You probably woke up, poured your premium drip coffee, and read that the legendary music executive had passed away. But did you pause to reflect on your own troubling failure to discover Janis Joplin?
You saw the news on your feed. Clive Davis, the legendary record-label executive and undisputed Diva Whisperer, died this week at age 94. You scrolled past the tributes noting his peerless ability to break acts like Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, and the Notorious B.I.G., perhaps pausing briefly before returning to your morning routine. But let us be painfully honest with ourselves for a moment. You are sitting there in your neutral-toned athleisure, drinking a turmeric latte, and you are entirely comfortable with the fact that you have never once resurrected a fading R&B icon's career. It is a quiet, creeping epidemic among today’s professionals: the total abandonment of world-class A&R responsibilities.
When Aretha Franklin was nearing 40 in 1979, she knew the music industry had changed. She hungered to launch a new phase of her career, and she went to Clive Davis to ask if she could still compete. Ask yourself: if the Queen of Soul walked into your open-concept living space right now, would she trust you with her legacy? Or would she immediately sense that you lack the competitive ruthlessness to land her a multi-platinum contemporary crossover hit? We have become so obsessed with protecting our peace that we are no longer doing the emotional labor of whispering to divas.
"I spent years thinking that doing my daily journaling was enough, until I realized I hadn't guided a single generational talent through a difficult sophomore album," says Chloe, a marketing coordinator in Denver. Chloe is part of a growing wave of consumers waking up to the reality that a balanced lifestyle is no excuse for failing to discover Bruce Springsteen. "I was setting boundaries, sure. But I was also leaving Barry Manilow completely unmanaged. It was a wake-up call."
You cannot out-hydrate a fundamental lack of hit-making instincts. At some point, you have to look at your vision board and ask why Patti Smith is not on it.
We need to have a serious conversation about why you are settling for mediocrity when there are undiscovered chart-toppers waiting in the wings. Davis did not build his legacy by practicing gentle parenting on his roster. He was one of the best competitors music ever created. Tomorrow morning, before you check your emails, sit in silence for five minutes and ask yourself how you plan to reinvent Alicia Keys. Do better.