We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alana Dixon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alana, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

So I just released my debut EP called “HOLYHEARTBREAK” and of course it is my only full music project out but it is definitely the most meaningful thing I have ever worked on in my entire twenty one years of life. The project consists of four songs that I have written over the last three years or so.

Initially, I started my song writing journey after coming out publicly and no longer being able to participate in my church’s worship team as a worship leader. Writing songs became my therapy and my new identity. I started writing the songs for this project in 2019 after experiencing the worst heartbreak ever, or so it seemed at the time. I hadn’t even thought of putting any music out ever and had zero intention of anyone ever hearing these songs. Now in early 2020, Obed Padilla reached out and invited me over to his house to work on some music and record a song. This was my first time ever recording a song and we worked on my first single called “Walking on The Moon”, which also happened to be the first song I had ever started writing and finished. He then encouraged me to get on Distrokid so I could start releasing music. I had written over a hundred songs at this point and although it took me a whole year after that to release anything, the impact of that first session will last a lifetime.

During all of this, I was still processing the emotions that come with a break up and had yet to heal completely. I started writing a bunch of songs and linked up with Global City Media center in Oceanside to start recording there consistently. Of course, as any artist, I use consistently very loosely as sometimes I would go a month or two without recording but stuck with it as much as time and money allowed me to. I was writing all of these super sad songs about heartbreak and I couldn’t break out of that funk. I really wanted to write more upbeat and happy stuff but I wasn’t feeling happy nor was I upbeat. As I was recording all of these songs, I realized how vulnerable I had to be in order to be able to record them. It brought me back to a message from one of the speaker’s at my church; “…the completeness of your healing depends on the deepness of your vulnerability…”. These words just kept playing over and over in my head for a majority of the time I spent making music during 2020 to early 2022.

One day, we are in the studio and we realized that I had recorded enough songs to put together an EP. I had never even thought of putting a project together because I did not think I would enough songs to do something like that. After having that thought, the rest of the process was pretty easy. We listened back to the songs; “U&I”, “Showed Out”, and “Last Time”, and then it all hit me. I had not healed from the breakup in 2019 and that this was my way of doing so. The title “HOLYHEARTBREAK” just made sense. I had been toying around with the idea that HOLYHEARTBREAK sums up that speaker’s message perfectly; “…the completeness of your healing depends on the deepness of your vulnerability…”, Now, we needed one more song to make the project whole and that is when I realized I had not recorded the last song I recall writing about the breakup, “Where Did U Go?”. We recorded that very last song and everything just made even more sense. From being persecuted by the church, to losing who I thought was the love my life, and now finally realizing I have what it takes to really put music out for the world to hear; “HOLYHEARTBREAK” was exactly what I needed in order to fully heal and process that heartbreak.

I am not promoting sadness in any way shape or form. I am trying to promote vulnerability and healing. I want people to know that whether it is heartbreak from a romantic relationship, a rigged system, or self hate; it is completely okay to be sad. You have to grow through it to get through it and that starts with honesty and vulnerability. I hope people can see themselves in this project and start making conscious actions to heal from whatever it is that they are struggling with.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Alana and I am from Oceanside, CA. I make music under the moniker “theholyrainbowclub” and I am a singer/songwriter. I started going by this name after publicly coming out as gay and not being able to participate as a worship leader anymore. I felt super unholy and as a kind of “f you” I created “theholyrainbowclub” and started pursuing music under this name. I am just trying to make the music I wanted to hear and be an example to kids out there who are like me. I am a Gay Samoan kid from a city by the ocean who is trying to showcase that it is okay to be exactly who you are. I hope people see theholyrainbowclub and recognize the divinity within themselves, especially through my music.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

The most rewarding aspect would have to be getting to perform. It is an honor to be asked to perform at a variety of events and it is the most rewarding feeling with you are performing and there are people in the crowd who know a song of yours. I am always in awe when I perform and have people singing the words to my song. It is a big part of why I do what I do. I chase that high daily!

Have you ever had to pivot?

As an independent artist, music does not provide the income I need in order to survive life so of course I work a 9-5 office job. I work in sales and have been in sales since I was eighteen. Anyway, I recently had to choose between working in a position I had miserably been in for two years and a new opportunity working with people that I love. While it wasn’t a hard decision for me to choose the new opportunity, it did take a lot out of me to leave the last company I was with. This company had hired me at nineteen and was my first serious office job and it is kind of where I grew up in a sense. I had promoted as far as I could within the company and when my friend offered me a job at his company, doing the same thing, I was all for it. This meant that I had to have those tough conversations I never wanted to have, but it was all worth it. Now, I have more time to focus on music and am surrounded by people that I really love and look up to. It felt super risky when I first started considering the new position but I have been here for three months now and it feels like I have done a complete 360. It is always tough leaving the nest and putting yourself out of your comfort zone, but it truly is necessary if you want to reach higher heights.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theholyrainbowclub/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/holyrainbowclub?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI0yZI5faEZZAShf8tUnz8A

Image Credits
Dean Aguirre (@deans_dead), Dom Berho (@iamsaintmarcel) and Nashelle Brown (@nashellebrown)