Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nate Sanway. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nate, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.

Learning the craft of creating, writing, playing, studying and listening to music is something I’ve been doing since I was born. My mother and father are 20 years apart. Growing up my father was born in the 50’s, listening and playing music since then as well as the 60’s and 70’s; while, my mother, born in the 70’s grew up on her era as well as 80’s. Myself, born in ’98, grew up on a concoction of all these different eras, genres, styles, and developed an ear for great music and artistry that would carry into my own era with all the different artists of my time. This helped create a tasteful palette for avant-garde styles and love for the craft of creating music and a persona through the personal artistry of weird, counted out, outcast type individuals.

With the background out of the way, learning is a part of the process of life, not just music. You learn something every day, and every day you become a little smarter and a little more ignorant because you realize that you are missing out on so many different cultures and ideas in other parts of the world that you had no idea existed before. Being a learner is a full time job and something that should never stop in your life, no matter the case.

Learning how to create music is beyond fun and stressful at the same time. You learn so much from other artists, but there is a fine line with stealing and using influence. For myself, I blatantly ripped off a lot of covers and flows in the beginning, learning how to make music by myself on songs no one will ever hear. I felt like that really taught me how to write a song with Grammy level flows and lyrics

After studying other artists music, you start trying it out on your own. This is the real growth from the absolute bottom, for myself at least. I was absolutely horrible. No mixing, no mastering, no ideas, just raw audio that would be the stepping stones to become something great one day, and I always knew that was the case. I would be working so hard by myself, in a room where no one could hear all the mistakes, all the missed notes, all the messed up riffs, just getting my craft to a point where I would be confident enough to let others in on the music I would make. You get better and better with every mistake, every 50 throw aways, I would be the vessel of the one great song. This is the slow grind I’ve been on for the last 5 years getting better and better in the background where only ones close to me would be let in on these adventures I would be taking listeners on.

They say comparison is a thief of joy, but it’s nearly impossible to not feel compelled to compare yourself to others. You just have to learn how to critique other artists carefully and still appreciate their effort and how brave they are to let out what’s deep inside them for the whole world to see. You want to be able to play guitar like Clapton, sing falsetto like Michael, and absolutely control a crowd like DMX. In the same light, you aren’t those people. You have to find your own strengths and hone them to be infallible. Then find your weaknesses and make them not so weak. That’s growth in learning the craft.

This brings me to where I’m at now, a severely underrated artist. Who was seeking validity. I was so caught up in seeking validity, I was forgetting what made me fall in love with music in the first place. I forgot to learn. I forgot to keep learning from the others who inspired me. I forgot to have fun.

With all that being said, learning never ends. I will never be perfect, but I will always be shaping a new world around me.

Nate Sanway

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 am a musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, artist, business owner, learner, world changer from Orlando, Florida. I have always been counted out in my life and as an adult, I’ve learned its better to be hated or disliked for who you are, than not be yourself to please others. My name is Nate Sanway, Nate being my nickname since I was a child and Sanway being my brand: Shape A New World Around You. I am the man Nate who shapes a new world around myself. I have been at the lowest lows, and the highest highs, and always found a way to be a better man tomorrow. I will continue to do so. I want to inspire, I want to be heard. I want to be wrong and be corrected and learn. I want to pray for my enemies. I want to live.

I have released my first EP titled Beginner’s Luck – Nate Sanway out everywhere you listen to music, to a little bit of feedback. It has been overall a good taste I’ve left in peoples musical palettes that I know I can fulfill as I progress. I am sitting on so many songs, and at least 2 projects.

I just need that one shot to make it to where I know I can change the world for the better and impact the youth and show them you can be a screw up, you can be the outcast, you can be the one they counted out. You can also be the star of the football team, you can be popular, you can be good at talking to women. You can be all those things and still be the same person, all those things aren’t who I am, but they’ve been me at one point.
You can be the one who shapes a new world around you.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In my opinion, give honest feedback. While giving the feedback, be mindful that the medium the artist is working in, is their passion and their creative and therapeutic outlet from everyday struggles.

I’ve seen so many fakes on social media and in real life that don’t really like a song or a project and absolutely trash it with no remorse or a second thought. There are people out in this world who are more fragile than they might seem on the exterior. Not saying I’m necessarily one of those people who are that fragile, but the world is hard, man. It’s cutthroat and we could all benefit from a little kindness from strangers.
Instead of saying “dog water”, “mid” or whatever other derogatory comments might flood your brain, tell them where they are not succeeding, and give genuine criticism. Not hate.

In that same light, Idk if I’m allowed to say this but fuck what people think. I make art for me and I do what I think is cool. If its not your taste than that’s not my problem, people who get it will get it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Too many, but I’ll pick one recent one. I recently had an opportunity to sell one of my songs to an absolute legend in the music industry. I was beyond ecstatic to get the deal done and put my writing credits and a cosign from someone with a distinguished music career.
We chatted back and forth for months discussing the details of the payout/credits I would receive for my contribution to the record. Months and months of time wasted because they wanted to try and strong arm the small unknown artist.
I could have taken the money and been glad with the results of the easy out from this massive label and just been happy to be acknowledged, but the details of the deal they presented absolutely wrote me out of everything.
They wanted to not put my name in any of the credits, and have my split be a one time payout instead of recurring royalties for the work. This devastated me. I was so excited to work with this artist, and have my name be attached to his for eternity. I was at a crossroads, do I pick the easy pay out? Or do I trust the process and decline because in the long run, I know I can make it on my own. The main agenda I wanted from the deal was at least writing credits, and they didn’t even want to do the bare minimum and include me on my own piece of art I was handing over to them. Completely baffled me.

I decided to decline. It wasn’t worth it to me. My art is priceless and I won’t be bought out with a sum of money.I created the art, I want to stand by it and let it be known it is MINE.
The deal definitely was enticing and I’m still a bit discouraged about the entire situation, but I won’t let the fact someone didn’t want to pay for my art that I pour my heart and soul into get me down and keep me down. It gave me the courage and made me feel validated that someone of that magnitude would even consider the small artist, I know I’m doing something right. I stick to my heart and my gut.

Fight for what you believe in and never let someone devalue you and your art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sanwayentertainment.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/natesanway
• Twitter: twitter.com/natesanway
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYX71poeJYNrwkooOc26cTQ
• Other: TikTok is also natesanway Everywhere you listen to music is Nate Sanway

Image Credits
Images all taken by SUPREMESOULFILMS