The saying in the music world is this:
You have your entire life to write your first record. You have a few days to write your second.
Think of your favorite band or musical artist.
Most breakout with their first record. Or they have some kind of breakout record where they go from relative unknown to stardom and all that comes with it.
For nearly all of these artists, the success comes fast. Not in the sense that they have been working for years and even decades on their music, but in the sense that they go from middling to stardom in a few months or even weeks.
Life for most of these artists is not busy in the early days. They have time to write songs. They have time to practice their instruments or work on their vocals. They have endless time for these things. Most record labels even have development deals where they work with artists to develop their talent and give them the time and resources to write better and better songs until they have something good enough to record and release.
But then the hit happens and it all changes.
Now there are new requirements. Promotion. Tours. Photoshoots. Interviews. All kinds of stuff. Except writing new songs.
Sure, there might be a few leftovers from those early days. Enough to throw together a second album especially if you’re able to write one or two new songs during all the chaos happening now.
The idea of a “Sophomore Jinx” is real. And it makes sense.
Guns N Roses is one of the biggest bands of all time. They got together in 1985. They each had songs from previous bands. They had time to write new songs. In 1987, they released their debut album and it became the best-selling debut album of all time.
They where able to put together four previous demo songs with four other songs to release a followup in late 1989. Then it took two more years to release a proper followup. And even that double album contained a lot of material written in their earlier days. After that, they released a covers album and then the band broke up.
There are stories of Kurt Cobain struggling with this tipping point with his band, Nirvana. The band had time to write songs for their debut, Bleach. They had time to write songs for their followup and breakthrough, Nevermind. They had enough leftovers and a couple new songs for the followup, In Utero. They did a lot of covers for their Unplugged album for MTV. That was it. Some say Kurt was curious how the band would find a new routine because they were all out of songs at that point.
There are examples of bands finding success after this tipping point.
The Eagles, for example, had a batch of songs for their successful debut that they had written individually or with other musicians. For their followup, they had to start learning to write together. At the time, Desperado, was considered somewhat of a flop. But there were a couple great songs and that started the new routine of songwriting amidst the new reality. The band’s third album was a hit. The fourth album was a hit. The next was a Greatest Hits and it became the best-selling album in the US of all time. Then their next album was Hotel California and they became even bigger stars.
In business and in life, we all reach a tipping point of success. With success, at whatever level that is, there are new constraints on your time. If you want to continue having success and growing, it requires you to find ways to focus on what got you there and how you can create time to make sure you never lose that practice.
It’s not easy. There isn’t a guarantee. But if you understand the trap and work to identify what’s required for continued success, you can find a way to continue building.