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

Kali, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Yes. Fortunately, I’m lucky enough to make a full-time living from my work as a songwriter and artist. It’s been a journey for sure, but I knew it was what I wanted to do and I made sure I did everything in my power to make it happen. Writing for sync (with a focus on advertising) is often described as a 5 year journey (in terms of building up enough momentum to go full time). I was lucky enough to reach that goal in 3 years and I’ve been doing it full-time ever since.

Starting out, I very much subscribed to the old saying, “if you treat it like a hobby, it’ll pay like a hobby,” so I made sure to treat it as my 9-5. I would wake up, do research (listen to sync podcasts, research different agencies and music supervisors), handle admin (type up lyrics, register songs, pitch songs), look into briefs/listings, pay attention the to music I heard on tv, I would write about 100 songs a year, attend conferences, collab, collab, collab, and I also tested multiple strategies/approaches to the business until I found what worked best for me and my style of music.

Kali, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m an independent, songwriter and artist whose music falls somewhere between pop, hip-hop, and dance genres. I try to walk the line of writing music that I think people would enjoy listening to while also crafting them in such a way that brands such as, Coke, Pepsi, Google, Samsung, Comcast, Royal Caribbean, etc, would also like to license my music for their advertising. It’s a delicate balance and skill that took years for me to master, but it’s one that I enjoy and I’m very grateful for the life it’s allowed me to create.

Over the past few years, my music has been licensed in over 400 film/tv and advertising spots, I’ve had songs performed at Lollapalooza in Brazil, I’ve had a song in a Super Bowl ad, I even recently had a song I co-wrote on, “Ciao,” released and advertised on the largest billboard in Times Square. Writing for sync and being a full-time artist/song-writer has provided some amazing opportunities, including most recently, being flown around the world to work with some incredible collaborators. It’s definitely been a “trust the process” journey, but I wake up every day grateful.

I know society tells us to choose the safer route, the “normal job,” to stick to the status quo, but one thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that anything is possible and we really can create our dream job. Choosing to take the road less traveled can lead to great success and fulfillment and I encourage everyone to step outside of their comfort zones and find the opportunities waiting for them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As a creative, I believe we all have something deep within us that we can’t quite describe, but we carry it with us always. Our art is our attempt at expressing the indescribable. Some prefer to make their art simply for themselves and/or friends and family. Others have no greater joy than getting to share their art with the world. For the latter, the ultimate goal is to be able to support ourselves with our art.

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the fact that I get to make music for a living, I get to be my own boss, make my own schedule, work with amazing people, and share my art with the world. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think society is going to have to be very careful over the next few years as we learn how to navigate and utilize AI. I’m a little concerned about the effects it could have for musicians, actors, painters, etc. When you can have an AI write an Eminem or The Weekend verse and another AI sing it for you, we’re very quickly finding ourselves infringing on creative’s brands and livelihoods they’ve worked so hard to build. I don’t know what the solution to this is, but I think society is going to have to be very mindful and cautious in order to protect its community of creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kalij.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kalijmusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kali-arnott-kali-j-5bb366124/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@musikality94
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thekalij?_t=8aTu8EvqGa6&_r=1

Image Credits
Maxine Bowen