Today there is a debate on whether a singer who doesn’t write their own songs can call themselves an artist. Personally, I don’t believe you can, at least not in that arena. 

If you do not write your own music you can call yourself a performer or singer, but not an artist. To be a true artist you have to use your own emotions and ideas in your creation. 

Recently we have seen artists like Taylor Swift fight for their music. She wrote and co-wrote all of her songs, but lost her ownership of them. She found the loophole of simply re-recording her music, so when something says in parentheses, Taylor’s Version, it means she owns it. Several other artists, such as Iggy Azalea, Meghan Trainor, and Rihanna have had to defend their music.

There are and have been many musical performers who have not written their own music, Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Monkees, and many more. 

Elvis Presley was an amazing performer who made all the girls go crazy and adults weary of his controversial moves on stage. I personally have great respect for him as a singer and love most, if not all, the music on his albums. I also grew up listening to the Monkees, Saturday mornings while we cleaned and danced around the house.

These singers bought the rights to a song they liked and brought it to life with their vocal abilities. Not writing their own music does not discredit their musical talent as these are all well-known legends whose songs touched millions, but we cannot call them artists.