The other day I was talking with a talented young artist who insisted that Billie Eilish’s seemingly meteoric rise to worldwide stardom could only be explained by her having “sold her soul” to the devil. I was incredulous with the statement, but the young man confirmed that indeed, he was quite serious. I was not surprised actually by the revelation. No… not the revelation that Billie Eilish is indeed a minion of Satan, but rather by what the accusation reveals about the accuser. Often our accusations reveal who we really are.
You see, even the most cursory examination of Billie Eilish’s seemingly meteoric rise reveals one “sinister” fact that I can find. She has an astonishingly well-developed work ethic… One that is seldom seen in so young an artist. Shocking I know… But is the prince of darkness also the prince of extreme work ethic? Or is he more likely to be in league with the lazy? Let’s take a look-see…
It seems to me that Billie Eilish and her dear brother Finneas, while their contemporaries were playing video games and engaging in inane snap-chat duels over the frivolous and fleeting world of adolescent angst – were themselves, engaged in something very difficult for most people to understand. They were squirreled away in a small room in their parent’s home, WORKING tirelessly, developing the songwriting skills that would propel them to worldwide fame.
I don’t know if Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell actually read my first book, “You Are A Genius,” but they very well could have, as they practically quote chapter and verse as catalyst to their respective successes.
You see, Billie understood something very important at an extremely early age… the 10,000 hour rule of mastery. She and her brother spent every waking hour for the greater portion of their childhoods together writing and rewriting, practicing and perfecting the skills and strategies that are essential to pop stardom. She wrote her first songs when she was a little kid, and literally never stopped writing.
Let’s say she started at age eight and worked on music an average of 6 hours a day for the next 8 years. That’s 17,520 hours of preparation. Far more than she would need to be considered a genius, and far more than she would need to be among the very best in the world.
So why do I call this work ethic “sinister?” Well, it’s actually only sinister to the chronically lazy. To someone who is not willing to put in the work. To the artist that has begrudgingly contributed a few hours a day (at the most) to his success over the past 10 years, the achievement seems impossible. To invoke the “the devil helped her do it” excuse – is merely a defense mechanism.
You see, to recognize that you have just as much talent as Billie Eilish is not really vanity if it’s true. In the case of many young artists I know, it is absolutely true. But to possess that measure of talent and to have done so far less with it… that is a bitter pill indeed, especially to oneself. It is far easier to assume that Billie Eilish must have some advantage that is not available to you. To claim that the secret to her success has to be the seal of approval of Lucifer is a slap in the face to every artist who has ever actually put in the work necessary to succeed. It is an offense to the educated.
So, before you point your finger and insist that Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell, or Prince, or Lady Gaga, or any other hugely successful artist is in league with Mephistopheles, take a long hard look at their work ethic, then compare it to your own. Prince wrote and recorded at a minimum, a song a day for forty years. He died with tens of thousands of songs unreleased. Or take a look at Lady Gaga’s schedule which seldom leaves time for sleep, or examine Elish’s history of 17000+ hours of wood shedding that led to her success.
Examine and weep for the years you have wasted. If that kind of work ethic is considered “selling your soul,” then where do I sign up?
This is the irony of working your ever loving ass off for years to achieve great things, seemingly impossible things, only to have people point their fingers at you and say things like, overnight success, flash in-the-pan and the ever popular, he sold his soul. Often the wealthy and successful are simply considered to have been lucky.
Again, this is offensive. If you fail to acknowledge the work that precedes success, you are probably and regrettably, among the work-adverse of the world. Fortunately for you, this is not a terminal diagnosis.
If a bit of self reflection reveals a prickly sensation where your pride used to be, then good for you. There is hope that you can still undergo a recto-craniotomy and right your magical thinking.
And there is no easy path to success, there is no underworld pawn shop where your soul is worth any more than anyone else’s.
There is redemption for you. You can be redeemed from your self-aggrandizing solipsism. You can actually begin the work that precedes your success.
You can put your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, and your back to the heavy lifting.
Find your jam and spend every waking hour perfecting it until the success comes. Fill a jar with 10,000 pebbles and take out one for every hour you spend in the studio. When it is empty, you will be among the best in the world at what you do.
Stop focusing on the unfairness of the success of others. In the vast majority of cases, their success was earned, and yours can be too if you will just shut the hell up and get to work. The world is probably far more fair than you are willing to admit.
