Songwriters.
Creatives.
You have talent.
Contrary to that voice in your head and contrary to that one trip you took to Music Row, you have talent.
Sure, you walked into a building on Music Row, overheard the write going on next door, immediately froze because now you are second guessing every idea that you had for this write you are about to be in.
It happens. You are human.
But you are a human with a gift. Whether that is writing, singing, producing, etc. You have a gift. You have every right to walk into that room and use it.
Music can be scary. Being vulnerable can be scary. That is all songwriting is: being vulnerable. Songwriting is telling your story, someone else’s story, a made-up story that someone can relate to, or a story that has just been floating around in your head and won’t leave. Either way, inviting others to see how you will tell that story is a gift in itself. Not everyone has that confidence.
The way you decide to create and share your music is up to you. The need to do it is not up to you. I think many creatives reading this can agree with that. If you do not sit down and write, create, sing, whatever it may be, you feel like a part of you is lost. You feel like a part of you is being robbed. It feels weird.
The life of one who has to constantly be expressing their thoughts through creation is exhausting. If it was anyone’s choice, I do not think many people would be choosing to not be able to sit still and feel like your brain is quite literally going to jump out of your head at any given moment. I do not think anyone would choose the heart that feels every emotion just a little deeper than the next. I do not think anyone would choose to have to live life a little heavier trying to speak a message out into the world either for yourself or for others. Yet, here we are.
While all of that is exhausting, and it sounds like no sane person would ever choose that lifestyle, who said a songwriter was sane?
That is not meant to be a dig, that is meant to be a compliment strangely enough.
That is what gets everyone so excited when it comes to working with them. The best ones to work with are the ones that take you out of your comfort zone. This goes for publishers and anyone else who encounters songwriters on a daily basis. The most insane ones are the ones who feel the deepest, express the truest, and live the heaviest.
This is all a gift. Gifts are exhausting.
Being true to your gift instead of being scared of it or in denial of it is what makes you realize the confidence you can have in it.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Comparison is inevitable especially in an industry like the music industry. Comparison takes your gift and doubts it. Comparison has no place near your gift.
So take your gift, gauge how insane you wanna be with it (in the most positive way possible), and embrace it.
