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

Halover, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I think my 2 biggest risks were deciding to move to the US to study at Berklee College of Music and then moving to Los Angeles with $300 in my pocket to pursue my music career.

I’m originally from a small town called Barnaul located in Siberia, Russia. I used to think that there is no way I can achieve anything with my music so after graduating high school I decided to study Linguistics instead. I thought writing songs and singing could be my hobbies while I have a”real job”. However, music opportunities kept following me and I ended up participating and winning countless singing competitions, formed a band and started writing and performing a lot. The more time was passing the more I was getting drawn to music. Then, a friend told me about this summer program at Berklee and I instantly knew that I had to do it. I ended up going and spending the best summer of my life when I realized that I want to do music full-time. I applied to study at Berklee and got accepted. I met incredible musicians from all over the world and learned so much more about my craft that I knew I had to continue pursuing it. I didn’t have a lot of money left but I decided to move to LA and “hope for the best” lol. I stayed at my friends’ couches until I could afford to pay my own rent and eventually was able to start working on great projects, write more, record and perform. I’m incredibly grateful to my old self for deciding to move to Los Angeles even though all the odds were against me at that time.

Halover, 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?

I’m a singer, songwriter and performer. I started playing piano and singing when I was 4 years old. Music has always been a part of me but no one in my family was connected to music in any way so it was very hard for me to see myself pursuing this path. That is why it took me a bit longer to realize what I actually want to do for a living.

I created a stage name “Halover” for my own artist project and started working on my craft. My music has been featured in many online publications such as Lefuturewave, Ratings Game Music (RGM), A&R Factory, Wonky Sensitive, Music Daily as well as being added to popular Spotify playlists such as “Mood: Sad”, “Pop News by Unique”, “Sex Songs” with over 100k followers to name a few. The songs I’m most proud of are “Never Truly Alone” and “Let Me Out”. A year ago I started doing rewrites of popular K-pop songs on social media where I write my own lyrics and change the arrangement of the songs to fit a “sad” vibe with the piano and I titled them “What if this song was in English and sad?”. My most successful rewrite has been “Pink Venom” by Blackpink and it has received about 1.6 million views, 180k likes and was shared and saved multiple times on social media which I’m extremely grateful for! Currently, I’m working on originals that I’ll be releasing back to back and an EP.

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

The most rewarding thing for me is honestly the process. It doesn’t matter if it’s performing, recording or writing – I totally lose myself and a sense of time in the process. Nothing makes me feel more alive and fulfilled than music! When I write, it can be frustrating at times when I can’t find the right words, melody or concept, but when I finally find all the missing puzzles and have a whole song ready – this feeling is incredible. The same thing with performing and recording vocals – I can do it for hours without feeling drained. I wish I could do it longer but my voice gets tired after 4-5 hours of singing.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I myself don’t have a big following yet but since I committed to posting frequently (about 1.5 years ago) – I finally started to grow. I used to post before as well but I’d give up after 2-3 months of posting because I kept on doing the same thing and I wasn’t getting any engagement and views. I think it takes time to figure out your niche but once you do – everything starts to come together. You just have to accept that sometimes you won’t get any reactions or views but eventually, you’ll find your way there. I think you need to treat the content you are posting as an experiment until you find something that both you and your audience enjoy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisishalover/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thisishalover