AITAH for getting upset my friend said someone didn't like my work?
So for context my friend gave me a head's up and said a mutual publicly said they didn't like my music. I got offended told them I wished they didn't tell me, since I didn't need to hear this secondhand.
I said that hearing about what that person thought made me not want to compose. I'm a mediocre musician at best but it's just a hobby. I told my friend that it wasn't their fault after they felt like they were the cause, because they didn't mean anything bad at all. But I just didn't want to hear about what other people said secondhand over a hobby.
They apologized and I said it's fine, ut that I didn't like that mutual or want anything to do with them anymore. I realized later on that I was being a stupid dick and apologized for being too sensitive and overreacting, and said that they didn't do anything wrong to warrant them apologizing to me before in the first place.
I'm pretty sure I ruined our friendship for being a sensitive asshole, since it's been three days since then. But I just need to hear this here to kick my ass and get me to make an effort to be better, and this is the most blunt no nonsense place I can think of. I'm going to give them as much space as necessary, potentially forever since I'd do the same if someone overreacted to me giving a warning.
Even though this friendship is likely ruined, I need to make sure to be a much better person and less too self absorbed so that I'll never act this entitled ever again.
AITAH?
More background context. I didn't mention this part first since it felt irrelevant to the situation, and I wanted to focus solely on my behavior and how to take accountability. I posted this on AITA got taken down by mods when I tried updating since I think this post got too long or maybe too venty? This can be skipped, but if it helps to understand my relationship with that friend vent?
My mutual said they didn't like my music publicly, but I'm making assumptions there since I wouldn’t want to think my friend told me something they heard in private.
I didn't mention this part since I wanted this post to focus primarily on my own behavior and not others, but for some more context, my friend said our mutual didn't like my music and said they never listened to any of it (Which I don't believe considering they'd had to have at least listened to one thing to say they disliked what I made).
My friend then went on to say that they thought that mutual secretly liked what I made since there were elements and 2 or 3 words in their stuff that sounded a lot like what I made first. My friend thought this was a cool thing and something to compliment with the idea being "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
That friend mentioned here frequently compliments me in our messages, publicly, and on forums, so I do know they really didn't mean anything bad with what they said, but that they seem to sometimes have a habit of talking before they think, which is something I also suffer from.
I did not think that mutual was copying on those things alone, but I couldn't figure out if I was upset about this whole conspiracy theory thing or being told someone didn't like my work. I went with the latter since the former felt like I was just making excuses and trying to blame other people for my emotions.
I've had more time to process and realized that to get a better picture of why I reacted the way I did, I needed to write this part too. For more context, my friend rarely replies to me with anything except emoticons. There were multiple times when I stopped messaging them for this, but whenever I did they'd ask if I was okay, if I was mad or if they annoyed me. I told them no each time before asking if I annoyed them. They then wouldn't respond and it was back to emoticons again.
I rarely message them first anymore. They either send a comp just keep sending GIFs now, with them mentioning this mutual being their first text message in a long time.
During the rare times they text words, it's a compliment, but our few conversations just feel so hollow now. I've tried to text them before, but when they ignored and just sent a GIF I eventually just deleted my text conversations starters too, and they were all just stuff asking how they were or about the series that I knew they liked.
This whole situation was the turning point for me. I got fed up, told them I didn't want to hear what hear what anyone else thought of what I made, and then told them I disliked that mutual now and wanted nothing to do with them.
This message my friend sent was essentially the first text without being pictured based in a long time. And its the first time in ages that they responded to me with words when I texted them back.
Posted May 2, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC · locked