We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Libba Kelly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Libba, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
My debut album “Reflections” by far has been my most meaningful project of my life. About five years ago my life and my family’s life were turned upside-down. I had just graduated from my four year university and was planning to move to Nashville, TN to pursue my music career in Winter of 2020. Sadly my father was diagnosed with leukemia in the Fall of 2019, and shortly after I had moved to start my career to be an independent artist and chase my dreams he passed in February of 2020. He was my person, and one of my biggest believers for my career. Shortly after as well know the global pandemic came along, and I lived alone in Nashville, TN with barely knowing anyone in town. Even though that was one of the biggest challenges in my life, now looking back I am so grateful I had that time to myself to reflect and process my emotions. When eventually moving back to my hometown, San Francisco, CA, it felt as though I had a fresh start in life. A whole new story to tell and I was going to write my music hoping that if anyone had ever or was currently experiencing such life-changing events could look to my music as a source of comfort. “Reflections” was a five-year album in the making, but I had no idea what the outcome of the project would be. Every detail from the writing, the performances, the production, and the recording process. Every step of the way I saw a vision whether alone or with many of the amazing people I worked with, and as a whole we created this story of living life. Whether the good or the bad times, but at the end of the day you get through it, and you can make all the plans you want for your life but sometimes it doesn’t go the way you planned. That’s ok. That is “Reflections.”
Libba, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’ve always had a love affair with musical theater. Having a story that is driven though acting and song is really special. There’s a lot of drama to it and it’s a lot of fun to perform. I credit musical theater for awakening a love for music – the memorable melodies and sharp, emotional lyrics that transport you. I chose to study music and really invest in learning about different genres. It’s truly a passion for me and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I had just moved back from Nashville as we were emerging from the doom and gloom of COVID, and live music was starting to come back. Initially I was thinking I would find a keyboardist and go from there. But I stumbled onto a Facebook group of musicians and posted there and ended up with a bass player. He talked me into forming a band — and together we did! It all started on Facebook, and it’s been a great resource for us. We all met and played for a while. But through schedules and other commitments, changes were made along the way. But we’ve got a great group now. We are all very passionate about our music and really enjoy collaborating on building songs, tinkering with sounds and creating something new. We enjoy each other and share a deep love for the indie music culture. The road we’ve chosen isn’t easy, but we are fulfilled by the work and are having a great time sharing it. I think the biggest challenge is managing my own negative thoughts and doubts. Even after enjoying external positive feedback, I find that I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to self-talk. But I know that this negativity is manufactured. I push through it to perform and truly love what I do.
I am proudest of my perseverance. It easy for one to not only follow their dreams but to persevere through the rejection. In many industries people receive many “no’s” but people must remember the yes’s. I have worked very hard to get where I am to today, and continue to work even harder to achieve my wildest dreams. To fully display yourself and your craft everyday in hope and fear of what others might think of you personally or your work is terrifying. However, the joy of creating a feeling of happiness, sadness, hope, anger, etc. through music is unmatched. I have been through my obstacles and I am sure there are more ahead, but I will continue to fight for music and the stage.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Back in 2015 I was applying for the next chapter in my life, college applications. Through ad through I knew music was my path and although I wasn’t the best student I dreamed big regardless of what others said. When applying for colleges I had recently discovered Berklee College of Music located in Boston, MA. This was a very prestigious school with people around the world applying for it, with that being said many people told me I wouldn’t be accepted into such an elite school.
Regardless of what people told me I decided to shoot for the stars any way and audition. The audition process alone was very intimidating, but I learned at a young age the scary things in life make you grow and are beneficial in the end. I had of course auditioned for other schools whether smaller colleges or bigger universities, but Berklee was definitely my biggest obstacle in the audition process.
When it came time for the acceptance/rejection letters I was hopeful, but mostly terrified. I had to just keep reminding myself I did all I could and I cannot control the outcome. Fortunately for me, I proved many people wrong and was accepted to Berklee College of Music. Although that was one of the happiest days of my life, it was also one of the hardest. Financially I couldn’t afford to attend the school and yes, I could take out student loans but at the end of the day I chose a different path for my life then. I thought for a long time if I had made the right decision not choosing that school, but eventually looking back I would have not been given the opportunities that were offered to me in the program I was a part of in California. I thought back at the age of 18 that my career would suffer if I didn’t take the opportunity of Berklee. The funny thing about the music industry is that it doesn’t matter what school you attend or where you go, but how you push yourself in your craft to become a better artist. As a professor once told me when I attended a summer course at Berklee, “If you can’t afford to come here, do not waste your money coming here. Music is priceless and you have to work very hard for it in this industry. But do not go broke for it by coming here.”
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
As Bono once said, “Music can change the world because it can change people.” Music is a world-wide language and a healing language at that. To have the opportunity to make people feel emotions they needed to feel is the biggest blessing I could ask for. As well as bringing strangers into a room together to forget about their troubles and whatever issues they are dealing with to escape from them and enjoy this one moment of life is why I create music and keep perceiving it. Since I was a little girl I have appreciated what music can do for my life alone, but when I started performing whether musicals, church choirs, etc. and I saw the audiences faces when I would perform that was when I knew that music was my calling in life. Countless times I have attended concerts and I am standing next to someone who might not even the same language as I do, but we are both enjoying the beautiful music and screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs yet I could not engage in a full conversation with them. That is what music does, and even though being an artist has its negative days and lonely days, I look back on those times of when music changed my life and healed me and I remember that’s why I do it.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.heyitslibba.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyitslibba/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyitslibba/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfzscXLPUqsHVtdoaNzP5FA
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/heyitslibba
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heyitslibba?lang=en
Image Credits
Rachel Lynch