How To Be Creative: Music Writing, with Philip Sherburne

For the second How To Be Creative: Conversations, the music writer and critic shares the ins and outs of writing in this space.

This How To Be A Creative™ seeks to help creatives navigate the process. Revisit older entries in the series, like How To Be A Creative, How To Run A Newsletter, How To Write About Art, How To Write For Social Media, How To Pitch, How To Decorate, How To Give A Gift, How To Go To Grad School, How To Host a Dinner Party, How To Dye Your Hair, and an interview with Max Berlinger on writing about fashion.

When I was thinking about writers and creatives that I wanted to chat with for the How To Be Creative™ conversations series, Philip Sherburne was my dream pick not only because I admire his work but because I was so curious to understand his approach to writing reviews and writing about music. While I’ve not aspired to be a music writer, I do at points dabble in the space as someone who writes about the arts, at large — and it’s one of the more challenging disciplines to cover as I have trouble translating sound to words. Food and visual arts and fashion and film and books and design and architecture? Not a problem — but music? Oof. For whatever reason, that’s something I struggle to fully grasp (or hear).

In our live chat last Wednesday, we got to peek behind the curtain to understand how Philip approaches everything from selecting music to cover in his newsletter Futurism Restated to his process in forming a review for a site like Pitchfork. It’s much more detailed than I ever could have imagined, not that that is at all surprising: he explained listening to an album in different contexts, studying and reviewing earlier works, diving into the genre and into the songs themselves. A combination of free association and deep research, the key to writing about music like any art form is to soak yourself in it, to learn so that you can meet the music on its level. That is a key piece of advice for anyone hoping to write about the arts.

Another tip, for anyone who is an aspiring creative, which I’ve said many times: do what you want to do — or what you like to do — in public. Philip explained that his writing career is tied to his writing in online forums and discussions, which opened the doors for opportunities outside of these spaces. The rest is history, which is a history that I can relate to and that you can easily repeat too.

Enjoy a clip from the conversation above, which is a little less than half of the conversation. The full conversation is at the bottom, after the paywall.

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As a reminder, these conversations ~are free~ and I encourage anyone and everyone who can possibly make it to join, as a for-the-community creative learning session. This isn’t just a way to give back to all of you readers, to hopefully offer some community and brightness in grim times, but to also support working creatives like myself and like my guests. It takes a village and, if you’re reading this, you’re in that village! And you gotta show up, or else this village is gonna disappear, etc.

So…what’s next then? We’ve got two great writers to round out the year, who are coming to us with almost back-to-back timing.

• Happening November 22 at 10AM PST / 1PM EST / 7PM CEST, we’ll be joined by Rax Ishida Will for a conversation exploring queer narratives and translating identity into writing. Rax is a writer and professor who has written for Them, Into, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Eater, and more along with running the newsletter Rax’s World. If you’re queer (Or of any identity!) and are hoping to translate your experiences into traditional and non-traditional writing, this one’s for you.

🗓️➡️🌈 RSVP to Rax’s event and add to your calendar here 🌈⬅🗓️

• Happening December 3 at 9AM PST / 12PM EST / 6PM CEST, we’ll be joined by Sarah Labrie for a deep dive into memoir, essay, and beyond. Sarah is most recently the author of the memoir No One Gets to Fall Apart, which was one of the The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2024, an NPR 2024 Books We Love pick, and was one of Esquire’s “best memoirs” of the last year. Not only does Sarah write memoir and essay but also fiction stories, scripts, and libretto. Sarah has contributed writing to many places over the years — including her newsletter along with clips in The Guardian, Electric Literature, and the Los Angeles Review of Books — and this conversation will be a continuation of a chat on memoir from last year. If you’re an aspiring essayist or someone who has been dreaming of writing a memoir, this event’s for you.

🗓️➡️📖 RSVP to Sarah’s event and add to your calendar here 📖⬅🗓️

We’re ending the year strong: if you haven’t attended live, please join us as we’d love to have you. And please share this with anyone who might be interested, as we try to share the knowledge and creative wealth 💚

Now…onward to the full video of Philip and our conversation on music writing and criticism!