The music business routinely replaces women with younger versions of themselves, but Stevie Nicks has remained culturally relevant for more than 50 years without surrendering the identity that made her famous.

Artists are constantly advised to reinvent themselves to keep up with changing audiences usually to no avail.  Nicks resisted being defined exclusively by Fleetwood Mac, launching a successful solo career when leaving one of the world’s biggest bands looked unnecessarily risky. Her music keeps crossing generational lines. Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 “Dreams” returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020 after becoming a TikTok phenomenon—reaching No. 12 without the band rewriting, remixing or modernizing it.

Nicks did not remain relevant by pretending to be younger. Younger performers moved toward her. Taylor Swift has called Nicks a trusted adviser who paved the way for her. Miley Cyrus incorporated “Edge of Seventeen” into their 2020 collaboration “Edge of Midnight.”.

Reinvention does not always require abandoning the person you were. Nicks evolved, collaborated and survived enormous changes in music without making herself unrecognizable.

Originality ages better than trend-chasing.

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