I enjoyed Christopher’s visit to our class. He was funny and engaging and he clearly is very passionate about his music. It seems to be rooted very deeply in personal experience. He talked about how the first song he wrote, “Your Clothes”, is actually about his ex girlfriend and filled with lines that they used to say to each other. He has little control over the visual aspect, but I loved the dancer in the music video and her struggle to jump reflected the heartbreak in the song. Chris also talked about being the drummer of bands he was part of in the past. It is a very different experience according to him, and your perspective and vision change depending on your role. His music seems to be very angsty and emotional, drawing from parts of his past. He made a joke that when he’s happy you just have to “get on a bike and ride until something bad happens”. Creativity can certainly be rooted in tragedy, but I like that he was able to joke about it because of course you can be creative without having angst as a main drive.