We recently connected with Arily Michele and have shared our conversation below.

Arily, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve been singing for pretty much as long as I’ve been talking, but I really started to learn how to play music at age five. I had a Kylie Minogue song stuck in my head one day, and I plucked the melody out on a cheap keyboard when I got home from school. I’ve just been picking up on more and more skills ever since.

I’ve always been a tactile learner, which means I learn best from diving right in and doing something. I started producing when I was 14. At the time, I just saw it as me having fun recording songs in my bedroom, but looking back now I realize I was teaching myself a valuable skill. I learned to use a DAW just by messing around with Audacity, later moving onto other DAWs like Pro Tools. Sometimes I wish I would have taken audio engineering courses in college, but I managed to learn quite a lot without them.

I think what was most essential to my learning process was just this hunger to know more, and to learn it by figuring out how to do it on my own. But I definitely struggled with confidence and feeling like an impostor. I could have learned a lot more quickly if I hadn’t spent so much time doubting myself.

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

I make dreamy neo-psychedelic pop songs in a country music town. I like to make music that’s just as poetic as it is hypnotic. I’m a trained opera singer who loves tinkering with vintage synthesizers, so there is an interesting blend of elements in my sound: lots of ethereal vocal layers, walls of 80’s synths, grooving basslines, and tight drums. I’m from Colorado, so I get a lot of inspiration from the Rocky Mountains.

I’ve been involved in musical pursuits for most of my life, because it’s always been a way for me to express myself and share my inner world with others. But I really started taking it seriously after I graduated from college. I started releasing music in 2021, and in 2024, I released my first fully self-produced project. I’m based in Nashville now and working on my third album.

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

The most rewarding part of the artistic experience is knowing that I’m creating a world for people to dive into and explore, maybe even as a means of escape. It means a lot to me when my music resonates with people enough for them to create their own interpretations of it. I hope that my music empowers people to unapologetically be themselves, experience the full depth of their emotions, and understand that being human is as wonderful as it is messy.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

To really call myself an artist, I had to let go of my fear of being seen. I think years and years of conditioning made me incredibly self-conscious. I received a lot of criticism growing up from family members, classmates, and partners, a lot of which was contradictory. That really messed with my sense of self, and over time it manifested in different ways. There were so many times where I’d put off playing a show or releasing music because this awful voice in the back of my head would ask: “who cares?”

But that voice was in direct conflict with my desire to be an artist. I can’t share my world with people if I’m too afraid to let them into it. So I had to really challenge myself to be bolder about putting myself and my music out there. And I had to get really comfortable with the idea of not being liked. Once I was able to do that, a whole new world opened itself up to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.arilymichele.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arilymichele
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arily.michele
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@arilymichele
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/arilymichele
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2oDSIRU7HvxOYlWXzkqyCW

Image Credits

Arily Michele, Grace Holliday, Nathaniel Clayton