I’ve always felt the sadness of being a one-man band. Working alone in my studio, I’m chronically tired from doing everything myself: composing, recording, mixing, mastering, and producing. It’s the work of 20 people, and mentally and physically, it seems impossible. And that’s not all—I’m also writing articles for scientific journals and pop culture magazines, and taking on thousands of small jobs to get by.

As I get older, it’s getting harder and harder to manage so many things at once, yet somehow, I still do. Then I went to the Gemäldegalerie, a museum of Old Masters, and saw paintings by Christian artists from Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and beyond. I was struck by how one single person could create something so beautiful, so detailed, and so colorful. The museum is called “Old Masters,” but to me, they are “Forever Masters.

"Seeing their work, I started to grumble to myself, "Why am I so alone in my work? Where is my band? My label? My production manager or my touring manager? My audio engineer?” The list goes on and on. But then I realized that being alone in this business is both the easiest way to lose and the best way to win. The world you create is only yours. In a time when people are so manipulative and dirty, being alone in music is a powerful advantage.

When you’re with a group of people, like a label, they give you a thousand pieces of advice on what you should do to sell more music or make your concert more of a dramatic show. In the process, you lose your most authentic self. Someone else is telling you about you, all for the sake of a sale. Metal concerts now feel like circus shows. People are just playing characters—the “Rocker,” the “Country man,” or the “Pop star.” Some artists try to be a Pop Star, Rock Star, Country Star, and movie star all at once. Are these people truly human? Or are they just marketing products with a human body?

Being alone means you get to be exactly who you are, without being shaped by others. Many of those painters were alone, too. They had only their colors and their hands, and they created worlds upon worlds. I deeply respect the knowledge, principles, and work ethic they had.I am preparing to publish five albums, just as a painter would show five series of paintings in five different galleries across the city of Tbilisi—a truly important art city in Europe.

I still grumble to myself, but it is what it is. I’m just a one-man band with thousands of jobs. In my deepest, saddest moments, I am still happier than most people around me. And that is truly powerful.