What inspires your music?

I love songwriting because it’s just another form of storytelling, which I think is such an integral part of the human experience.That being said, I’m always looking for stories, and I take song inspiration from everything around me, ranging from TV shows to phone calls with a friend to something I personally experienced. When I need to process something or just get out the day’s emotions, I turn to music, and that’s how most of my songs are born.

How did you start your recording career?

I started performing when I was five in musical theatre shows. From there, I started writing songs when I was twelve and started posting covers on Instagram in 2017. I released my first song, “Change My Mind," onto streaming services in 2018, when I was fifteen and have kept writing and performing since then.

How did you come up with your single?

Deja Vu is a song about cyclical relationships and the people that you can’t seem to escape. The story for it came from someone that I was thinking of that, even though we were making no effort to stay in touch, continued to show up in my life. I had always thought it was a really interesting dynamic that I wanted to explore musically. Then, I heard the term “deja vu” in the line of a song I was listening to, and I loved how naturally musical it sounded, even when spoken. From there, I started writing the song.

What is your genre of music?

My genre of released music is probably classified as rnb-pop, with more of a focus on the pop sound. However, I love writing all genres of music, and I even started writing for musical theatre last year.

Who are your influences?

My biggest all-time influences are definitely artists like Taylor Swift and Mariah Carey, but the artists that I’ve gotten into/been influenced by more recently include Lolo Zouai, UMI, and NIKI.

How do you define success?

I feel like success in music is so hard to measure because it’s not necessarily something that’s quantifiable. To me, it’s not so much about the number of streams or amount of royalties as it is about the personal connections. For example, I feel successful as an artist when, after a performance or a song release, someone tells me they saw themself in the song and were emotionally moved by it. If I can reach out to someone and really connect with them through my music, then I feel like I’ve done my job as an artist.

What can we expect from you in 2020?

In 2020, I want to release more singles. I have a lot of songs that I’ve written and want to put out, so I just need to start on the production process with those. I’ll also be releasing an EP with my band DreamKid, so watch out for that! Lastly, I’ll be doing more work in the musical theatre field, including hopefully mounting a production of my first musical, Finding Eden, which I wrote with Tyler King.