You’re Only As Good As Your Next Song

I read an article with Adele after she had broken the record for the biggest debut for an album ever.

She was asked why it took her 4 years to come out with a new album. She had recorded more than another album’s worth of songs in the meantime and scrapped all of it to start over. Her response was, “You’re only as good as your next album”. She explained that she wanted the album to be great and that the previous material was good, but not great.

As songwriters and/or artists, we can learn a lot from that statement. Here are my takeaways:

1) I should hold myself to a high standard and shoot for “great” every time.

2) I shouldn’t settle for something just because it’s good.

3) I’m only as bad as my last song and only as good as the next one. As long as I’m moving in the right direction, I’m doing just fine. I can forget the failures of the past and move forward, striving to be better with every song I write.

4) If I’m an artist putting together an album, I should cut the best songs available to me every time, whether or not I wrote them.

5) Greatness takes time. Lots of time.

So, if you get discouraged at times, remember that you aren’t defined by the last song you wrote.

You are defined by the NEXT song you write. If that one is better than the last, let yourself enjoy the forward progress. And make the next one even better!

Write on!
Marty Dodson