Kendrick Lamar warns against chasing trends like 808s or auto-tune because the culture stops believing in you when you abandon authenticity. Evan Carmichael shares how he ditched chasing views and ad dollars to create what he loved, finding that trend-chasing drained him while authentic work brought real energy and impact.
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Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is stand behind what you do. Over to you, Kendrick Lamar.
I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.
It's a whole world out there, man, that believes in what you can do and what you can say and the energy you bring, you know. I'm not a to even just justify myself. A lot of people have their own different nicks, and you know, you don't have to be a super lyricist or a storyteller. It could just be the energy you bring, you know what I'm saying? They believe in that. But the moment they feel like you don't believe in that no more and you just going with the next trend, whether it's 808s or whether it's an uptempo or slow tempo—
Auto-tune.
Exactly. They don't believe in you no more, you know. The culture don't believe in you no more. So Stand behind what you do and, you know, the world is gonna move by it. And that's exactly how I look at it. So what do you think?
Oh, I totally agree. I agree with Kendrick. Authenticity, integrity, standing for what you do, belief, confidence— these are like super powerful traits. And if you want to accomplish anything, I feel like they're key.
I look at the website that I had and one of the biggest frustrations that I had was just trying to chase views and just trying to do the things that I thought would get me a lot of views because you're chasing ad dollars, it started to feel super empty and I lost a lot of the love for what I was doing because it didn't feel like I was creating things that were really meaningful, just what was hot. And so yes, we look at profiling people that might be in the news, but the content that I'm putting out now just feels right. Like, it's stuff that I'm passionate about, it's stuff that we're still pouring a lot of love and energy into. And I think there is a danger of if you're just trying to follow the trend but you're not actually excited about what it is, just trying to make bank, then you're not going to have a lot of success, you're not going to feel the energy behind it, and you're not going to get the results or impact that you're looking for. So the question of the day today is: Name something you stand behind. What do you stand behind? Leave it in the comments below and we will join in the discussion. So thank you guys so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is, and we'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. So the question— so the question of the day today is, uh, cue me up again. That's a good question.
