Midweek Motivator - 14th June 2023
This week, sharing three key lessons I learnt from some of the most iconic singers of all time
Hello and welcome to this space which includes my weekly creative recommendations via ‘Five Good Things’, as well as business smarts, timeless philosophy, and insights from being a woman in music. I also share regular interviews with female musicians. This is made possible by paid subscribers. Consider upgrading your subscription xoxo
This Midweek motivator is designed to pull you out of the post-weekend slump, and share inspiration and entertainment from women crafting away at their dreams. This week sharing some lessons I’ve learnt from researching the careers of the most successful women in music. From soul icons who’ve defied time like Erykah Badu and Sade Adu, to rap’s most famous trail blazers: Ms Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj, I’m interested to understand how these women grasped the lessons necessary to hit it big and build sustainable careers and whether there were consistencies in their approach which had allowed them to achieve all they had. Here are three key things I’ve established…
#1 Plan Ahead (As taught by Sade Adu and Kelis).
When Sade Adu was 24 years-old, she signed a deal with Epic Records. When she signed, she negotiated with the label to have a reduced upfront fee in exchange for a greater percentage of the profits made by her records. By having an iconic and timeless sound, Sade has become one of the biggest selling artists of all time. Negotiating the contract in the way she did has meant she’s made significantly more money than if she’d accepted the original deal. What that money has given her is freedom. Despite not having released an album since 2010, Sade’s music garners around four-million monthly streams on Spotify, which is more than some of the current biggest names in Soul and RnB, such as Solange and Mahalia. She’s still cashing in on songs released 30 years ago.
In contrast, Kelis started her career at a younger age and formed a brilliant creative partnership with The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) in her late teens. Because of the close bond she had with Chad and Pharrell, Kelis didn’t negotiate her earnings from the albums she released with them, Kaleidoscope being one. A few years later she realised she didn’t get an industry standard cut from those albums. This had a knock-on effect. Following an unpleasant divorce from Nas, she was in a position where she needed to create new music to generate an income, in order to support herself and her son. Arguably the world has benefitted from the album she had to make as a result, but that wasn’t a fun discovery for her to make and while she could correct it for music moving forwards, for those early hits, it wasn’t reversible.
#2 Have the Courage to stand alone (As taught by Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah).
Missy Elliot was in a girl band before she became the Missy we know and love today. There were four of them and there was a moment, during the time they were working with Jodeci, when Missy was left out of an opportunity. While shooting promotional material, someone decided that Missy didn’t fit the aesthetic they wanted and opted to cast the other three bandmates. She was shorter and thicker and was made to feel lesser for that. Rather than accept that perception, Missy defined her own stage persona and tapped into higher levels of creativity as a result. If she was being cast as big, she was going to show what big really meant, donning an inflatable black supersize suit in the brilliant video for The Rain, while telling the world what she was: ‘Supa Dupa Fly!’ Missy was courageous. She stood alone and created her space.
In 1997, having been going from strength to strength as an artist with The Fugees, Lauryn Hill knew it was time to step away from Wyclef Jean. As a solo artist she delivered an album which, if my research and interviews are anything to go by, has had more influence on music than any other hip hop album by a female artist. Lauryn knew she needed to stand alone, however she faced a lot of pressures as a result of her personal and professional landscape around this time and began to lose her confidence and grit. She released one more album after that, but was processing so much at the time that it didn’t connect with audiences in the same way. Over 15 years later and there’s been no more new music from Ms Lauryn Hill.
“Oh just keep going you know. Move forward. You have to be courageous to accomplish your goals. There are times when you will have to stand alone because you believe in yourself even though people don’t see it yet.”
- words from Queen Latifah
#3 Step outside of yourself (As taught by Nicki Minaj, and Cardi B).
I did a whole podcast episode exploring the lessons Cardi B has embraced, but the one I want to direct your attention to is what being a stripper taught her about performance… (And men).
“The strip club is a fantasy. Guys do not wanna see the girls that look like their cousin, they wanna see an illusion.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Five Good Things to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.