We were lucky to catch up with Caroline Harlin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Caroline, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

My story and creative works starts truly when I first understood shortly after i became aware about life. I think my first real moment creating had to be when my parents first got a webcam on the light gray brick microsoft computer we had in our computer room. I believe I had to have been around five when i first discovered youtube and decided to start making funny skit videos (with absolutely no plot or direction) and uploading them without my parents knowing, For context the internet really was a wild place in 2004, no one could parent enforce anything and kids like myself were understanding the internet faster than our parents. There were no rules, no understanding that what lives on the internet stays. But lucky for me I freaked out and deleted the account before anyone could find it— and sometimes i wish i didn’t just to have those videos for my own sake. Then once I learned my love for video and photography and ran around with my moms little digital camera everywhere we went, my favorite errand was when we would go to target to get all the photos I had taken developed. I took every photography and film class from school system provided — even deciding to major in electronic media and film when I got to college at 18 and that is when my love of social content rather than professional film took off.

Film, media, and content truly is the backbone to who I am. From vlogging every week in college to creating nerd culture with my friends it has all culminated finally with my deep passion for music and turned into my passion project, @carsoplaylists. this platform / blog just feels like an extension of my soul in all the right ways. to the average viewer it may seem like a midge lodge of content from concert photography, to fun videos, to elevated graphics highlighting the music i love. And I do claim it to be a midge podge of chaos, because that is who i am and will continue to be. someone who loves all aspect of creative work and without it (and there have been dark moment when i didn’t allow myself to create) I wouldn’t be truly me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi i’m caroline harlin, the face and sole creator of @carosplaylists. @carosplaylists is my music blog that talks about everything music. I share my own concert photography & reviews, up and coming artists, and hyper niche playlists that set the mood for whatever you may be feeling, some even have been created as personal diary entries to help you get through a tough time.

I have always loved music, it’s something that keeps me sane. good days bad days music is always there like a best friend for me. I made my first music discovery in 2006/2007 with none other than Taylor Swift. I was six at the time and i looked over to my mom after listening to tear drops on my guitar on the radio and went ‘I like her.” And the rest is history, stocked with her through everything and anything. She wasn’t just an artists that i randomly decided yes on. She was the first true artist (other than the wiggles) that i was a fan of. I got all her CDs day of release and she even followed my tumblr during the 1989 era.

I’m most proud of the elevated content I create. I’ve been told that people can feel my passion for what I do through my page. I truly want to highlight good music no matter if artists have 1 millions listeners or 10. My biggest gripe about record labels now days (after working in the industry myself before being laid off) is they want to see social numbers, you could have the best song in the world, but if you don’t have the social numbers they won’t sign you. So that’s where i come in I want to help those artists grow by highlighting them in different forms of content rather it be shooting their show in a small venue like pie shop here in dc or simply adding their song to one of my seamless carousel posts.

I love what i’m creating and i really hope it shows to the viewer.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Wow. This question couldn’t be more spot on, because this blog was built solely from my resilience from what life had thrown at me in 2024.

A long story short (not to reference taylor swift) my grandma who i had inherited my love of travel and music from had suddenly passed away. During one of our last conversations she told me about the night she had been in a small bar in new york and watched elton john when he wasn’t elton john yet. Then I got laid off from my first dream job in the music industry and it wrecked me. And while that layoff was happening, I broke up with someone I loved and adored who just ended up being wrong in more ways that i can count after the rose colored glasses came off, and that was the hardest pill to swallow of them all.

All of this pain and heartbreak cultivated into a creative release, which was the beginning steps of @carosplaylists in December of 2024. I finally decided that i knew the growth would take time but I was willing to put in the effort into something I cared about in my bones. I said it earlier, but creating this music blog just feels right. Like it clicked. Every piece of pain i’ve endured and learned from was to create this blog. Without it, seven mi the later, I have grown into someone no only has my family noted is someone they are truly proud of with all the hard work i’ve put into this account, but I feel like i’ve turned into the cool fully independent twenty six year old that my younger five year old self would be in awe with. And that is the only benchmark of growth and life that I will follow, not that I make a random person proud but that my five year old self would be in awe of.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

SHARE THEIR WORK!!! Stop being stingy and being like oh if I share theirs mine will get over shadowed— nope the creative community and society as a whole needs to lift each other up especially in unprecedented times like these. The creative community as a whole needs to lift each other up. Because art is what makes life, life.

Even if it’s just a share to your instagram story, it helps and you might have shared your friends new favorite artist with them. Cool friends listen to the songs you share to your instagram story.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @carosplaylists
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-harlin-b8603418b?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Other: @carosplaylists on tik tok

  caroline harlin on spotify

Image Credits

feel free to crop any if needed they are all owned by me