No artist tries to be second-rate.
Every artist is trying with each project to do their best work. But even great artists miss, and even good work fails.
Half of Gershwin’s songs are below average. That means for every Someone To Watch Over Me, there is some dreck out there somewhere.
Some artists keep their second-rate art quiet. They scrap half-completed novels, like John Green did before finishing Turtles All The Way Down. Or they write two or three songs for every one that makes it into a musical, as Stephen Sondheim might.
Other artists put their work out there, and say, this is the best I could do today. And then they get to work on the next project. Records are often like that – a musician won’t know until it’s in the world whether they have made the art they intended to make.
No artist tries to be second-rate, but every artist is compelled to keep making art. If you aren’t willing to risk making bad art, you aren’t willing to be an artist.