We recently connected with Neon Nick and have shared our conversation below.

Neon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I discovered that I had a passion for the arts at a very young age, maybe 5 years old. Music and dance is a huge part of my families identity. I grew up in school choirs and dance classes, from Hip hop to classical ballet.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After moving to Las Vegas in 2011 I hit a dead block with my craft. I spent a lot of time calling myself a rapper but I had nothing to show and so much to prove. Fast forward to 2017, I began dating a fashion designer who pushed me into trying new things, which was singing. My identity as a rapper was confusing and I needed a lot of work on topics and making it authentic to me. So in 2017 I switched to singing, although I sang my entire life this was an instrument that I had neglected. Singing is much different, and it required a lot of practice and confidence. At a young age I had conditioned myself to think it was easy to appear and perform more masculine. I felt that if I was a singer I would need to look like the average singer. Being a plus size person wasn’t something I was ashamed of, but the acceptance from the world wasn’t there and still needs work to be honest. So I strayed away from singing and focused on rapping because I felt I would fit in better. Starting off in my singer- songwriter journey I struggled with my sound, I would try to sing too deep and would really shy away from projecting my voice. I spent close to two years recording before releasing my first project PAUL, this album laid the foundation for my sound. Ironically growing up I didn’t really listen to the genre Neo-soul but this would later become a huge part of my identity as singer. Since establishing the sound of NEON, I’ve been able to experiment with other sounds.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is people knowing your music. I get so shy when people sing my music because I’m doing something I love and I get to share it with others. At some point I used to obsess over getting likes, comments, subscriptions and views and sometimes people pay for these things because they think this will attract others. The truth is those things are important but what’s more reviewing is having loyal people who truly support you. Views and likes I can’t connect with, but talking to people In my DM and having them express their interest is what keeps me going on.

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

Recognize those who work hard, share, share, share. Use our sounds on social media when you can and come support the live events when we perform.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/neon1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neon_nick1/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/bpILySYvmQQ?si=piRypIsK1We5MaWt