Often, those who tread off the beaten path are misunderstood or mischaracterized and so we asked folks from the community to reflect and tell us about the times they’ve been misunderstood or mischaracterized.

Sophia Maas

I have felt misunderstood and mischaractrized a lot in the music world. Although I have studied, practiced and have a degree in vocal performance I was once characterised as a woman who knows little. I am a small yet bold person who loves to challenge the people. I went to university in London, The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. I wish I could say I felt that everyone treated each other as equals but that will never happen in the music industry. Being a woman made this even more difficult. Read more>>

LynZ Wells

Oh my gosh! Absolutely! Let me see which one I want to talk about here. I was living in Nashville pursuing a career as an artist. I got a meeting with a huge music engineer in the industry that worked on Fleetwood Mac’s songs. He asked me what I wanted to do, and although I thought I made it very clear, I guess I didn’t because my parents, who got me the connection by knowing his brother, told me that he told his brother “I was unclear of what she wanted!” Read more>>

PJ Cowan

I’ve actually had to go through this several times because I classify myself as an artist, I predominantly stay within Hip Hop/Rap but I do like to dabble in all music on occasion. More often than not there is a stigma that is put around me regarding being a rapper which is immediately dismissed once the person listens to my music and it’s funny because I used to take it very personal, especially when other creatives would assume I had less talent than they did. Luckily the genre has grown to be one of the most popular in the world and the culture towards it is always shifting, so I don’t get that put into that bubble as often as I used to. Read more>>

Boywithahalo

People tend to misunderstand where I come from with my music. I grew up half of my life in China, having a polar opposite viewpoint and philosophy, coming to the States as lower-class and living inside the 2000s online world, my background is very mixed up and fuzzy, maybe it shows from the songs I make as well as how many genres I may be simultaneously involved in. Read more>>

A:M Almighty

In all honesty my music has always told my story. I’ve always been very open about my past and current life struggles within my music, however in real life people see me as a very happy person without a care or worry in the world. That of course is not true, I for as long as I can remember have struggled with mental health issues and music has always been my outlet to express that. Yet when I blow up at someone in person they are so caught off guard by it when I clearly display in my music I have another side to myself. Read more>>

Jennifer Goodison

Hi I specialize in creative colorful hair, which is a specialty.. All specialties come with a price tag.. I feel society has shunned bright hair making it less high class when this service itself takes longer and cost more… wish one could understand that doing these colors you must be very well educated with the color wheel and and know the specific techniques this takes. Wish others would understand this.. and not all colors are achievable overnight Read more>>