For years, whenever someone does something remotely successful, a large group of the population are quick to attribute such success to pure, undeserved “luck”. On the rare occasion, the pessimistic public are actually right. Someone will try their hand at a skill spontaneously, the internet decides they love it and overnight, from a 30 second clip live and direct to everyone’s internal meme library. Followers come through in their hundreds of thousands and another media sensation is born…but that’s on the rare occasion and the gimmick that initially drew people in their thousands proves to be quite limited and the natural cycle begins to run its course.
However… for the artists of this world, and by artist I mean everyone from musicians, to muas, to content creators and more - what people see as that sudden boost, or “luck” is a result of consistency, worked and a thousand time reworked strategy and the culmination of hours and hours of hustle. In this day and age, with the world and access to the people of the world at your fingertips, you can truly create your own “luck”…literally, not figuratively. Do not get me wrong, it’s easy from my perspective to say this and it’s definitely not a Molly Mae/Kim Kardashian moment of “get off your ass and work” - so stick with me.
For the average person, we’re very blessed to have access to the same technology that is responsible for the success of so many creators in this modern era. Vine gave birth to new comedy writers and songwriters, Instagram gave birth to a generation of Influencers and now TikTok is giving platforms to the above and more in the exact same way. Speaking predominantly from a music perspective, we’ve seen, since the beginning of the pandemic, artist after artist spawn from this app giving birth to their entire music careers - from a small clip going viral and becoming the soundtrack to global trends, to single handedly being the platform to push artists to their first ever chart positions, it’s very easy to ask “Why not me?” But that is the very question to ask…Why not you?
Let’s take a look at a little case study and use the example of Dreya Mac. Lazy people will look at the success of an artist such as Dreya Mac and call her a “TikTok Artist” or reduce her current success to social media doing what it does best and spontaneously picking a new fav and ushering them quickly into stardom - however Dreya is the perfect example of creating your own luck, using her undeniable talent in both music and dance and undoubtedly likeable personality. Starting her career off as a dancer, appearing in Stormzy’s Vossi Bop music video in 2019, to clocking a niche in the UK rap scene and delivering punchy debut song Skippin in April 2020, Dreya Mac has been working! In fact, Dreya Mac had a whole Colors session and EP out for public consumption before her smash single “Own Brand Freestyle” with FelixThe1st catapulted her directly into the public eye accompanied by the dance trend that helped it become the ear worm we know it is today. Nobody got to see the hours she put in in the dance studio to the point where she was good enough to appear in one of the UK’s biggest artists’ music video, nobody got to see the hours she spent scribbling bars down and practicing in the mirror to even get on the radar of those at Colors or the constant evolution of her pen game to get the point of writing a smash hit (it’s not easy you know!). You create your own “luck”, you position yourself in the best way so that if luck is to greet you, you’d be able to capitalise. You can essentially create your own good fortune…again, it is not easy but through using the tools which have been placed into your hands, literally, you’ve got as good a chance as the next person if applied properly.
Naturally, there are things that people are less comfortable with. Social Media can be a scary and unforgiving place to try new things - putting yourself out there is not easy, but if your intention is to bless the world with your talent, you may as well start now. The industry is perfectly poised for manipulation by Gen Z audiences and Gen Z talent. The younger audience have proved to be the tastemakers of the current market and dictate a lot of what is successful or what isn’t, young and budding talent - this really is your opportunity to make waves, older and more established artists…it may even be the opposite. Labels are acutely aware that TikTok and other social media platforms hold the key to a lot of success and the way the Industry looks at this current moment in time, if you’re not creating content to help service your music, they will strongly suggest you should be. It’s another example of how the game is tipped in favour of newer and younger artists, those who have grown up in this technological spike, understand the trends and use these platforms as second nature already. Recently we’ve seen a few post from successful artists, such as Halsey and FKA Twigs how their labels are insisting on them posting their songs on TikTok - they seem exasperated and out of touch, but in essence, Labels are begging for their talent to use the same platform that we have access to in order to push sales & their quest for potential virality, if they have to do it…it may be an idea for you to aswell.
Artists, content creators, new brands, creatives in general - it’s definitely time to lock in. Dwight from The Office said “They’re gonna be screwed when this whole Internet fad is over”…well that’s not looking to be any time soon! Of course we cannot apply to be the universes’ favourite person and align all the stars in our favour, but what we can do is at least be in the circle when “luck” decides to play Duck Duck Goose. People will naturally be salty if your success seems sporadic, but knowing you played the game correctly is a lot more satisfying. Iit may feel evil, but it’s a necessary evil - do what you do best and create.
In the simple words of Kanye West, “If you can do it better than me, then you do it!”
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