This next artist profile is another good friend of mine, who's featured on "Trophy (2022)" and "Bad Time!" We met when we worked at a record store in between our dream-chasing. He's always respected and seen me as an artist, and I always want him to know he's seen, too. His music gets me hype whether it's a killer verse about heartbreak or a feel-good self-love vibe. Meet a future superstar I'm honored to know: Dino.
Thank you oh so very much to Dino for doing this interview! (and for being there for me, of course <3)
Check him out on Spotify and Apple Music: As an independent artist, I know the struggle all too well. This year, I wanted to start highlighting other artists still on the rise like myself, who I believe have good souls and love music so deeply you don't ever question it when you talk to them. Meet Sarah Garcia, a friend I met through Brennen (who was my previous artist profile!), who has a passion for discovering the ways music can heal and motivate personal growth.
“Our knowledge has made us cynical Our cleverness, hard and unkind We think too much, and feel too little More than machinery, we need humanity More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost” These words were mirror examples of what was happening in our world. Creating this helped me release the anxiety and sadness of how cruel the world became in 2020-2021. I believe we all were going through on own awakenings and collectively we all purged lol. At the same time I had so much hope that things will get better, people will become kinder and we will all shed a bit more of the sadness. Hope really became the definition of what the world was missing in my own interpretation.
Thank you so very much for reading about Sarah and her music! Big thanks to her for participating (and being a great friend of course, hehe).
Keep up with her here (click the logo to go to her Instagram, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Music profiles): Thinking of revitalizing this podcast and completely revamping it...if you click the image above, it will take you to PodBean where you can listen to the only episode I ever recorded three years ago (LOL), but it has potential, no?
I started this draft of a blog about two years ago, when I had released my EP "Black Sheep" and its title single "Trophy.' It's dated "7-24-2020" so although it says today's date, that was it's OG date. ;) Since Black Sheep I've released a ton of new music. I have a total of about 22 songs commercially distributed, and I'm determined to just. Keep. Going. I want to be able to look back at this one day, and then be able to genuinely tell other women/people/Persian girls "look!! i did it!! you can too!!" My next single comes out April 15, 2022. It's called "Forgot Who I Was"and honestly, when I went to write a new blog, it was going to be centered around THAT. Then, I saw the draft. The one I've been avoiding. And realized that this next song comes full circle from Black Sheep. Growing up, I was bullied. I wanted nothing more than to be the cool kids from Empire Records, from Rugrats All Grown Up (go head LAUGH lol); I remember my parents had a software on their computer with a CD template for images you could print. I made a CD cover, printed it, cut it out, used a gluestick to put it on a CD-ROM. I made and cut out album artwork to put into a jewel case. I don't have these mementos anymore because I was afraid of getting caught, and my parents never gave a crap about music shit. Never enough to listen to the music I was writing even as a kid. :( But I remember. I made up a band called "One Way" based off a street sign and the fact that it was a ONE WOMAN BAND (I was 8, lol)...and here I am. I ended up working for a record store. Got promoted to manager which was not something I went in there looking for; it became my identity. I became a mentor for more people than I already was in my other realms from life, and I opened myself up to those people more than anyone I had ever met. More than UCSB, SMC...more than CSUN. I felt the most like myself for a small while there. Some of the people were really genuine. When you don't have a family, and a lotta other people don't, you all kind of cling onto each other. It's false, and temporary, and beware of those "family" workplaces lol. Never make it your identity, bby. Fast forward it didn't work out, =capitalism among so many other things that I am quite frankly exhausted talking about. But I was cool in my mind for a small while :) it's lost its glamour since of course, but for my lil life, it served its purpose. But I lived that. I taught dance. I could still teach dance if I wanted to. I model in my own right, I do photography...I have my life set up exactly how I want. Why do I feel the way I do 99% of the time? I can dance. I can sing. I am....on top of the world. In college, I auditioned for their all female acapella group. I honestly never thought it would go anywhere. Then I got an email callback. Then I GOT A SOPRANO PART?! I remember landing my first solo....a girl on the retreat (whose grandpa was in Bread...will never forget her telling me that!! lol) tells me "I didn't get my first solo until sophomore year. Wow. An entire song," and another girl tells me "yeah you are so lucky. good job," suuuuuuuper sarcastically.
But I didn't care. I sang Anna Nalick's "Breathe" with pure joy. I did my Hanson solo. I sang my soprano parts, happy to be different than the other freshman on my hall. That I'm not friends with anymore. Because they were partying while I was studying notes. I was biking at night to Isla Vista Theater battling my panic attack. :( I was so separate and distant from the other people without meaning to be. I was just mixed in with upperclassmen AND freshman...trying to figure out life in Cali with no family...it was so hard. :( But on stage. Claps. Cheers. It honestly, thinking back, is equivalent to being crossfaded. Like I am right now writing this LOL. High off mj, with a slight buzz....people cheering for my voice. It's been the only thing my entire life people have really validated about me that doesn't serve them in any way. Other than being sonically pleasing <3 hahahah. Singing and performing for others is the high I'll never find anything equatable to. I need that high. I miss that high. I've chased it since. It's just gotten worse since, but I really have faith that one day....I'll reach the reach I always wished for. Black Sheep was just the beginning. It will always be my baby, and is still my only larger project out of everything I have released. I love her so much; and Trophy is still my favorite. Black Sheep is more than some girl you used to know releasing music. It's the beginning of my confidence to share my own art. Mixing. Mastering. Because I'm not a nepotism child, I don't have money or connections. It's me. It's the beginning of me saying "i think i have a fucking chance." Anyway. This blog was for me. It's all for me. <3 In his first in-depth interview, artist Brennen introduces himself, his art, and brings us into his musical world. His focus? Bedroom pop. Self-made, deeply personal, but melded with dance music. Happy-sad pop is what I call it; delving into the crevices of his creativity, I ask him about his releases and the man behind the music.
Big thank you to Brennen for doing this interview with me! Keep up with him to follow his journey:
I've never gone on a trip with a friend that was truly THIS enjoyable...we got an Airbnb and for each of us it was around $350...that's with a driveway spot in INGLEWOOD....and two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a cute ass bathroom. They also left a bottle of wine for us to welcome us to the Airbnb! <3 My only gripe was the lack of working wifi but thankfully we used a hotspot to watch Desperate Housewives and neither of us is whiny.
I had a therapy session the day before we left, and I made a huge HUGE breakthrough. I feel so revitalized...I'm eating healthier, cut back on alcohol, getting my projects done...learning to love myself one day at a time. :) The beach really helped further my journey to inner peace hehe Enjoy our cute ass selves on our LA trip! Also, Brennen is single, lucky-other-single-gay-man-readin-this. Hit him up. Find Brennen everywhere and follow him on his musical journey: jmrecordslv.weebly.com to sing. dance. go on a world tour. perform. PERFOOOOOORM. costumes. lights. cool graphics. I want to dance on a 360degree stage like Britney did for her circus tour. i want to write music people love. I want to create cool concepts. I want to stay home all day and write music and do my art.
that's all I want to do for the rest of my life <3 As a DIY musician/starving artist trying to make it, I rely on myself for pretty much everything. I am my own sound engineer, I am my own stylist, my own choreographer, my own photographer...the list goes on and on. One of those things I learned to do myself was makeup. When I moved to LA, I began posting weekly YouTube videos (I was 17). At first, it was just me singing covers into a mic in my lil downtown LA apartment. Then, I got sucked into the world of YouTube beauty videos and the rest is history. Although my covers got way more clout, my hauls and reviews were getting some attention, too! It motivated me to keep learning about makeup artistry so that for photoshoots, I would never have to pay a person to do it for me. That being said: your makeup lays on a canvas. That canvas is your skin. The NUMBER ONE step in makeup artistry, in my opinion, is to make sure your skin is taken care of!! Treat that canvas with respect. Take your makeup off every night. Moisturize. Over time, you will see results. Self care is self love! Which leads me to...Yeouth Skincare! Someone from Yeouth recently reached out to me to see if I would be interested in trying their Glycolic Acid 30% gel peel. I love all things makeup and skincare, so of course I said yes! I've actually never tried a chemical peel before. I moisturize daily, exfoliate, use hyaluronic serum, and use face masks. All of these are relatively tame compared to a chemical peel. Please read the instructions on the inside of the label on this bottle! They provide great detailed instructions for how to use the peel. I'm going to write about my experience/step-by-step instructions after I did research on chemical peels: 1. Stop the use of face masks/exfoliants/anything that can irritate your skin for 48 hours prior to using this product. 2. Avoid sun exposure/tanning for a week prior to use. 3. Do not shave your face/facial hair for 48 hours prior to use. 4. DO A SPOT TEST. Their bottle said to do so under my chin, so I did! Make sure you do this and wait to make sure your spot test turns out okay before applying to your entire face. Using the peel: 1. Cleanse your face with a mild cleanser, and pat dry. 2. With a cotton pad, apply a thin layer of the peel onto your face, starting with the least sensitive areas to most sensitive areas. 3. Leave on for only 30 seconds. 4. Rinse off with COOL water. 5. Apply moisturizer! 6. Use peels no more than one a week/week and a half. With time, you can increase the length of time you leave the peel on (from 30 seconds to 5 minutes). 7. Your skin will feel BRAND. NEW. I'll put the links to everything below! Thanks so much for reaching out to me! Take care of your skin, Janet Click the logo above to visit their website!You can click the image above to buy this specific product on their Amazon!Click below to pre-save/listen to my EP "Black Sheep" on various streaming platforms/internet sites, out 6/19/2020. <3 |
AuthorI'm a lesbian Iranian singer/songwriter/dancer on a mission to build a life I don't ever want to escape. Archives
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