You know how some people like saying there is no limit to creativity? Of course there is a limit! If there was no limit, there would be no space for words like out-of-tune, gaffe, faux pas, plot-hole, inconsistency,...

That being said, there is creativity when you sing off-key, or paint something butt-ugly, or dance clumsily, if the intent is to be purposefully deviant either to express an idea or challenge the limitations of creativity... and that my friend has rules as well.

For example, when you are being told a song is going to be off-key and you begin to feel like it is not off-key enough, it lacks some creativity because its intention is not met!

The limitation to creativity is relative to the artist's intention and the audience's expectation. It is both negotiable and nonnegotiable. And where it is negotiable, it makes for some excitement. Most disagreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in that negotiable space. Most agreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in nonnegotiable space, where the new-something is creative but stays within an already explored and accepted space.