03/12/2024

Trust Your Taste

navigating creativity and life

For his 11th album, Tom Petty decided to start working with the music producer Rick Rubin.

"Rick loves music," Petty said, "that’s why I decided to work with him. It’s not because of his technical skill. He has no musical skill. He plays no instruments. He just loves music."

Rick Rubin adds, "what I have to offer is, as a fan, I can say what I like and what I don’t like. And I don't necessarily know why, but I'm true to my taste and try to steer in a direction that feels natural and good to me."

The first album Petty and Rubin worked on, "Wildflowers" (Petty's second solo album) went triple platinum, selling over 3,000,000 copies in less than a year.

Rick Rubin has no musical skill, but he has what Jerry Seinfeld identifies as the ultimate skill of the artist: “taste and discernment.”

“It’s one thing to create,” Seinfeld said. “The other is you have to choose. ‘What are we going to do, and what are we not going to do?’ This is a gigantic aspect of [artistic] survival. It’s kind of unseen—what’s picked and what is discarded—but mastering that is how you stay alive.”

I believe in the power of taste. Taste that is rooted in intuition, that tramples all fears and doubts. Taste that doesn’t care about what anyone thinks. Taste that is insurmountable. That focuses, motivates, and inspires. Taste that moves at a pace that feels right. It is the cherry on top of a sundae, and the very thing that makes me feel at home within myself.

As a kid, I had a plan for every part of my life – from my career to the exact time my train arrived in the morning. I planned everything. Which means I worried a lot. Will everything go according to plan? Am I making the right decisions? What if I fail? I’d be lying if I said I never asked myself these questions. However, the answer has remained the same – trust your taste. Taste has allowed me to find confidence in my future without being consumed by it. 

I often think of myself within the context of my future. Everything I experience now is for the sole purpose of establishing my future. This notion has grounded me and given me a ton of patience. So as I walk by the beautiful brownstones, I think about what my future holds, and I have patience now. 

When I get a glimpse of the world I want to be a part of, I think of what my future holds, and I have patience now. 

When people make fun of me for writing 10 page essays that only get read by 30 people, I think of what my future has in store, and I have patience now.

I do this to the point now where it’s like a reflex. If I’m ever faced with uncertainties and worries, I find assurance in my future and it gives me rest. 

It is funny that I find confidence in my future, which could be considered the most uncertain thing to anyone. After all, no one knows for sure what the future holds. But I know that trusting my taste, what I like and what I don’t like, has gotten me thus far.

It makes the unexplainable understandable. It causes the unspoken to be heard. It causes me to see what is not yet there.

Taste is sacred. It leads us to places, people, and ideas that are meant for us. It allows us to get to know ourselves. 

With each step, I am sculpting my future, shaping it with the confidence born of my convictions. And though the path may twist and turn, I march forward, knowing that my unwavering belief in my taste will guide me through any storm.

I hope we can find solace in our taste and let it guide the unique paths we are carving for ourselves. I hope we can have unwavering faith in our taste, and know that it will always lead us home and help us stay alive.