We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stefany Bryan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stefany below.

Stefany, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I think being an artist means you inherently will be misunderstood by people. Or maybe you are misunderstood and that’s why you make art. Or maybe both. People will always give unsolicited advice about my music and give their own vision of where my music should go. While I must appreciate and take into consideration what everyone thinks I should sound like, I have to remember to be true to myself, and that my songwriting career is still very new so I will find my own path as I go. I also think that it is natural for people to want to put your music into a nice sealed box to categorize what they are hearing, but at the end of the day I don’t need to adhere to any specific genre, I am allowed to flow between them or exist outside of them. While I am saying this like I have already passed this hump, I don’t think it ever ends and I continue to grow and learn as a musician as well as grow and learn how to deal with and navigate those that don’t understand my music.

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 remember as a kid my father told me I had long fingers and that I should play piano. I remember jumping up and down excited saying “Yes, please!” I didn’t really even know if my fingers where that long, but I knew I wanted to play piano. At 6 years old my parents put me into private piano lessons. For the next 12 years I continued to practice my craft, but I remained very confined to reading sheet music and sometimes working on theory. I had never been able to improvise or make up my own songs. I felt lost if paper wasn’t in front of my face when I played. During those 12 years I was also a very dedicated gymnast, so piano was my main creative outlet with the little time left I had`. I loved to sing for fun but was always made fun of or told that I wasn’t good enough. No one would hesitate to compliment my piano playing, but as much as I loved to sing I became very self-conscious of my voice. Fast forward to me at 24. I had finished graduate school and retired as a gymnast after being a D1 college gymnast. I had felt as if I was never able to fully tap into my artistic side because of all the other things going on in my life. But on this particular day, I was sitting in my room in front of my keyboard feeling very emotional, and out of nowhere I wrote a song. A whole song. Something I had never done before. I had surprised myself. It was a form of therapy as well as a new way to work on my writing and musical abilities. I brought it to a friend who is a DJ and producer and he helped me record the song. After that, I didn’t stop writing music. It just kept coming and I kept recording and releasing songs. It was like this part of me was dormant inside for so long and once I opened the door a crack all of it came flooding out. Songwriting became such a great way to deal with my emotions and trauma. With my Master of Arts in English, I have always had a love for words, but writing songs pushed me to take my academic writing abilities and transform them into a more creative type of writing. Being able to share it with people has become a cherry on top. But I truly think performing live has really given me a purpose as an artist. Maybe from all those years of being a gymnast, performing in front of people felt natural. I also think my music can be appreciated in a different way when you see me live because it’s not just the songs, but the whole atmosphere that is created around my performance. There are many things that I feel set me apart as I am a POC woman singer-songwriter that is keyboard-based. I also have my own unique background and story to pull from to create raw and relatable music.

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

I think the biggest problem with today is that people are drawn to quick and catchy sound bites and don’t ever look beyond this. The best way that society can support smaller, less known artsits is to first look outside the box and try to discover new music, not always sticking to what is known. There are a lot of undiscovered gems that I have yet to find as well. So being open and active in your music listening is important. Second, it’s about supporting the artist. Not all of us have trust funds or rich friends and family to carry us. Being an artist can be extremely expensive and most of the time I am losing money not making money, so just streaming a song, sharing a playlist, or paying a few dollars for a show can go a long way for musicians like me. And if we are talking about a thriving creative ecosystem, it’s all about showing face. I love to go to those open mics, go see other musicians play shows, and meet other creatives who can help me grow as an artist.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is when other people can connect with you on an emotional level because of my music. People tend to tell me that I don’t seem sad or that it doesn’t make sense that I write sad music because I present myself as a generally happy and energetic person. But the whole point is that I am a nuanced and complex individual and that there are many layers and sides to me. My music brings out the sad, contemplative, and emotional side of me that not everyone sees immediately. I also have been living with depression for a very long time and have learned how to manage and be somewhat high-functioning with my mental disorder. This often steers people away from the idea that I have sadness deep inside me, but when others embrace and even relate with that side of me from my music, it feels especially rewarding because then my art has become something bigger than myself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefanybryanmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stefanybryanmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stefanybryanmusic
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/614ibYIFlnckKXDMiz5tTj?si=0tPNyEeZTgiKGx_mI0eUsQ

Image Credits
Tami Pereira Tamara Lee Carrol