How much talent do you really need to be a successful artist? Just enough that you can truly communicate what you really feel.
So, what does this mean? Well, the reality is that no one person is alike in voice or experience, each person has something authentic to communicate. The issue with a lot of artists is they are trying to be someone else. They are trying to emulate the artists they love therefore spending time working on being someone else not really themselves. This can come with people singing songs outside their range or dressing or creating a show that is not their true selves. Now it is true that we learn from others and want to study and analyze them in order to try things to see what works for us but the trick is not becoming so infatuated that we lose sight of ourselves or what makes us so unique or genuine voices and messages.
We must also keep in mind why others really love the artists they do, and that is because the person is truly communicating with them on a level the person can relate to them on. In order to really communicate you must be speaking from your heart and your experiences. That is the golden ticket to success. So though we do not want to neglect technique we need only so much in order to deliver our messages with clarity that appeals to the ear. When it comes to something like range (the number of notes one can sing comfortably or without strain) you only need as much as needed to fully communicate the song in a way that others can receive. If you were not hitting the notes, this would be an example of not communicating fully or if you did not believe in what you were singing this would not fully communicate the message to the audience.
So don’t worry if you can’t hit those Ariana Grande notes. Focus on what you can do and build around that. And heck who knows, maybe one day you will hit those notes but for now, don’t worry.