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

Alaina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Being a twenty-year-old female, there are a lot of circumstances and expectations that are just beginning to unravel. Circumstances such as which career choices are deemed acceptable, how to respond to unforeseen challenges responsibly, and defining an identity that rings true to who somebody is at their core. When it came to myself, I created two options; a stable choice or a societal-proclaimed ‘pipe dream’. Logically, I had settled on the stable choice of heading to vet school and becoming a doctor. Between my years of rescue work and working as a technician at my local animal hospital, it simply made sense when you wrote it all out on paper. Yet after some personal hurdles, I found myself leaning back onto that so-called ‘pipe dream’, writing music. The notes on the piano began to be my perfect dose of therapy. While it started with turning feelings into melodies, my family suggested I try music professionally. Choosing to take this seriously over a guaranteed future in the veterinary world has left me with many fears and worries. Thousands of people have tried and unfortunately failed at making it in the entertainment lifestyle. However, there is always a chance all the stars could align just right. I think I’ve put too much pressure on having it all figured out at once. Even though in my head it feels like time is running out, this is arguably the exact moment where time is genuinely in my favor. Realistically I’d rather try now and fail than question years later if everything would be different if I gave it a chance. The reason I want to release my music is to provide a voice to those who feel that the unlawful characteristics of life have silenced them. to provide people something to relate to even if they choose to fight their battles alone. Sure it all sounds cliche, but that’s the whole point of a dream, isn’t it? To be able to take and hope for a risk regardless of how unrealistic it may seem to some people. If you told younger, twelve-year-old Alaina that in several years she’d be putting a hold on her academic journey for a complete gamble, I’m not exactly sure what she’d say. But I think that if I was able to show her what I’ve accomplished, I’m pretty confident that she would be proud.

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?

The arts have always been a heavy component in my life as well as the correspondence and understanding of medicine. My grandmother on my mother’s side was a high school theater teacher and my mother, who grew up in theater as well, was the outsider that went into medicine. When summer rolls around in this generation of kids, most find themselves indulging in screens or video games to pass the time. When I was at that age, we cycled through different affordable camps which ranged from the options for athleticism to the glitz and glamor of showbiz. My grandmother who originally was in Vegas had moved out near us in California working for a local theater company. My sister and I helping and staying with my grandmother seemed like the obvious choice considering that the tuition to do shows was significantly discounted. Although after spending several summers with my grandmother year after year, it didn’t take long for both my sister as well as myself to get bit by the theater bug. In comparison to my sister who is studying to be a theater teacher, however, I also found myself heavily involved in animal rescue. I started partnering with my local shelter in elementary school, taking on and fostering neonatal and orphaned animals, and diving deep into research and other certification training to provide my more critical cases with the best care. While there wasn’t a large amount of places a 6th grader could take charge, I observed and helped where I could. The cases they would provide often wouldn’t have a high survival rate so I learned and understood the grieving and growing process quite early which inevitably made me appreciate the gifts as they came. Regardless of being unsure if the little animals would make it each time, I fell in love with each of them each of their unique personalities, and making them feel safe; even if it was just for a little while. When I started to officially write music, however, I started with just pressing a few keys on the family piano hoping it all sounded okay. It didn’t start seriously and at that time doing this professionally. After all, anything that I played and wrote was all self-taught. I did choir in high school so I wasn’t completely in the dark, but I was by no means able to play an entire page of sheet music on my own. Eventually, the little notes that were played for fun started to come together into different pieces of music, which no have inevitably transformed into an entire album. looking back in the long run I’m grateful to have been able to experience the opportunities I was given at such a young age. My passions for both the arts and animals, while polar opposites as it seemed, shaped me to grasp a greater understanding overall. Being transparent in wrighting about all aspects of life as difficult and real as they could be has been simpler than I ever could have anticipated. The years I have put into working with animals have taught me to listen to signals that can’t be spoken, to focus on what is real, and to give hope to the in-between. Sure music and science usually are in separate playing fields, but after working and studying both for so long, I think the core intentions are the same. A way to create a voice and advocate for those who feel unseen or in some ways silenced. Who knows where this all may lead, who knows what may unfold in the years to come. Through it all, however, I recognize the doors that have graciously opened up and I’m taking this jump. I just have to trust that wherever I land, is all for a reason.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

While my music hasn’t been released yet, it has proven to be an interesting and nerve-racking experience. Unsure if the words I spent hours analyzing hit the way it’s supposed to with who it’s supposed to is terrifying. Walls of fear I’ve built up throughout my life, however, are starting to crack under this transition of musical expression. The pieces that compile my album have all been snapshots of different points in my timeline. Some of which are shadowing the realism of grief, confusion, joy, and more prominently brokenness. When the writing process started I thought these emotions were singular to myself and that I was completely alone in my thoughts. Yet from who I’ve shared the pieces with, I’ve been shocked to see that I wasn’t alone. This whole process has highlighted that even if we may feel like everyone around us is exceptionally separate, deep down at our core we are more unified than we may have originally perceived. Overall, I would say that recognizing this has been the most rewarding.

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

I’m naturally a perfectionist when it comes to any aspect of my work. As I’ve started the journey of evaluating what should go into this album, I’ve turned into becoming a perfectionist about myself as a result. Of course, it’s important to have some standards for yourself but there is a very thin tightrope between the barriers of healthy and unhealthy standards. That of which being something iv consistently been dancing back and forth between. With the music iv written being a direct reflection of the different seasons iv walked through, the anticipation of how the overall image will be preserved has suddenly become more prominent than ever. I sing words of vulnerability but wear a face card of perfection that’s untouchable, untouchable until I look in the mirror that is. Every day that passes can and will result in a cause and effect if you put some thought into it. Despite the fact that some ‘effects’ express the outcome of something in your favor, there are also outcomes that add another stone to your house of insecurities. If I were to give a personal example, for instance, my stones are the words someone said when they didn’t think another’s ears were tuned in or my voice criticizing the duplicate in the mirror. Having to take a step back and try to accept myself completely has been more than a struggle than I’d like to admit. Still, at the end of the day, I can at least give myself credit for trying. I’m not exactly sure if this is something I can say I’ve unlearned indefinitely, but It is something that I’m working towards which is what counts at the end of the day.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: alaina.marie.29
• Other: TikTok: alaina.marie.29

Image Credits

Mandi Spotsville (photos with horse)