F*ck Failure by Benny Blanco

Published by Simon & Schuster

I absolutely love Benny Blanco. I love his social media, his attitude towards work, his personality and, perhaps most of all, how much he clearly adores his wife, Selena Gomez. There’s something wonderfully refreshing about somebody who is so successful but doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously.

So when I saw he’d written F*ck Failure, I knew I wanted to read it.

And I loved it.

This isn’t your typical self-help book full of complicated theories about becoming successful. It’s Benny being Benny. Funny, direct, occasionally outrageous and full of stories about his career, his friends and the things he’s learned along the way.

His central message is wonderfully simple: if you want to succeed, you have to be prepared to fail. Repeatedly.

Nobody is keeping a scorecard of your failures

There was one part of this book that made me laugh out loud. And I mean properly LOL. Benny makes the point that nobody is sitting around thinking about all the things you’ve failed at. Nobody is writing a list of everything you suck at. And if your friends really are keeping track of your failures just to judge you, you need better friends.

I absolutely loved that. Because he’s right, isn’t he?

We spend so much time worrying about what other people think of us. What if we make the wrong decision? What if something doesn’t work? What if people think we’re stupid?

It’s exhausting. And the reality is that most people are far too busy thinking about their own lives to spend much time analysing ours.

I think this is such an important message, particularly when it comes to work. We can become so frightened of getting something wrong that we stop ourselves from trying in the first place. Benny’s approach is the complete opposite. Try it. Get it wrong. Learn something. Move on.

It’s incredibly liberating when you think about it.

Friends, music and Bruno Mars

Another thing I really enjoyed was reading about Benny’s friendships and the people he’s worked with throughout his career. He’s collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, including Ed Sheeran, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, and I loved getting a glimpse into that world. And, of course, the Bruno Mars comeback story caught my attention. I love Bruno Mars, so that was always going to be a highlight for me.

What I particularly like about Benny is the way he talks about success. He doesn’t make it sound like some mysterious formula available only to a handful of extraordinarily talented people. He talks about hard work, relationships, persistence, taking chances and being prepared for things not to go to plan. And he puts it all in such plain terms.

There’s no need to overcomplicate everything. Sometimes the advice that makes the biggest difference is the advice somebody delivers in a way that makes you laugh.

Success doesn’t have to mean taking yourself seriously

Benny Blanco is a hugely successful music producer and songwriter, with a career spanning some of the biggest hits in modern pop music. He’s also a bestselling author, having previously published his cookbook Open Wide. But what I find particularly appealing about him is his attitude.

He clearly works incredibly hard, but he also seems to understand the importance of enjoying life, surrounding yourself with good people and not allowing every setback to become a personal disaster. And I love how openly affectionate he is towards Selena Gomez. In a world where so much of celebrity life feels carefully managed, I find his enthusiasm for his wife rather lovely.

For me, the bigger message of this book isn’t just about professional success. It’s about giving yourself permission to be imperfect. You can be ambitious, work hard, want extraordinary things from life and still get things wrong. In fact, you almost certainly will. And that’s fine.

My verdict

★★★★★ 5 out of 5 stars.

I loved this book, but then I already loved Benny Blanco, so perhaps I’m slightly biased!

It’s funny, easy to read, full of interesting stories and delivers some genuinely useful advice without making everything feel unnecessarily complicated.

The message about nobody sitting around keeping a list of your failures really stayed with me. We waste so much energy worrying about what other people might think, when most of the time they’re not thinking about us at all. And if they are keeping score? Get better friends.

Brilliant.

If you’re somebody who worries about making mistakes, puts too much pressure on yourself or simply needs a reminder that failure is part of life, read this.

You don’t have to be a Benny Blanco fan to enjoy it, but I suspect you might become one.

Five stars. And a very good reminder to stop worrying quite so much about what everybody else thinks.