Musical savant Jacob Collier has been taking the music world by storm over the last few years. He started on youtube by posting humble covers of famous songs in a way that only Jacob Collier can do. More instruments than you’ve ever seen – all played by him. Chord substitutions galore, instruments you’ve never seen, all performed with the technical mastery of someone who’s been playing them for 50 years. 

He got the attention of music nerds across the world who spread the word and ogle at his abilities, commenting about how they’ll never pick up their instrument again after witnessing his skill. 

He’s now worked with some of the biggest names in the business. Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Chris Martin, Ty Dolla Sign, T Pain, John Legend, H.E.R., Tori Kelly, just to name a few – an eclectic group of artistic powerhouses. He’s also won 6 grammys. Many praise him as undeniably talented, even “this generation’s Mozart” and the higher ups in the music world would seem to agree.

The flip side of the coin is that apart from his absurd musical talent, many claim that his music “just isn’t fun to listen to.” Too many sounds, too many chords, there’s no soul, etc. The argument then being: who cares how “good” you are at music if you can’t write a good song.

Rick Rubin, on the other hand, is the producer, studio owner, philosopher, and yogi behind some of the biggest musical projects of all time. He’s produced for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, Jay-Z, Brandi Carlile, Tom Petty, Weezer, Lana Del Rey, and Kanye West just to name a few. 

He’s one of the most well respected producers and thinkers in modern music, and he can’t play any instruments. He’s essentially a music philosopher who guides artists in the direction of good music via his feedback in the studio. “Look for what you notice but no one else sees,” and “All that matters is that you are making something you love, to the best of your ability, here and now.” are grand statements that stand out among many from his New York Times #1 Best Selling Book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. He seems to have a grip on what good music is, and the resume to prove it.

They would appear like opposities. Collier, a master instrumentalist without the ability to make a good song, and Rick Rubin a master of songwriting without the ability to play an instrument. It’s not surprising that they disagree.

Rick Rubin famously posits that, “In terms of priority, inspiration comes first. You come next. The audience comes last.” An artist’s music needs to mean something to them first in order for it to mean anything to anyone else. If it doesn’t mean something to them, then why should anyone else care about it. 

On the topic, Collier says,  “I did a lot of research on Rick,” before presenting his own findings: “To me, the crux of this is that ‘this is for everyone’ or ‘this is for me’… I made a lot of my first work for me – that’s not novel to me. What was novel to me at the age of 20 was to make something for others.”

“I worry about the strong prevalence of an attitude like ‘the audience comes last’, partly because I also believe that there’s there just is no one way of doing anything.

“And I feel, as a deeply creative person, I would critique Rick,” Collier continues before concluding, “I don’t believe his audience is creative people. I think his audience is people who aren’t creative, for whom creativity is novel.”

“…I look at Rick and I, it’s like, has anyone ever debated him on this stuff, because there are ways of approaching creativity. As someone who solves a lot of problems myself and has my own particular angle… I’m not the ultimate angle. I’m me, I’m Jacob, I see the world of the way I see it.

“But I’d love to sit with Rick at one point and just talk to him and to the card and push him. And I would also welcome to be pushed because all of us need to be examined, our opinions need to be examined and squeezed and broken.

“And I just think that anyone who sits there saying this is the one way to do it. You know Rick says things like ‘art is only pure of it’s made for only art’s sake. Absolutely false.”

As far as music beef goes, it’s certainly better articulated than what we’re used to. Rick has yet to respond, perhaps after this week’s self-discovery, meditation journey he’ll take to the cyberspace and reply to Collier’s ideas.