Cancel Culture Interview

Some of you may remember an interview I posted a while back with a woman calling herself FleurOracle (@ILoveMusic-fun). The interview took place in December 2024 after she accepted my submission of "Sunflower Girl" for her Spotify playlist. Soon after she contacted me about doing an interview for her new music blog. I was enthusiastic about the interview to begin with and fully cooperated with her, even passing on personal photos from different time periods as she requested.

I have now just seen that she has completely removed the interview from her blog:

https://www.ilovemusic.fun/2024/12/31/interview-david-william/

This is sad but not surprising to me. After the interview, which she finished and put up in January 2025, we exchanged a few private emails (at her behest) and then quite suddenly she cut off communication, albeit politely. I was well used to this pattern by now, it's been happening for so many years with so many people that I fully expected it. I didn't mind because I wasn't looking for anything else and the interview was enough for me.

I have to say, I had my reservations even at that time because of past experiences with people, especially those who come on strong to begin with, full of high praise. But I was just grateful to get some exposure so I went with it.

We had no more contact for about 6 months, until the summer, when she commented on one of my uploads, again complimentary. Around the same time I made a post (see here) which she engaged with and you can see for yourself how that discussion went. She unsubscribed after that.

I am writing about this not to spotlight her in particular, although it is disappointing that someone would delete an entire interview with a musician just because they don't agree with their viewpoints, but to highlight why it is I'm in the situation I'm in (low subscribers, very little interaction, overlooked) as some people are puzzled by this. This kind of thing has continually happened to me for many years now and in a lot of cases, even when I reveal a lot less than I did to FleurOracle. I sometimes get accused of being cynical and disliking people and so in my defence, I am writing this to show you why it may appear that way.

It is the reason I rarely collaborate with anyone, reach out to anyone or join communities. It is not coming from an anti-social attitude or rudeness or a superiority complex. It is simply that I've learned most people can't take me as I am. The only way I can get along with people is if I reduce myself in some way to be what they want me to be. I did that for many years when I was younger without realising and it hurt and stifled me until eventually I couldn't any longer.

I have also been aware of a long-running pattern where it seems certain people want to catch me out or try to prove I'm not what I say I am. These kinds of people often befriend me and profess to love what I do but secretly they are testing me, waiting for "the mask to slip". I sense this and sometimes I give them what they want just to get rid of them. Afterall, I'm not in this world to live up to whatever image they have of me or prove myself to them.

What's most disappointing for me is if people would just stay with the Music and don't try to get anymore from me everything would be fine. You don't have to agree with my views to enjoy the Music. I don't mind if you have differing views to me as long as we keep it a normal fan/artist relationship. There is no reason for us to interact any further than that. Of course, I love to hear from people who genuinely enjoy my songs but if you are so sensitive you can't handle my views then it's probably best we don't interact in any kind of personal way. This is a recent phenomenon anyway, as in the past most fans never got to interact personally with musicians. I like the idea of a more direct and intimate connection with fans but as lots of artists are finding out it isn't always working out too well because the world is currently so divided.

I would rather keep my views to myself (as I used to when I started out) but events in the world in recent times which have had a very adverse effect on my personal life have pushed me to the point where I felt I couldn't stand back and say nothing. These events have actually heavily held me back musically, which is something I am angry about. I rarely see anyone else expressing the views I have so feel someone has to offer this perspective.

I don't bother anybody with my views unless they enter into a discussion with me about such things. I actually made an exception to do this interview with FleurOracle because a few years earlier I'd decided it was best to keep things like interviews internal for this very reason. Guess it's back to that now!