Art & Creativity Quote by Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson is talking like a craftsman who’s seen songs outlive their first owner. The line carries a quiet confidence that doesn’t need bravado: writing isn’t just self-expression, it’s manufacturing possibility. In the Motown ecosystem Robinson helped define, a song was rarely a sealed diary entry. It was closer to a piece of adaptable design - a melody and story sturdy enough to travel between voices, arrangements, even decades.

The intent is pragmatic and generous at once. He’s granting himself freedom from the modern pressure to “drop” everything immediately, as if art only exists at the moment of release. The subtext: the real product is the composition, not the rollout. A recorded track is one version; the song is the underlying asset, and its value multiplies when other artists can inhabit it. That’s a songwriter’s worldview, not a performer’s. It also hints at professional humility: he’s open to the idea that someone else might deliver the definitive reading.

Context matters because Robinson comes from an era when the line between writer, producer, and label was porous but highly structured. Motown ran on a repertoire model: songs circulated through a stable of artists until the right match clicked. In that setting, “potential” isn’t abstract inspiration; it’s a business logic and a cultural logic. A well-built song becomes a vehicle - for another singer’s persona, for a new audience, for a different emotional temperature. Writing, for Robinson, is how you give a feeling legs.