Always ask people for their opinion on your music out of a genuine curiosity and respect for them as a tastemaker or artist —- never out of a place of insecurity or a need for reassurance or a quick fix of validation. (I learned this the hard way). The positive feedback can be just as distracting and confusing as the negative feedback if you aren’t really grounded when you get it and if isn’t coming from the right source or at the right time in your process. Some people are so grounded in what they do that weird feedback doesn’t set them off course but for many of us we need to shield the creative process a little and give it space develop on its own time according to its own internal rhythm.