One big insight is that some reallly good art comes from being attuned to the signals in the world around, and perhaps by being really very attuned you catch something earlier and better. (So, you should listen etc.)
True in all things (making companies, medicines…) since you need time to figure it out but also time to ship it in perfect time for everyone else to understand.
A neat example from far left field is “Cat person”, the most read and viral short story that the New Yorker ever published, here.
It appeared December 2017, a few months after MeToo went nuclear. And it had a major insight – it’s about non-MeToo relationship / sex awkwardness. It points out the ambiguity, the difficulty of judging in a gray area, and certainly lands with the relatability of “I felt that too.”
But it got written in April, pitched over the summer, read perhaps after MeToo September, and run in December.
So that artist had been meditating on the signals of the universe – personal experiences that Spring, Trump’s Access Hollywood tape that prior fall (as she says.)
Back to Rick Rubin – he’s kind of a Buddhist koan writer now and the book is a nice collection of inspiring but familiar statements. Especially the “Breaking the Sameness” tips – a rare section where you are literally getting to housefly Rubin in the studio back in those moments of creation (JayZ 99 Problems? Chili Peppers Under the Bridge?)
Deep cuts: Brian Eno’s playing cards. Check those out to find inspiration.
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