For any form of art or creativity, the most difficult hurdle is often simply finding that elusive motivation that pushes us forward easily when it comes and stops us in our tracks when it doesn’t.
For anyone creative, especially performers and live artists, there was arguably no more difficult time for finding that motivation than the pandemic era of 2020, when live performances and social gatherings largely ceased and musicians, dancers, and even restaurant chefs were left to question just why they do what they do.
OKC-based singer/songwriter JMASTY found himself asking exactly that question at the time, leading him to pen his new artist-encouragement anthem titled, simply, “What I Do.”
JOSH MASTERSON: I wrote the song smack dab, middle COVID, during the pandemic. So, like, I was pretty low and sad and I just needed to write a song that was going to pick me up. And so, that’s what came to me was that song, “What I do.”
BRETT FIELDCAMP: Instead of dropping the track as another straightforward indie-pop single, JMASTY – whose real name is Josh Masterson – realized the potential to expand the song’s maker-minded message into a broader project that could help bring that motivational push to other artists across various scenes and disciplines throughout the state.
JOSH MASTERSON: I was like “what if we did a music video for ‘What I do’ where we show off as many artists in Oklahoma as we can and just show off what they do?”
BRETT FIELDCAMP: Partnering with directors Brylee Russell and Salvador Soldi, dancer and actress Brenna Noble, and a host of other performers, painters, cooks, dancers, and designers, Masterson created a music video for the song showcasing the full spectrum of art forms across Oklahoma.
Alongside what they’ve dubbed the “What I Do Crew,” Masterson and company are rolling that camaraderie into the launch of a brand new indie artist resource group as whatido.org.
JOSH MASTERSON: Rather than making this be a music video for JMASTY, we decided to create an organization called whatido.org, where people could just go there, find resources, opportunities to get plugged in and show off what they do in Oklahoma.
And so, that’s kind of the whole purpose of the video. It was really supposed to be, you know, this launch of this program, with the hope that we can keep paying it forward and doing a new music video for an artist every year.
BRETT FIELDCAMP: To select what artist that’ll be for NEXT year, Masterson assembled a panel of OKC tastemakers and fielded over 50 musical submissions, narrowing the hopefuls down to 10 acts spanning indie-rock, dream-pop, soul, and hip-hop, all set to square off on stage in a battle of the bands-style event July 20th at Capitol Hill’s Resonant Head.
Ticket sales for the event will fund a full-scale new video for the winning act, partnering them with other artists and resources from across the full range the creative community.
JOSH MASTERSON: What we shoot for in everything we do, it’s like how do we incorporate other artists, you know? Not even just visual artists, but people that make things, you know, that make food, the bakers.
All these people are artists. They all have their craft. They’re all local just trying to make it here. So it’s like, how do we, with every single one of our programs, make it as accessible as possible and invite as many artists to the table to do what they do?
BRETT FIELDCAMP: For more information about the first ever What I Do Summer Showdown July 20th at Resonant Head, and to check out the full song and video that started it all, visit whatido.org and check out the Events page at kgou.org.
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