We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amaya Santos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amaya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I have been singing my whole life, As a teenager, I remember my parents would let me and my siblings spend most of the summer break at my grandparents house. I would spend my days planning a performance with my 2 cousins so that we could perform it at the end of the summer break. I always loved singing and performing and while I always wanted to pursue it as a career path I was always too shy and too afraid of failing to do so.

Amaya , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Im a R&B, pop artist! I think my music is an interpretation of my roots. I love blending the soul music, r&b, pop, hiphop and Caribbean music I grew up listening to and making it all my own and giving it my own twist. I have been singing for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I was always very shy (still am) and so I would mostly sing in school choir, church, my room. A career in music is something I only dreamed of pursuing, to me it seamed out of reach. In 2020, when we were all quarantined, I had a lot of time to reflect and think about everything I would do when the world returned to normal. I decided to take the leap and follow my dreams. I started to learn about song writing, how to record vocals and promote your music. On June 6 2021, I shared my first single with the world and since then have continued to work on my music non-stop.

As an Independent artist, there are a lot of obstacles that come about, mostly because you have to be your own team. You have to learn how to be the song writer, how production works, how to market yourself, how to promote your music, how to book performances, how to manage your time and budget everything and it can be very overwhelming at times. Specially starting off, you spend hours trying to evolve your ideas and create what you hear and envision and it can be frustrating to get people to listen. I think I’m very lucky to have people in my life that really believe in me and remind me why I am creating music. I make music because I really enjoy it, I love being in the studio recording, I love performing and connecting with people and so although at first it was challenging, I always tried to keep in mind that I was doing this for me and that i was doing what I loved.

I am most proud of pursuing music overall because taking the first step is sometimes the scariest part. Every song I write is a story that I’m sharing and I am really happy and grateful that I can continue to do what I love.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My single Late Night Thoughts was actually supposed to be my first release. It was the very first song I wrote and so it held a very high sentimental value for me. When I recorded the single and got back what was supposed to be the final mix, I was so upset because it was so different from what I imagined the song to be. I worked with a different producer who then told me I needed to re-record the vocals for the whole song that I had been working on for weeks. I went back and re-recorded the vocals yet when I received the final song I was still not happy. I cried and was frustrated that I could not get it to sound how I wanted it to. After talking it through with my friend and videographer, who I had asked to take some pictures of me for the cover art, he connected me with a friend of his who was a producer in Ukraine. He started working on it and was able to bring the song to life! I thought I would not be able to release it or get it to sound like I wanted to. Currently “Late night thoughts” is my most streamed song on Spotify and apple music and I am extremely happy that i didn’t give up on it.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Something I wish I knew when I was starting off is that there are so many small communities within the music industry that are really focused on helping artist grow and learn.

A huge resource for me has been HRDRV, their mission is really about educating and supporting independent artist. They have thousands of producers, songwriters and just over all creatives who are looking to collaborate. They offer daily zoom calls and resources to help you learn about registering your music and monetizing your music. I have been on calls with them giving artist constructive feed back on their releases and guiding them through what to o before releasing a single. Personally I spent hours doing research when i started releasing music and so it i great to find a resource that cares and is helping artist get started.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amayasantos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamamayasantos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamAmayaSantos
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamAmayaSantos
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8pnJqfQPS6RIQGhxpfT3Qw?sub_confirmation=1
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bKKUGWqm6BrqgNOHJRDIK?si=sQisZR08SRSAgBQ2k9_V3A
• Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/amaya-santos/1566761280

Image Credits
George Levin