Hi there...

It's me!
Hi! I'm the problem, it's me... 😆🙄 (I couldn't help it, call me stereotypical but I've never related to a single line more. Thanks for pointing that out, Taylor.)

So... it's a warm, beautifully sunny Saturday morning in NZ, and I decided to start this blog post thing. I don't know if anyone will ever read it, but it seems to be a logical answer to a) keeping my website updated, and b) having a place that I own, where I can write completely freely - long winded and all - about my music journey, in a real personal way. And after thinking about the idea of doing this for a long time, I actually feel good about it- it means I have a place to point people to to find out more about me and what I'm up to, rather than feeling like I'm constantly spamming my social media posts with ginormous captions 😆

You know, as a creative person, I feel like it only makes sense that there's all this energy, dreams, things I want to do that's accompanied by this incessant need to share it all the time, with anyone and everyone. I'm a real social person, and I love to engage with people, talk, share, make friends- it just seems to happen along the way as I go about my business. That in itself leads me to waste a lot of time (not that it's not worth it, but there is always a trade-off somewhere) and if there's one thing I know, it's that there really just is never enough time to do EVERYTHING. 

So.. I've had to learn to prioritise (still learning), focus (still focusing), take breaks (probably too many) and just be content with the journey. The last couple of years have been absolutely life changing for me, and instrumental to my career in music. Yes, I'm calling it a career 😆

To start from the beginning (but summarised, you're welcome) I was raised as an only child by my strong, and equally, if not more weird as me, mother (my eye started twitching trying to absorb that sentence, too). And don't worry, I know she will be laughing at that! My WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE I have been IN LOVE with music. Mum's mum had an old Hammond organ, you know the ones with two tiers of keys, and brown foot bass pedals. I can still remember how it felt to push those bass pedals down, there was a slight clicking sound as the mechanism moved inside the organ. It had these really cool retro coloured buttons in varying shades of yellow and orange, and made an impressive whirring sound when it was powered on, almost like a rush of air was being pumped through it. 
That organ was my first ever instrument. I was 2 years old when my Grandma died of cancer. She left that organ to me, and I kept it as long as possible with my mum until I got married and had nowhere for it to live. I always knew I'd regret getting rid of it, but I just had to due to the lack of space and an expanding family. 
I played that organ since I could, from age 2. I would hear music and just copy it. I really took for granted, that natural ability to hear something and just figure it out on keys relatively quickly. It has made making music and playing covers a lot more natural for me, but made me a terrible student when it came to learning music theory 😂 
 

Anyway- fast forward to now- over time, I kept playing, always covers. I consistently practiced singing - something I would do in every bit of spare time - when I was a teen, if mum went out and I was home alone, out would come the Celine Dion CDs, my Impulse spray deodorant (I mean my microphone) and that would be me set until I heard her car pull up outside and I would run to turn off the loud music and then act like I was doing something else (or in bed like I was supposed to be, hehe). I'm not really sure why I hid that. I was always so embarrassed to sing, and never ever had much in the way of confidence. I still did it, for school talent shows and things, but super timidly and always doubting. I was SO BORING to watch, which always led to me being told I need to change my face and act more, which made me hate performing even more. I guess that always affected me as I still have issues with it now! 

I'm in my late thirties now. I always said I would be a famous singer. That was my dream. And now I'm 38, I have 3 preteen / just on teens age children, I run a successful beauty therapy / cosmetic tattoo business with a couple of staff, and I'm trying like nothing else ever before to work my way into having more time for my original love- MUSIC. After spending much of the last 15 years fully immersed in family and working life, my husband and I played gigs performing covers as an acoustic duo for a few weddings, restaurants, things like that. Thats cool, but it's always been lacking. I want more, man.

Almost 2 years ago I enrolled in my first ever online course, on Studio (known back then as Monthly). It coincided perfectly with NZ's first national lockdown due to the covid pandemic, so I found I had all this extra time to spend on it- thank God, because there is no way I was ready for music production 😂 I saw Ryan Tedder had this 30 day course following his process in how to write and produce pop songs. Oh my goodness. You wouldn't believe what that did for me. That will be for another blog post but it was no doubt the first pivotal experience in my music journey- mostly because of the people I have met through Studio, as well as what I learned from Ryan's course.

Since then I have carried on writing, learning how to produce (still learning and will forever be with that, wow) investing in myself time wise and financially, with my music. I have taken production lessons, collaborated, experienced actual studio time, made music friends and contacts all over the world- I even got a little side job singing backing vocals for a singer who lives on the other side of the world who is releasing his first album this year - who would have thought that we could do this? 

I'm nowhere near figuring it out, all I know is that I want to make my song visions come alive, I want them to be on epic shows on tv and in movies, I want to be able to perform live in my own unique way with 1000% confidence, and I want to be able to do it all - myself. 

This sounds wrong, and counterproductive, because no-one can do everything themselves. Especially when they're raising a family, running a business, working full time AND trying to navigate the new music business (yes I'm totally buying Ari's book- if you know you know) which also means becoming your own manager, publisher, and social media marketer (send help 😖) But. What I mean is- and hear me out- if I can't be content, with my own songs, recorded simply from home with no fancy full production sound, put out there (easily done these days), with only my family and friends who actually like what I do listening to it and appreciating it, then I've lost what I always loved about music in the first place. 

All I ever wanted to do was make people feel the same way I felt when I listened to something that moved me in some way. 

I like to remember that I DO NOT NEED TO be a big superstar, or have a million followers, or pay thousands to have songs finished in order to do that. All I need to do, is keep consistently pushing forward, writing the music, building on my skills, and playing in the field that I'm in right now. If you keep working at it, the journey will constantly evolve. 

I am releasing music this year - I have 2 singles almost ready to go in the next month and a collab that won't be far behind. I have several more I'm working on that will follow. I'm setting goals, but as an indie artist- I'm just taking this time - this beautiful, exciting time, to write, produce, connect with other like minded creatives, and put out whatever sounds I make. I hope this eventually will end up with some of my music being used for sync licensing. The whole thing is abit of an experiment, because I actually don't really know what I'm doing. Everything is so new, and I'm still in a massive season of firsts. If a label came to me tomorrow and offered me a (>insert the proper word here< because I don't know what it is these days 😂) I literally do not know if that is something I would want. We actually live in the most incredible time, because anyone with a basic set up can release their own music out into the world. There are a tonne of obstacles, and a lot of noise to cut through- but if everything was easy, everyone would do it. You just gotta remember your WHY and try not to get distracted (says me, an actual magpie in a glitter store) 

Well... this was definitely not short, perhaps I should try podcasting instead 😂🤔 It was hard to know how to start, but there it is. From one absolutely relatable, perfectionist, overthinking, creative, music loving human to whoever reads this, thank you for reading and listening to my music - I really hope you have a something joyful in your day.. and if it's a tough time, chuck in some ear phones and listen to some music. Music's always got you. 💕

 

.....

 

So am I supposed to sign off here or...? 

Sincerely, (LOL)

Dani x