As an artist begins to gain popularity he no longer is the private artist who has the freedom to create with respect to nothing around him.
There must be some artists who can continue to create as if nobody is watching. But, something tells me that it is a very human response to take on a certain burden of pressure when you know the crowds will look at your work.
Salvator Dali, the artist was eventually trapped by Salvator Dali, the celebrity. It’s a very hard thing to create purely and freely when you have the expectation and peering eyes of the crowd.
Be careful of the brand you build and the audience you amass. Success isn’t possible without them (usually) but they can be an artist’s downfall if we’re not able to still be free to create.