We recently connected with Cali Mesa and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cali, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My mom and stepdad have always been the biggest supporters. I was raised by a single mom until she met my stepdad when I was around 7-8 years old. She was incredibly strong and grew me into the independent young woman that I am today. When I told my mom at a young age that I wanted to be a singer and performer, she did everything in her power to provide me with opportunities to follow my dream. She put me in vocal lessons and helped me sign up for auditions. When I was a teenager, she spent months of her life in Los Angeles with me filming The Voice and American Idol, which I will never be able to thank her enough for. When I decided I didn’t want to pursue college but instead move to Los Angeles to propel my music career, she was incredibly supportive. I remember vividly that she made a huge poster board with printed and cut out messages to me from my friends, family, and supporters wishing me well on my journey. She is the reason that I am where I am today.

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?

I started singing at a very young age. I was always singing along to old movies that I watched with my grandparents, like “Grease”, and in the car with my mom to the radio.

Growing up, I watched American Idol with my mom and my grandma and remember telling them that I was going to be on it one day. Ever since I was little, it was my dream.

My first ever live performance was singing the National Anthem at a major league baseball game. I didn’t find out until moments before that it would be televised and that it had sold out- there were 35,000 people attending. Needless to say, it was absolutely awful. I was ten years old and had no idea what I was doing but I knew that I LOVED it. I loved the rush that performing gave me and it fueled my drive to work as hard as I could to be able to do this for the rest of my life.

When I was 16 years old, I was scouted to be on Season 14 of NBC’s The Voice and when I was 17 and 18 I was on Seasons 2 and 3 of ABC’s reboot of American Idol. Though I don’t think I would ever compete in a reality singing show again, I’m grateful for the friends I made and the things I learned about this industry at a young age.

During the peak of Covid in 2020, right before I was (supposed to) start college, I made the decision to move to Los Angeles to pursue my music career. Ever since, I’ve spent every free moment writing, recording, and performing.

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

The most rewarding part of being an artist is other people relating to and caring about your art. I am so amazed and proud when people come up to me at shows or reach out on social media that a song I wrote resonated with them. I write all of my music and lyrics by myself as opposed to having co-writers on songs because it feels most authentic and vulnerable to me as an artist. Don’t get me wrong- I love writing with other songwriters! But for my project, I am the sole writer. It makes my heart so full that the songs I write alone in my bedroom or sitting in my car resonate with people.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My most important goal is to be able to make a living off of my music. Of course the ultimate dream, as I’m sure it is for any other artist, is to be able to sell out stadiums and be a household name. More importantly though, I want to be able to survive on my art.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iamcalimesa
• Twitter: @iamcalimesa

Image Credits
@lokiiproblematic @vpsedge @byronjgamble @braysbrain @stillgettingthere_