Being expressive with music and sharing his experiences through it has always been part of Cliff's musical style. Many people who have been listening to him for a long time have found a reflection of themselves in him. Because his music is designed to make you feel and relive both good and bad moments. That's what attracts his fans: the possibility of seeing themselves in it. This has brought him great success with all his releases. Despite this, and seeing that his technique has worked, he's eager to change his style.
The thing is, he mostly designs his music thinking about his own fans, and he'd like to focus a little more on them. When he started singing, that's exactly what he did, but little by little he shifted his focus and moved closer to his fans. He used to create polls on his social media so people could tell him what they liked to hear. He also read a lot, as thousands of people sent him letters with their experiences. Then he would choose the most recurring theme in the letters and polls and design a song based on it.
It's a technique that worked incredibly well for him until very recently. But it's time to change and focus a bit more on himself and convey certain messages he's been wanting to express. That's why he met with his manager to guide him through this transition to more emotional and personal music. It had to be done carefully because people were already used to his recurring style, and a sudden change could backfire.
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The manager had a lot of experience in the music industry, so he could foresee what was going to happen. When Cliff told him his intention and what he wanted to do, he immediately realized that it would cause problems for his career and his history of previous successes. Experience had taught him that if you accustom your fans to a specific type of music from the beginning of your singing career and then change it, it's almost certain that it won't be well received. He told Cliff that he wasn't opposed, since in the end, Cliff was the singer while he, as the manager, was just an employee, but he told him to think things through carefully.
He had to choose wisely what he wanted most: to keep people happy by doing what he knew already worked, or to change course and risk the unknown. But why? He didn't see any apparent benefits. For Cliff, it was a difficult choice because he didn't want to completely jeopardize his career, but as an artist, he had to change; he was tired of doing the same thing. He had to focus now on creating music that expressed how he felt.
Seeing this decision, the manager told him that if that was what he wanted, then he respected it. But he warned him that he would have problems because of it. There were two paths to follow from that moment on. He could gradually change his music and mix it with his usual style, or he could take direct action so that people would truly notice the change. Cliff was clear about it; it had to be direct. He had to say what he felt and why he was doing it. Anyone who only thought about results or money wouldn't have understood, but his manager was his advisor and friend, and he understood, which is why he supported him.
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Everything was decided; it was time to get to work. To begin, he made an announcement on his own social media, where he used to post polls, now he simply said to get ready for something new, something different from everything before. This raised people's expectations. It took him eight months to record the album and the songs. Luckily, what sped things up was that he already knew how he wanted to do them because he had been planning them for a long time. The album was released, and he waited a few weeks to see the results of the change in focus and style. The manager wasn't wrong; the sales were the lowest up to that point. And many people said negative things, like that he no longer connected with people and that it was better not to buy it because it wasn't like his previous work.
But several others appreciated it because they got to know more of Cliff's personality and saw a new perspective that made his music more interesting. For him, as a singer, the poor results compared to his earlier work didn't matter at all. What mattered was that he was expressing himself through his music and could share his feelings. The music was his, and he decided which path to take; it's not all about money and results. He's more convinced than ever that he's heading in the right direction. Many more people liked his new music than didn't, and that speaks volumes.
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