Plenty of artists preach about their music making a difference and claim to honestly care about everything their fans may be going through, but there's a significant difference between caring about the struggle of a fan and caring about the struggle of a person.
I've seen artists shake off the hands of people who tried to hold on for too long, even when the song being performed at the moment was one that was meant to help whomever needed to hear those words, but Watsky is the only artist I have seen who held on to a person's hand and genuinely meant it.
For the length of a speech that talked about the fact that we were all there, not because we're fans or we want to be seen, but because we all love music, something that unites us all (about two minutes), Watsky held on to that person's hand, squeezing it, at times, both for strength and emphasis, and never let go or hinted that it was a really long time to hold hands with someone he had just met and whom he was reaching over a metal gate to get to.
Obviously, artists care about their fans; without the fans there would be no reason for them to perform, no one to buy their albums, and no way for them to make a living making music, but there is a very distinct difference between speaking at fans about the struggles you went through which inspired a song and talking and lending support to the people who have come to see and support you, in the same way that your music has supported them, without calling in to mention your personal struggles.
Watsky's not perfect, because no one is and no one should ever be expected to act as such, but there is something special about seeing an artist who genuinely cares about his listeners and views them as equals. Also, any artist who responds to someone's exclamation of "you're beautiful" with "no, I'm not beautiful; I have a lazy eye and a weak chin, but thank you" is awesome.
"Right Now" offers up a blunt retrospective on the incredible shortness of life with Lisa Vitale's eloquent lines "right now is right now, too loud to die down, right now is right now, no other time now" landing sweetly between Watsky's intelligent lyrics that lend themselves to a warped sense of humor "so punch the clock adjust your tie, spike the punch and touch the sky, life is hard and then you die, so let's all go hard tonight" and "let's keep it going and going, I'm talking moment to moment we live the high and the low, and then when we're broken like cracking open a coconut we pull ourselves together again and we gotta go".
The guitar is fun and fresh and Watsky's lyrics hit perfectly, always penned as poetry first, giving them an air of blunt honesty that's rarely found among the flowery verses of popular introspective songs; if nothing else, that back beat is guaranteed to make you move along to the most recent video released from All You Can Do.
"Right Now" Watsky featuring Lisa Vitale
