Recently I looked back over the songs on My Favorite 50 playlist.
(You should make one, it’s harder and more fun than you think)
Something jumped out at me.
There is a perceived parallel journey between making great art and knowing-thyself. But the vast majority of the songs were written by artists who were in their 20s at the time…and artists in their 20s don’t know-thyself.
So we’ve got artists making the greatest material of their careers at a time when they’re just starting to learn who they are.
What does this mean?
Self exploration isn’t the biggest key to great material.
Having the time and bandwidth to tinker with ideas goes a long way. Having the time and bandwidth to be curious about other artists goes a long way. Having the confidence to be naively confidence goes a long way.
