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

Alright, Francisco thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

i think the biggest risk ive taken has been making the choice to pursue music as a career in general. the past 7 years for me as a whole has been a risk and so is my future as a whole. in 2018 i moved out of my parents to pursue my dreams in music despite not graduating high school and having no real musical background. i was working multiple jobs at a time to just stay afloat. office depot, seaworld, macys, i even delivered mattresses and built furniture for people whatever job u can think of i probably did it. i would write/record at night and it took me a couple years before i was even making like 50$ from music regularly. at the end of 2019 i decided to save up and despite being late on rent, selling my favorite clothes, and having a shitty car i put my money into dropping my first album “LOUD.” about a thousand dollars for a budget and all of my free time just for it to not pop at all, at first. the only song still up is my single “no offense” which would slowly gain momentum and eventually get a big boost due to my friend belle posting a tiktok to it that went kinda crazie. not enough to make music my job but it introduced me to a bigger audience and more importantly friends in the scene. i slowly kept growing and in 2020 i would drop the song “bunny girl” with my friend nathan that would end up changing both of our lives. that song alone is sitting at over 150,000,000 streams now and we have many more hits released together. i am doing fairly well now and am so grateful for everything, but u truly never know what tomorrow has to offer. if things were to slow down there is NOTHING for me to fall back on and that’s pretty scary. every day that i wake up and keep chasing this dream still feels like a risk to me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

so before everything i love words. which i get sounds kinda crazie but writing is everything to me. i fell in love with that before making music. the right words can teleport u to a whole other world from ur bedroom, and music is just that feeling in a more tangible way. that’s what i do in my songs for whoever’s listening. if u need a confidence boost i can make u feel like superman, if ur feeling alone i can make u feel understood. i think my love for writing and my commitment to sounding natural on tracks makes me stand out because im really just being myself and i think that sticks with people. i go through great lengths to stay true to myself because i want everyone watching/listening to understand that it’s possible to make it just by being u.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

i think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing the effect my music on the world. doing shows was the realization for me that im truly affecting peoples lives. its sometimes hard to feel the impact through a screen, but when a fan is asking me for a picture and telling me they listen to me everyday something clicks in my head that im on the right path. they dont even feel like strangers. i might not recognize their face, but we know each other on a different wavelength.

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

kendrick lamar is the reason that i started taking rap seriously. i wanted to be just like him and tell my story and other peoples stories. the thing is i took “being serious” to heart and that if i wasnt telling a sad story or trying to be super introspective that i shouldnt even be making the song. as time passed i slowly realized thats a horrific mentality and making a lighthearted or fun track can still help people get through a dark time. what really dug this into my brain was when i started branching out and making music with other artists. seeing their approach to making music and what it meant to them helped rewire my very stubborn brain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hoo.be/ciscaux
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ciscaux
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thankyoucisco
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ciscaux
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscaux

Image Credits

shoot photos by ciscaux peformance photos by certifies