We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joseph Waters / Wvters a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Joseph, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
To be honest I don’t feel like I chose it. I like to think it chose me. I went to school for interior design, in fact I did everything in my power to avoid this path and lifestyle. It’s far from what I like to think as normal which for me has always been a more reasonable path especially with growing up in the Midwest. Pursuing higher education, in the process find the right girl, graduate, get a mortgage and start having kids type of life. You know predictable, I love hard & honest so when girlfriends cheated & my pops ruined my credit to the point of not being eligible for financial aid. I didn’t have many options. To fold into my art was ultimately the choice I made. Ironically it’s the same place I find solace in putting my emotion. So it was a win-win.
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.
I grew up in a small town called Evanston Illinois, just north of Chicago. I’m glad I was exposed to this place at a young age. It rooted me in morals that have kept my head on my shoulders. I began writing around 10 years old, it started as journaling, then turned into songs because I would write while listing to WNBA 95.5 (the jazz station on the radio) the music didn’t have lyrics to most of the songs so I thought I was doing it a favor. My parents were divorced the same year my cousin Wayne was killed in the ally nextdoor to our townhome. My life and stories would never be the same after that. God found me confused and scared. I didn’t know who to blame, I didn’t think anyone cared. In my teen years I got more aggressive and took it out mainly in sports. I excelled in wrestling, I won state championships for my high school three years in a row. Go bring context, this is why i bring a wrestling championship belt on stage at my performances, as a tribute to that version of me, which simply says “Long Live Wvters” my social media @. It wasn’t because I loved it though, I just found joy in hurting others. I had morned my parents decision to split, made peace with the idea that Wayne was gone but I thought the world owed me something. Not knowing that many others had been through similar pain. It wasn’t until I started taking music more seriously that I found forgiveness as a tool to free myself of the guilt. Thinking somehow it was my fault that all these things happened. It was forgiveness for others though, it was for myself.
I broke into the industry by humbling myself to serve others. I prepared in Chicago for my tasks ahead in LA by serving the homeless every Friday night, visiting peers in jail on Saturdays to offer hope, and serve my church New Life covenant on Sundays. Nothing glamorous, but I found myself serving one of the best (if not the best) song writers of our time Ne-Yo. I was a fly on the wall. He asked me after offering all types of vices “so you want to be a song writer” to which I responded “No”. He said “No? Then why are you here?” I then said “No I am a song writer, I don’t want to be”. He laughed and said “man that’s something I would’ve said.”
That was the beginning of a pretty solid friendship. Ne-Yo will always be one of the most important people in my story because crazy enough I sang a lot of his songs to girls coming up.
My greatest take away from my birth in that studio in Burbank of which I had to take three buses and a train to get to will be how Ne-Yo maintained his composure as a gentleman in every situation. Even the uncomfortable ones.
I was taught to make sure the songs touched me but where about the people we sing them to more than it was about us as artists. Served mankind with our lyrics and storytelling more than we served ourselves. To this day one of my closest friends Cassio met during that time as well.
From all of this we built a solid brand, used my God given last name as a stage name since no one liked calling me Joseph, Wvters stuck. It made since, from it we relate to others because we can be from different backgrounds, creed and culture but we are all 75% water just like our planet that connects us all. My mission as an artist is to help people overcome those raging waves of emotions we all possess. Helping make that possible is Essentia water who have graciously chosen to be one of our sponsors, along with FeelDay wellness brand & Tropicaux dried fruit. All things we need to maintain a healthy lifestyle on earth, community, water & food.
Those products are also paired with Wvters merch available online.
I’m proud to say we are making a small but meaningful impact in our communities with our community spanning over six different cities nationwide.
I want most for people to know the Wvters brand is stands in the space of wanting everyone in their respective fields to win but have all the necessary components along with a solid playlist & entertainment. All of which can be found on my landing page www.linktree.com/wvters
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
To put things in perspective when I moved to LA on Halloween 2015 I had no idea where I was or needed to be. I literally got on a plane, sent two boxes of clothes to my cousins house with $300 to my name. So when I say it’s a miracle that I am still going and now thrive is the space it’s said with so much genuity. For a month I slept on my cousins couch until he got sick of me, moved to South central, and started working a job in the miracle mile, not knowing I’d get the internship with Ne-Yo that I had been manifesting three years before I left Chicago. That took place in Burbank & I didn’t have a car. My routine was to get up at 3am catch a bus to a train to another bus to get to work. Jump back on that bus to get back on the train in K town, to go to North Hollywood to get on another bus to Burbank. I’m laughing while I’m writing this in tears of joy because I’d do it all over again if it meant I’d be who I’ve become in the process. Ironically if I stayed at my cousins place life would have been much easier. However the guy this journey made me into is one of humility with a crown. Many nights I fell asleep on a train, walked miles because a bus stopped running while everyone else in the studio pulled off in 6series. Don’t worry though I got one too eventually.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Yeah the pivot is real. Once I learned I wasn’t going to make much money in music upfront without a name or co-sign (which was quick) I had to meet with my already simi successful sister about a job working in tv & film. I felt so small asking her for help but found out later that asking for help is actually a super power especially when you’re use to doing everything on your own. It’s asking the right people though. I knew nothing about tv & film but I did know how to serve. So I was a production assistant for her and quickly became one for almost everyone on the Sony lot. I guess people liked me. I guess it’s not hard to like the guy on set that doesn’t want your position because he doesn’t know the first thing about it. That was me, I quickly caught wind of how things moved and found I could be of better use in various positions. I tried them all, producer stuck & six years later I’d be accepting two awards for a feature film my friends and I made. In that same process I never stopped writing and recording music so simultaneously when the film dropped I had the Wvters logo made and presented my music to the world as an artist. So I pivoted so that I could make ends meet and ultimately did more with little then I could’ve ever imagined by just sticking to music alone. The videos we put out where all done by young hungry Dp’s that I met on set that just loved my ideas. Some would say luck, others would say fate, I’d just say stay on the path & never be afraid to ask for help.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.linktree.com/wvters
- Instagram: @longliv_wvters
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longlivwvters?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Twitter: @longliv_wvters
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@longliv_wvters?si=NUTY6tjXe0teAbl0
Image Credits
Erik Valenzuela, Rose Natalie, Luca BlackAftan