Timeless advice for creators
The life of a creator can feel lonely. But you are part of a long history and thriving community of creators—writers, musicians, filmmakers, artists. In these articles, I share examples, principles, and frameworks to help you become a better creator. Sign up to get these sent to your email each week.
There's Nothing in Success
After trying to convince radio host Howard Stern that he wasn’t born a good singer, Ed Sheeran offered up some cold hard sonic evidence. He had them pull up a YouTube video of him singing when he was fourteen years old. They played it right there in the interview. It starts out not half bad, but pretty soon it gets hard to listen to.
“You weren’t kidding,” Stern says.
“No I wasn’t.” Sheeran goes on, “This is what I play to kids, and I’m like, look, this is me at fourteen. I wrote The A Teamat eighteen. So four years later, I made The A Team and recorded it. And in four years, I learned harmony, I learned how to sing in tune, I learned how to perform, I learned how to do it in time, and you can do it.”