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

Hi Destinie , thanks for joining us today. 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.

The first, and maybe biggest, risk I’ve taken is choosing to walk away from academia to pursue a music career. It felt like walking away from a sure thing (that I happened to be good at) and jumping into a black abyss of uncertainty, haha. There’s no path laid out in front of you, there’s not a certain order of actions to take. It’s pretty much, pick your own adventure and hope for the best. But you have to be 100% committed, you have to be ten toes down, or the risk isn’t really worth taking.

After graduating college and a year of volunteer work, I decided to finally listen to that little (endlessly nagging) voice inside me telling me to go after my music instead of pursuing a graduate degree. I decided to move to San Diego with one of my best friends and find a service job that would allow me to make enough money to live on, but dedicate all my other time and mental energy to my music. When we went looking for an apartment I had no job lined up, and no idea what “doing my music” would look like. The one thing I did have, that I think is essential for all big risk takers, was the belief that I could and would figure it out as I went along. We submitted our first apartment application and as they were being processed I went knocking door-to-door at the nearest shopping center looking for work. I had an on the spot interview at a cafe and was offered a full-time position. By the time our applications were processed I was able to say “I actually just got a full-time job”. Point of the story being: I woke up that morning with no job, no apartment, and absolutely no idea how I was going to get either, and by the end of the day I had both. If I hadn’t taken the risk to dive into that uncertainty, and more importantly had enough faith in myself to navigate that uncertainty, I don’t think I’d be where I am now.

I’ve faced many similar situations in my work since then. The most important thing I’ve learned is, yes, take risks on yourself, but more importantly cultivate faith in yourself. It’s something I’ll have to continually work at. As the risks get bigger it gets more challenging and intense, but I’m more confident knowing that I’ve put time into building up that muscle.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a folk and Americana singer/songwriter based in L.A. I’ve always been a singer, but I started writing songs in high school and learning to play the guitar in college. After a lot of uncertainty and many delays I released my first single in 2019, and have since released many more singles and two EPs. Like many other artists, the pandemic threw a pretty big wrench in things for a couple of years but I started performing again in mid-2022 and continue to gig in the L.A. area and beyond.

I primarily make folk and Americana leaning, acoustic music. Whenever I’m trying to convey an experience or a feeling I always ask myself “what does this feeling sound like?” and inevitably I hear it in strings and it shows up as something roots inspired. Roots music has always felt like home base for me creatively; it just has my heart. My music can tend to be on the heavier side, haha. For me, themes like love, loss, mortality, and the like have always just been more interesting to write about and more fulfilling to play/sing. I love playing with the juxtaposition of upbeat tempos paired with sad lyrics. There’s just something so truthful about that, it always gets me.

I think making roots music is one of the things that sets me apart from other singer/songwriters in L.A. I think I’m further set apart within the roots music scene being that I’m a Black women working within these genres, which isn’t something that’s been highlighted in the history of American roots music (although we’ve always been there since its inception). It’s really important to me to correct that narrative and highlight the many Black musicians who have had a huge part in creating and contributing to the evolution of these genres. Thankfully things are starting to shift and I’m starting to see more Black musicians in folk/Americana/country music spaces, which makes me really happy.

One of the things I strive for as an artist is to give listeners something to ease their pain and/or make the regular, daily struggles of life a bit more bearable. I truly believe that music is medicine and can help ease and heal unseen wounds or heartache in a way that nothing else can. Providing that medicine to people is so important, and I’m so grateful to be in the pursuit of crafting and delivering that to people.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

One of the best (and easiest) things that society can do to support artists and creatives is to acknowledge what they do as legitimate work. I’m so lucky to be an artist full-time, but it is absolutely still a job. It’s not a hobby, or something I like to do in my free time. I definitely work more now than I ever did at a 9-5.

Acknowledging that creating our art is indeed work, means paying us for our work, respecting our time/schedules, and never asking “But what’s your real job?”.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Over the years I’ve had to unlearn what success means and looks like to me. I think when I was younger I thought of success mostly in terms of money. If I could make a living from music then, boom, I’d officially be successful. I’ve since discovered that there are a lot of ways I could make a ton more money in this industry, but wouldn’t leave me feeling fulfilled or accomplished in any way. The key to my idea of success now is making a living from my music in a way that feels authentic to me and what I want to put out into the world. Without that authenticity and being genuinely proud of the work I’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. No amount of money in the world is worth sacrificing your authenticity.     

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.destinielynn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinielynnmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Destinie-Lynn-945794302474839
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@destinielynn
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/06s9YMqa9jvRYKKE2qrLrb?si=Hawfs9WaTyuazRks5P-pmA&dl_branch=1
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@destinielynnmusic?_t=8XmIxYfZOv5&_r=1

Image Credits
IMG_3140 – Adam Stutz IMG_3686 – Fede Petro DSC05643, DSC05434, DSC04948, DSC05293, – Nicole Smith