I once found myself in an elevator at Magfest with a minor celebrity. I had been at their panel the previous day and had picked up on subtle cues that they were rather uncomfortable and out of place as they worked to satisfy their fans.

I said something approximate to, “I enjoyed your panel. It must be very difficult to meet your fans at their level of energy.” Which was apparently a secret password because the individual just opened right up and poured.

My takeaway from the elevator confessional was summed up in their final line, approximately: “my day job is their passion. How do I admit that I’ve never even played the game?”

This is kind of tangential to the point you’re making, but I was reminded of this because I think fans regularly mistake the end product as a representation of the artist, because often it is. But often it’s just a job. A very demanding job.