My wife was watching The Kay Perry E! Entertainment Special while I made dinner the other night (yes, I can cook) and something I’ve seen again and again stood out about her story: herself.
Katy, like most artists, had a long string of disappointments, failures, and setbacks before her recent success. The two most prominent of which were her signings and droppings from Island Def Jam Records and Columbia Records (she was dropped from two smaller labels earlier too).
In both cases, the reasons for her failures at the labels were differences in the artistic visions of the company and Katy. Both labels had ideas about how she fit into their roster and the marketplace in general. They then set out to produce her accordingly. But Katy had other ideas.
Guess who won?
At the time, of course, the labels did, but Katy never gave up. She knew who she was and what she wanted to do. And she did it when she was given a third opportunity with Capital Records. It worked.
Be Certain
This is where it would be common for me to ask if you know you’re certain you have the right vision of who you are. To ask if there’s an unbiased and appreciative audience for your work? And ask if you’re willing to do what it takes to live out your vision – which might include repossessed cars like Katy’s.
Be You
Those are all good questions, and they must all be answered (and 100’s more), but they all come after this one: are you being you?
It’s my belief that success is directly proportionate to the degree to which you give yourself to your art and your art shows us you. People don’t care what you know, they want to know you care.
Audiences don’t want vision, perseverance, hard work, production or even talent. They want a connection.
They want you.
