Don’t be so precious about what you put out into the world

Remember the song Black Horse and The Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall? It came out 19 years ago (just in case you wanted to feel old).

I recently learned the story behind this song and it’s… interesting… and got me thinking. It points to an experience a lot of people have with sharing their art with the world (including me).

The story goes that Nas was going to perform on Later… with Jools Holland (a light night music TV show). He dropped out last minute and recommended KT perform in his spot. Nobody really knew her at this point. She agreed the day before to perform on this show.

She had just released her first album. As far as I can tell there wasn’t an obvious hit single from this album to play. She recently had been playing around with a new song that she would perform on her own using a guitar, tambourine, and a looper pedal.

Her manager told her she should play that song and that people would love it. Watching someone create an entire song live felt unique. So she did. And she killed it. You should watch it.

This instantly became a hit. People wanted to listen to it. Other TV and music shows asked her to come perform it. And while that was validating she kinda had a bit of a problem. She had JUST released an album. And this new hit song wasn’t on it.

She re-released that album with a “bonus track” that had this live recording of Black Horse and The Cherry Tree at the end. Then released this song as a single once it was recorded. And then included it on her next album.

It’s so hard to plan for success

Who knows how long she spent working on and perfecting this one album. It was probably her life work to finally put herself out into the public; sharing her talents with the world. And it was kinda immediately upended by a new song she was tinkering with and hadn’t yet planned on recording and releasing.

Sometimes the thing we try the hardest to make succeed is the one that has the least success. And the throwaway (not throwaway in her case) work can be the one that people gravitate towards and connect with the most.

I’ve spent hours and years building different pieces of software with the hope that I can build something that people find meaningful and enjoy. I’ve been lucky enough to have success building different products, but what’s the one that millions of people used and shared overnight? This dumb Logo Quiz that I made in a couple hours one night.

Then What?

So what does this mean? Should I just stop trying to make the masterpiece that I love and am insanely proud of? Should I just chase the cheap hit with huge ROI?

I don’t think so. But maybe I shouldn’t be so precious about what I release and share with the world. Make a lot of things. Share them. Put more of myself into the world.

I don’t control how my work will be received. So I shouldn’t spend so much time worrying about that.

Some of my creations will resonate with people. Others won’t. And that’s fine.

Some of the things I make will just be for me. And that’s great. And kinda freeing actually.

Also, side note, for some reason this story makes me feel different about that song. It seems cooler and more impressive and better by knowing the backstory. And that’s weird. Should the story matter to how I enjoy the song? But this concept seems generally true with art. The context is part of the piece. So I guess share your work but also tell your story.