Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chantal Trent. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chantal, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I started making music when I was in fifth grade. I took a couple piano lessons decided that the instrument wasn’t for me, and transitioned to guitar. I had been writing poetry for a while and had a feeling that I could turn it into music if I just knew how to play an instrument. It turned out I was right and as soon as I knew some basic cords on guitar, I was off and running, writing as many songs as I possibly could. I wouldn’t have attempted to have sped up my learning process in any way. I think the slower and the more in-depth you go with honing your skills, as far as songwriting, the better the song comes out. For me, I think my most essential skill to my craft is lyricism/poetry. Without those two things, my songs wouldn’t be nearly as special. Being able to learn how to capture my feelings in an artistic form was crucial to creating my art. As far as obstacles standing in the way of my learning, I’d say the only thing is really time. The more I learn on guitar, and even self teaching on piano, the more I am able to write. It’s just the question of do I have the time to put in learning these extra things when I already have the basics down?

Chantal, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Chantal Trent. I am 19 years old and I am based in Los Angeles, California. I’ve been writing, recording, producing and releasing music for over six years now. I would consider myself first a poet above anything. My lyricism is what sets me apart from the many talented voices there are out there. I think one of the most special parts of my lyricism is my ability to take heartbreaking or dark topics and make them sound beautiful with the words that I use. My number one goal is always to connect with the people who listen to my music and to hopefully help them in sharing experiences, the same way that so many of my favorite artists have done for me over the years. Another huge aspect of that for me is performing live. I love being able to interact with my audience in a more personal setting. Live music is one of my favorite things in the world because, to me, it really feels like almost a group therapy session for the artist and the listeners involved. Music has always been a big escape for me. Writing music is so therapeutic because it’s just like when you’re going through a hard time and you find a song that perfectly captures what you’re feeling/going through, except for that you can create one from scratch every time, in an even more personally accurate manner. After I write a song, I’m usually playing it multiple times a day for a couple weeks after I write it just because it’s really almost a processing tool for me for whatever I’m going through. My work has progressed a lot over the years. I was 12 when I first started writing, and released my first full length album. I started off very singer songwriter and then transitioned into a real true pop sound and now I’m kind of straying more alternative/experimenting with new instruments and sounds. I’m also starting to incorporate other mediums into my work like visuals and music videos.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the lessons that I had to unlearn in songwriting is that you can reopen a song that you made a long time ago and completely reinvent it. For a long time I was in the mindset that all of my songs should stay exactly as they were when they were written to be the most historically accurate in my life. As the years progressed, I found myself not releasing a lot of old work because I felt that the lyrics or the melody could’ve been better, but still not wanting to change it. I had to really get rid of that mindset and learn that it was OK to change and reinvent the music that I was making. My work is constantly changing and I had to be OK with letting go some of the old elements of my work to make them more oriented with what I’m doing now.

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

For me, the most rewarding part of being a musical artist is passing on inspiration and creativity with my music. I’ve had people make illustrations of what they felt when they listened to my music and seeing that was so beautiful. It was also super interesting to me because what they drew was exactly the way that the song sounded in my head. Same with song remixes. Seeing what people will do with your art is super interesting to me and vice versa. I love pulling inspiration from other peoples work whether it’s novels, poetry, production, or songwriting it is all just so fun for me. I literally have a note in my phone that is just a list of words that I love that other people used in their songs, or specific moments in their production that I thought was so beautiful. For example, a heartbeat drum that I pulled from Drake‘s “Hold on We’re Going Home” and used in the bridge of my newest single, Stupid Love. It was barely noticeable, but to me it really just makes the song that much more impactful. I just really love the snowball effect of creativity and connection that comes with creating music and any form of art for that matter. It’s really just a big community of emotional people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/chantaltrent
• Instagram: Instagram.com/chantaltrent
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@chantaltrent5083?si=dxbCGlvGjr-oSSqZ

Image Credits
Ramona Trent Anthony Pearson