Captions on the tik tok: Welcome back to "self made is a toxic myth".

At just 14 years old, Taylor Swift moved to Nashville, and quickly signed with Sony Music and Big Machine Records. She then released her self titled debut album which quickly went platinum in 2006. Since then, Swift has had nothing but smash hit after smash hit. Including making history this year as the first artist to dominate the entire Top 10 on the billboard Hot 100 with Anti Hero. Wow, that's amazing! But I guess this goes to show that as long as you're talented and work hard and follow your dreams, eventually-

Yeah, what that narrative leaves out is that Taylor Swift was born rich. Taylor Swift's father is Scott Swift, former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. Her mother is Andrea Gardiner, a former mutual funds executive. Swift grew up on an 11 acre Christmas tree farm.

Okay, so what, she grew up wealthy. Does that mean she didn't work hard? No, that's not what it means? Well, does that mean she's not talented? Nope, that's not what it means.

What it means is that when she was 9, she was regularly flying to New York for acting and singing lesson. What it means is that when she was 13, she was working with a talent manager who helped her secure a development deal with RCA. What it means is that when she was 14, her family had the resources to relocate to Nashville, so she could work on music full time. What it means is that every day after school, Taylor is working with experienced hit songwriters. What it means is that when a DreamWorks A and R executive wanted to start his own record label, called Big Machine Records, Taylor's father brought 3 percent worth of stock in the company, for somewhere between 120 K and 300 K, incentivizing him to push her album.

The reason this series exists is to remind my fellow indie artists to take it easy on ourselves, when you feel like you're not progressing in your career fast enough, even though you're talented and hard working too. Because talent and hard work are not enough. You've just been programmed to think that they are, by an endless parade of folks who conveniently downplay how big a role their various privileges played in their success.

After all, it's a lot easier to be an Anti Hero in a lavender haze, when you own the lavenders.

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It's literally science: Talent vs Luck: the role of randomness in success and failure

This study came out last year and proves that luck (such as wealth) is an outsized contributor to success. That doesn't mean that hard work doesn't ever pay off! But a lot of times those big names are hiding the real secret: Mommy and Daddy's money. Not hitting "the big time" does not mean you aren't good! It means you are competing against people who already had a leg up and are pretending that they started at the same level.