A friend of mine told me they bumped into a famous singer. It got me thinking that those people probably aren’t famous because they are exceptionally better at singing than other singers compared to say a woodworker who is exceptionally better than other woodworkers. They’re famous because music is famous and the woodworker isn’t because woodworking isn’t famous. It has nothing to do with their relative skill in their profession. That thought actually made me quite happy with the thought that I could’ve met many people at the apex of their skill and I would just never know.
On top of that even the most skillful singers in the world are most likely not the most famous. Becoming famous is a skill in itself, separate from the ability you’re famous for.
I think that for mid-levels of fame you can find a mixture of musical skill and self-marketing/entrepreneurship.
But as you go up the ladder of fame you get to the rungs where money is used to pay for an artist’s exposure. The artist becomes an investor’s asset and the “skill” of building fame arguably belongs to the investors / management team. And it is not so much skill as much as it is the power of capital to purchase attention.
It’s the same for every figurehead of every org, from politicians to CEO’s. They can make or break a campaign/project entirely on their own, but they can’t do any of it without team(s) of people supporting them, and often the team(s) supporting them are the determining factor in their entire success.
A best selling author probably isn’t the best writing one. Actually, when the back cover of a book has various praises like that, I consider them a red flag.
Many highly praised business books like that are actually just mostly trash and useless fluff. Good books don’t necessarily get much fame or popularity.
Madonna has entered the chat.
Loved Madonna back in the day, Garth Brooks and Gaga now. They all decided to become rich and famous, planned for it and executed. It’s said Brooks used to walk around Oklahoma State University with his folder of ordered plans. I’m sure there at 10,000 serious actors and singers saying they want to be famous, but these people had concrete plans and followed through.
Sharon Stone did much the same. Saw an interview where she said she was the plain girl in HS that no one would dance with. She decided she would become beautiful and went for it, balls out. I’ve seen men and women do this IRL and it’s quite a thing to behold.
Anyway, I admire people that can stay focused on such a difficult goal like world fame and get it.
I just feel like it’s worth mentioning that there are probably hundreds of others who did the same amount if planning and failed. There is only so much that an individual can do to determine their own fate.
Jean Claude Van Dam said that when he was ten years old he decided he was going to be a great martial arts movie star. Then he added he’s a fifty year old man living a little kid’s fantasy.