as the opposite of "nature", whereby nurture means the process of replicating learned cultural information from one min ...

'', released on March 3, 2021.

Background and composition

In 2019, Robinson worked on an unreleased collaboration with British band

Kero Kero Bonito Kero Kero Bonito (KKB) are a British indie pop band formed in London in 2013. The band consists of vocalist Sarah Midori Perry and producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled. Their musical style consists of indie pop, ele ...

. Samples from the demo would later be used in "Musician". Robinson stated in a tweet that he had a rule for ''

'', which was "no supersaws no 808 subs no classic breakbeats", but he decided to "have fun" with "Musician". In a press release, Robinson stated that "Musician" was one of the very last songs written for ''Nurture''.

Reception

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''s Colin Joyce said that, on the song, Robinson "mulls the difficulty of making art during tough times, flickering between despair and reassurance", by singing: "I just can't stop, I'm sorry / I can feel a new day dawning." ''Magnetic Mag''s Ryan Middleton stated that the "semi autobiographical track" describes "a eureka moment of finding inspiration."

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

writer Sose Fuamoli said: "It's here where we can hear him turn that corner and find the love in music that had been missing. The music swells and revels in being uplifting, which makes sense - it’s one of the songs closest to Robinson even today." Sebastian Flores Chong of ''EDMTunes'' declared that "Musician" is "an amazing song" with unique and distinct elements, while still resembling Porter Robinson's music style. ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' writer Chris Conaton describes "Musician" as "full electropop, with a host of synths, samples, and other electronic sounds providing the music", and further describes it as "a joyous-sounding pop track that sounds like a celebration without becoming cloying."

Year-end lists

"Musician" was ranked at seventy-fourth place on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's annual list of best songs and placed on their list of best electronic songs of the year.

Music video

The music video for "Musician" was released on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on March 18, 2021. It was directed by Waboku and Mah and animated by Dokai Asuka, rui, Ono Hokuto, Oyama Aiko, Sakai Hiroshi, Nishimura Fukutaro and Ryoko K. (Shatter). It has anime influences, similarly to "Shelter" and showing Robinson's "love for Japanese culture and the style of anime", according to ''We Rave You''s Ellie Mullins. The video is about a boy looking to pursue his passion for music at the risk of being outcast from society.

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Porter Robinson songs Mom + Pop Music singles Song recordings produced by Porter Robinson Songs written by Porter Robinson Electropop songs