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Will you Play it Safe in 2025?

One of my favorite songs which I learned about early this year. Our boss at the agency played this at one of our town hall meetings.

It's reminder to all creators that we will always be told to "stick to safe ideas" (which is fine, if you just want to get the work done and go home) but there will always be this other voice at the back of your head that will ask, "Maybe there's another way to do this? Maybe there's a better way to tell this story? Maybe you can tell if from a different point of view and make this old story feel like new? Maybe you can spend a few more minutes working on it? How about it? Let's give it a try? Another hour trying to re-write? Let's give it a go!"
What I love about this song is how the lyrics take on the conservative point-of-view and how the visuals show us the exact opposite.

One of my favorite bits of this song is this part, where the lyrics starts to give you a "list of commands", like it's a list of orders that you need to follow...
Toe the line
Don your suit
Hide your truth
Wipe your tears
Don't cause trouble
Find your bubble
Stick to black-and-white ideas
Play it safe
Know your place
Know your lines
Know your limits
Find a doctrine
Get it locked in
Build a box and stay in it
... and the faster the song goes, the more I say, "No. No! Nope! NO!"

And then he ends the song with...
You gotta play it safe
Your mind is like a house
If you keep it locked up tight
You just might keep the world out
... which becomes the cautionary tale for everyone.

This year was not a very productive year for me, as far as making new comics is concerned. Hoping I can get more done in 2025.

And I hope this song inspires you to NOT Play It Safe and that you get to tell the story / song / tale / play / movie that you've been meaning to tell and get to share it with the world!



PLAY IT SAFE
by Tim Minchin
"For five decades the Opera House has stood in defiance of that nervous little voice inside us that tells us to play it safe and keep it simple. This special film celebrates our 50th anniversary, encouraging us all to live on the edge of possible, because when we do, extraordinary things can happen."

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