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I’m constantly in awe of highly successful people who continue to create great works, over and over again. This week Taylor Swift blew the lid off once again with her new album going platinum in it’s first week.
As I write this, her new album “1989” is playing in the back of my hotel room, specifically the song “Welcome to New York.” She’s obviously all over the news this week with her album selling over a million copies in its debut week. I don’t typically jump on bandwagons and talk about hot button news, but I’ve been a big fan of Taylor Swift ever since she released Tim McGraw nearly ten years ago. I love the fact that she still writes her own music, that she continues to produce quality track after track, and that she cries every time she wins a big award. Plus, her music totally jams.
I’ll tell you firstly and most importantly why Taylor Swift inspires me- her ability to create great music, again and again.
If there’s anything I’ve learned after having one or two things you’ve done be successful and well accepted, it’s that it can be very scary to try and replicate that initial success. If I write a blog post that a lot of people really like, then it makes me terrified to try and write another because I’m worried it won’t live up to the hype of the last one. Maybe I should just quit while I’m ahead?
Then I look at Taylor and what she’s been able to do in her own career. How an album sells a million copies, and then she just does it all over again. What?! How does that happen? I would be petrified that with all of those eyes watching it wouldn’t live up to the last one. Her last album Red sold millions of copies, as did most of her tracks before that. Her ability to keep producing music, time after time simply astounds me.
Next, she still writes her own stuff.
By this time, Taylor could have “stream-lined” the process. Like most of her fellow peers, if she wanted to, Taylor could show up to the studio with fifty potential tracks to record. However, she is more focused on quality of what she creates instead of simply just putting out songs with her name on it. She chose to not to “create a system” like a fast food restaurant trying to minimize margins. Instead, she’s one of the local staples like you see featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives that people drive thousands of miles to see because they know they can’t get it anywhere else.
She’s still incredibly personal.
She is relatable. Even though she’s a big time celebrity and superstar, she lets us into her life and we can see she’s just a normal, sometimes goofy person. Her and I could easily be friends, right? RIGHT?
However, it’s these exact human characteristics which are the best part of real art work, the fact that the person who created it is just one of us. It’s inspiring, isn’t it? To know that a normal person can create something extraordinary? Because it gives us the confidence to know it might be possible for us to do the same.
The world could use more creators of art work like Taylor Swift. In a way, she really is Fearless. No matter how much she has climbed the ladder of success, she continues to do the work that put her there in the first place- writing and putting out awesome songs. She hasn’t become distracted by all of the other things she could focus on doing. Granted, she does a lot of shows and even movies that help to drive the bottom line and probably even enjoys doing them. However, at the end of the day she does the work that truly matters. She writes epic songs and shares them with the world.
What work are you sharing with the world?
