Why write music? Hasn't it all be done before?
It's funny, I hear this kind of question a lot. People think there's a finite number of notes and ways they can be put together. Or a finite number of colours that can be used in a painting, so you're never gonna come up with anything that hasn't been done before. In response I tend to ask them what hobbies they have and why they like doing them, surely it's all been done before?
And of course the answer to all these is "it's irrelevant". The difference in the art you choose to make is not in what you make, it's in what it inspires in others. I never get tired of seeing how my music affects others, because it's always different. And it rarely reflects what I felt when I created it.
So remember, art only becomes art when people experience it. If you're inspired to create, don't try to create something new. Just create what you feel, and let everyone else interpret it.
I remember 10 years ago now when I was just starting out at college and I asked my art history teacher a similar question about originality.
He said to me that originality comes naturally even if what you create seems cliche. For example we all experience love but each person loves differently. Same with hate and pain we all hate and feel pain as we're human and it's a cliche but it all is slightly different.
My teacher said to me if you just look at how many people have painted and drawn skulls in art you'd think that Damien Hirst was wasting his money making one out of diamonds.
The point is that like you said it's irrelevant. Think about all the different covers of famous songs that have become successful some even being more popular than the original. Just because the concept and idea isn't original doesn't mean the perspective or approach can't be.
Do we stop loving because we have experienced love before? No! I think a lot of artists get very bogged down by the idea of originality. They have to be the first to have thought about something or to bring something into being otherwise it's not exciting. I just don't think this is true.
I think it may also be tied into the notion that if you're not improving every day you're falling behind. Sure it's nice to have that "WOW!" moment, but it's also useful (maybe even necessary) to go back regularly and just do what feels good, no matter how many people have done it before you.
@originalworks