DEAR HARRIETTE: My boyfriend is a musical engineer. He has a studio in his home. He recently started with a new artist. While I was visiting him one time, he was working with an artist in the studio. They had just finished the track with lyrics and were playing the song over and over again. I personally found the song to be terrible. I couldn’t understand the lyrics; they were off-beat and a bunch of other stuff I found to be horrible. My boyfriend isn’t the producer, only the engineer, so what the artist wants is what he should get.
When the artist wanted an outside opinion, he turned and asked me what I thought of the song. I was truthful and told him it was bad; I gave reasons why and said he really should rework the song. My boyfriend gave me a look. He was really upset and told me I could have ruined the relationship to the point that the artist wouldn’t hire him again and that it wasn’t my place to say those things. I think if someone asks me my opinion, I am going to give it. Should I have lied to protect my boyfriend? -- Free Speech
DEAR FREE SPEECH: I vote with your boyfriend -- not that you should have lied, but that it wasn’t your place to critique this artist. This is your boyfriend’s career. You should have excused yourself from the conversation. Next time, don’t get involved. This is especially true given that your boyfriend doesn’t have the authority to guide any changes that could be made.
(Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)