Making a career out of music isn’t easy. Even today, with the ability to click, upload and immediately have an audience of millions, at least two crucial factors to becoming a successful artist remain the same. One - you have to work for it, and two - people have to like your music. And then, if you’re lucky enough to have made it, there are constant obstacles that try to tear you down, no matter how hard you worked to climb up.
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For the following 7 artists both factors have been accomplished, it just took them a little longer than they would have liked, so long they considered giving up when their dream seemed unattainable. However, in possibly the worst spoiler alert ever… they didn’t. They persevered, and stuck it out, and used that tenacity to stay consistent and continue to grind no matter what. Which we’re grateful they did, because now we have some amazing music as a result. Imagine a world without any Cardi B or Bruno Mars songs. They even have two together. Um, that’s actual insanity and we want no part of it. Luckily for us, we’ll never know such a world.
Bruno Mars
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In hopes of making it big, Bruno moved away from his family in Hawaii and relocated to L.A. But after a very slow-moving start, he began to feel homesick and almost considered moving back… however his uncle convinced him otherwise, and good thing he did. Because about two months after calling his uncle to say “let’s make a band, I’m coming home!’ Things began to pick up and now we have hits like“Just the Way You Are,” “24K Magic,” and “Finesse. So Bruno, drop us your uncle’s address when you can, we’d love to send him a thank you card.
Cardi B
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Today Cardi B is a household name, however before all the success she was putting in the work trying to get her big break. And then one particular lost opportunity almost made her give up on it all. As she recalled, “I did a verse to somebody’s song, and other artists was in the song as well, and I was so excited because I felt like my verse was so poppin’. Then, the artist told me that I couldn’t be on the song anymore because one of the artists that was on the song felt like I was too small, and they were too big for me to be on the same song with them. That s*** broke my heart so bad, it broke my heart to pieces… It almost tore me up so bad that I was like ‘I don’t wanna do this s*** anymore.” However with the encouragement of her manager and publicist, the former reality TV star continued to work hard and well now everything is more than okurrrrrr. Also, whoever those artists were, bet they’re feeling pretty dumb right now.
SZA
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Now this would have been an utter tragedy. Because a world without “Broken Clocks” isn’t a world we’re interested in living in. And to think, it was marginally close to actually being a reality. While working on her debut album, SZA’s struggles with self doubt led her to delay its release date for over a year. At one point she even threatened to quit music on Twitter saying “My anxiety had been telling me the whole time that it sucked.” And after her label scheduled a release date for the album, she claimed she “wanted to hurry up and fail.” However like the albums title SZA gained Ctrl, and although she's still hella critical of her work, the music speaks for itself, and it’s saying “I’m GRAMMY nominated.”
Ed Sheeran
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Fun fact, music wasn’t always Ed’s only passion. Believe it or not he revealed, “I wanted to be an actor at one point. I auditioned for a program called Britannia High back in the day as an actor. At that point, I was like, if I get this, I’ll stop music and be an actor and if I don’t get this, I’ll stop acting and be a musician.” Well clearly the show was a no go, because well… you know. So while he initially wasn’t that serious about his musical pursuits, after his failed audition, he decided to shift gears and “start singing properly.” Eventually going from his empty pub beginnings to sold out stadiums all around the world.
Kelly Clarkson
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With dreams of being a singer, after getting her big break on 'American Idol,' all of Kelly’s singing dreams came true. However years into her career Kelly revealed the recording process was no longer something she enjoyed to do. “There have just been so many times where I’ve almost quit just because at the end of the day, I’m like ‘Is this worth it? Is this worth all the drama?' I don’t need to be famous, I just love singing.” Alas her love of music overpowered the negative aspects of recording and Kelly continued to serve up hits and is actually planning to drop an album later this year.
Lana Del Rey
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After several failed attempts at fame, using different aliases, Lana began having doubts about her chances of breaking into the music industry. As she explained back in 2012, “I definitely thought, ‘If it’s gonna be this hard, I’m not gonna be a singer and have nothing.’ That would have been fine.” After two years of unsuccessful efforts she admitted “I started getting tired. In my mind, I was always thinking about [quitting singing]. I stopped playing shows. I definitely didn’t want to be a singer anymore.” However in those two years, Lana stuck it out and eventual did finally break through to great success leaving her failed attempts and real name (Elizabeth Grant) in the dust.
Tim McGraw
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Until his appearance on Oprah’s Master Class, we had no idea Tim McGraw ever doubted his future as a singer. Turns out, he did… Especially after a producer heard him sing and wasn't so fond of what he heard, making matters worse for the at-the-time already confidence lacking Country singer. Tim recalled: “He goes, ‘You know, you’re a nice guy… But I don’t think this is for you… Unless you want to find another part of this business you want to work in, you maybe should not be involved in being a singer.’” Admitting, “at first, I believed him… I was] questioning myself and questioning whether I should do this anymore.” Luckily for Tim and us, he decided not to listen because ultimately singing was his true passion. So with his total savings amounting to $150 , he sent out invitation letters to record labels and producers, then gathered all his musician friends to put on a show at a bar. Where one producer took notice, and began working with Tim, and helped catapult him to Country stardom.
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