You Can Survive 100% No And Still Win

Sitting down with Toby Gad — the songwriter and producer behind global hits like If I Were a Boy by Beyoncé and All of Me by John Legend — it’s easy to look at the career and think the success was inevitable.But before the hits, Toby was an immigrant arriving in New York with no connections, putting up street posters to find collaborators, surviving rejection, and trying to hold onto belief when nothing seemed to move.In the first episode of Sister Base, host Lvma Black sits down with Toby for a raw conversation about what rejection in the music industry actually feels like — brutal label meetings, getting feedback that crushes your confidence, hearing “no” over and over again, and still walking into the next studio session anyway.They talk about the psychological side of building a creative life: persistence, self-doubt, resilience — and how sometimes a little bit of delusion is what keeps artists alive long enough to break through.The conversation also explores a major shift happening in music right now — women beginning to step into spaces they were historically excluded from, not only as artists, but as producers, writers, decision-makers, and creative leaders shaping the future of the industry.They also dive into AI music, AI vocals, the pressure of virality, and what happens to artists in a world where visibility is becoming just as important as talent.Because sometimes you really can survive 100% “no” — and still win.A space for women navigating music, creativity, and everything that comes with it.