The purpose of art is to communicate emotions. Thus, as an artist, you intend (or at least hope) to affect the emotional state of your audience. Most of the time this is a transient effect, but when it's not, you often hear the phrase "it changed my life" spoken about the piece of art (a book, film, piece of music or musical artist, et cetera). But what does that mean? Your "life" is the word we give to all the things that happen to you. Some of those are out of your control, others are a result of your own decisions. It's rare that a piece of art will affect the things that happen to you that are beyond your control.
No, it's almost always the latter. The art affects your decisions and actions. It affects you. Most art changes us and informs our view of the world in some way, whether we are really moved by it or not, but when the impact is so profound that it completely transforms our worldview then we say "it changed my life." But our life is only changed by proxy. Art changes us. We are changed, and as a result our lives are changed according to our actions.
Music changed me, and I changed my life, and I know I'm not the only one.
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