We were lucky to catch up with Liel Bar-Z recently and have shared our conversation below.

Liel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

First of all, thank you for asking!

For me, learning really came from doing. I started out recording for other producers and songwriters, and I just practiced until I became incredibly proficient in the studio. Whenever I had a question, I’d go on YouTube and do a deep dive until I found the answer. Once I got to the point where I could record a full song with harmonies in an hour, I shifted my focus to my own songwriting.
That’s actually how I found my first success, an acapella version of an original song that went viral on TikTok called ‘Parachute’!

I think one of my greatest gifts was that I didn’t learn professionally. If I had studied in a traditional way, I don’t know if I would have built my own thing. Not knowing how the industry works allowed me to find my own path.
Don’t get me wrong, education is so important, and as I always say, ‘You can’t know what you don’t know when you don’t know what you don’t know’- but I’ve found that the ability to just keep working no matter what is my biggest asset. If I could go back and speed things up, I probably would have trusted myself and my capabilities sooner. That would have saved me a lot of stress.

As for obstacles, the biggest issue I’ve found is also what I base my entire career on; collaborations. Collaborations are the backbone of my art. I love that I’m only half of the equation, that I’m part of something bigger, but I’ve learned how important it is to pick the right partners. The backbone of a successful collaboration is mutual respect, relinquishing creative control and discovering the song as opposed to making it.
The vast majority of my experiences have been phenomenal, but I’ve learned to keep my eyes open. It always costs you the most to work with people who don’t respect you.

Liel, 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?

So a bit about me, I’m a single mom to the best kid in the world. I love to craft, to create, and most of all to write songs.
As I’ve said already, I definitely didn’t get into the music industry the ‘regular’ way, though I don’t even know if there is a normal way to get in. I just kept working, saying yes to opportunities, and showing up consistently. Over time, that turned into the foundation of everything I do now, which is collaborations, and as many as possible!

I write songs almost daily, and started collecting and recording them. Whether it be a full song or just a chorus, I’ve begun organizing them and turning them into vocal packages that producers can actually use right away, directly from my website. I realized there’s a million ways to collaborate with someone; with songwriters or rappers, they can write verses to my chorus and create whole new songs. Producers can play around and find the music that’s supposed to be there, as I don’t have the ear for that. Every one of my songs is missing its other half.

I have time. I’m not rushing anywhere. Everything I’ve built has been organic, which means I get to focus on what I love most, songwriting, and offering producers high-quality vocals they can immediately build a production around for fans all over the world to connect to.

What does that mean for producers?

Usually, finding the right artist to collaborate with means a lot of vetting, investing in marketing, crossing your fingers, and pushing really hard with no guarantees. I approach it differently. The audience is already there. Nothing is promised, of course, but we’re definitely not starting from zero. Not even close. We have a community built around the songwriting and I want to invite as many collaborators in as possible. Creativity is a never ending well, there’s more than enough for everyone!

What am I most proud of?
What I’m most proud of, other than my son, is my work ethic and my very genuine desire for mutual success. I’ve spent years working independently, but the best part of this journey has been the people I’ve met and the creativity I’ve found in others along the way. Doing everything alone is overrated, and it turns out people are endlessly creative. I want to hear what others can do with my song. What it brings out in them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Oh, I love this questions. When getting started, I got a lot of feedback that I should be following trends. That I should be doing dances, commenting a lot, uploading 2-3 times a day.
What I’ve learned from building an audience of 250K followers on TikTok is that more than anything, consistency is key.
Clarify what it is you do, and then do that. Again, and again, and again. I like to post once a day, I find that sustainable, but I’m always singing. Or writing. Find what you love to do and what you’re doing anyway, and film that.
Also remember, growth isn’t linear. I grew slowly to 60K, and then had no growth for almost 2 years.
With consistency, I eventually posted Parachute, which grew my followers alone to 200K. Sometimes it feels like nothing is happening, but you’re just building the roots.
Just keep posting!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I’m so happy to share this, as it genuinely made my career.
Finding and joining Airgigs.com has changed the trajectory of my life. I was in no way a professional singer when I started on there, I found the website and posted my information, along with a demo, and months later got my first gig and as a result a 5 star review. After that songs just started rolling in- artists, producers, songwriters from all over the world were reaching out constantly for me to sing their song. I started off with a low price, so I can become professional through recording, and soon became a top artist on the website.
I’m so grateful for Airgigs, and highly recommend that musicians have their information on it!

One of the biggest gigs I got from Airgigs was the Kygo Masterclass- producers who purchase the class get access to many vocal packages, some of them with my voice, which has opened so many opportunities for collaborations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lielbar-z.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lielbar.z/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiUAkH0bMsNYVQewNzuXj8A
• Other: tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lielbarz?lang=en

Image Credits

Ben Riezer
Hannah Taïeb