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One Hit Wonder
February 9, 2021
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“I was scared of failure, of being a one-hit wonder, never being able to write another song again, never being able to sing again. Maybe everything that I think I am and who I want to be never will happen.” - Linda Perry
I was recently reminiscing with a former music industry colleague about our illustrious careers. We took a colorful trip down memory lane, musing over the incredible, unique experiences we had with popular artists, the stellar concerts we rocked, the creative weirdos we encountered, the lavish dinners we ate, and the backstage glitz and glam we rendezvoused.
I have to be honest, that job became my lifestyle that then formed my identity as a “Music Industry Executive.” It wasn’t your everyday 9-5 job that you left at the office. I BECAME the gig. My life revolved around road trips, concerts, CDs dropping, creating eccentric radio promotions and obsessing over weekly music chart numbers. I wasn’t me, myself and I, I was “Lynn from fill in Swanky Label Exec Title here.” In reality, this is only a chapter in time, only a tiny spec into the entire masterpiece that’s the story of my life. Yet so many people, myself included, stay in arrested development for fear of what the future holds. It’s called uncertainty and it’s uncomfortable.
”Are you a one hit wonder in your life because you are constantly going back to a cozy past that no longer exists? Or is your dream to write a catalog of hits that leaves a legacy behind for the world to marvel for decades and decades? This human thirst for novelty is a very real thing. It’s a comfortable place, albeit complacent as well. It’s like your High School Football Captain friend, who at every reunion reiterates that game winning play over and over, like it’s the only noteworthy thing that ever happened in his life. If he stays in this mindset, perhaps it will be his truth. It’s time for a new narrative. It’s time to focus on the future. It's time to reinvent the wheel. It's time to live in NOW. It’s time for a pivot with purpose. Why do you want to spend the present moment ruminating over past events, good or bad that can never change? There is no growth living in this space. This begs the question - “If I wasn't choosing to live in my snug yet stagnant past, what can I create or gain on the other side?”
Imagine you just fell off the turnip truck today. What if you had no past, no past history, no past problems, nothing to compare this present moment with - what would you do? What would you talk about? What magnificence could you create? I’d like to point out that you created that chapter in time, that one hit wonder, you created it all. What causes you to believe you can’t write another hit song? What do you want your life to look like 6 months, a year or 5 years from now? People either read or write history. Live full or die empty. When you pursue your greatness, you don’t know what your limits are so there are none. If you die today, what dreams will die with you? If today is your last day on the planet, do you want to relive the past or generate something exceptional? Magic always happens on the other side of fear. Here’s to being bold and doing a Hollywood script rewrite! I hope this has served you as it has for me, after all it’s always an Inside-Project
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” - Socrates
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