We recently connected with Caly Bevier and have shared our conversation below.

Caly , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I was always singing when I was little. Whether it was singing along to Jewel CDs or acting like Annie when I was doing chores. The music was always flowing. I was also writing songs from a very young age without actually ever “writing” the songs down. The melodies would just flow out with lyrics that my heart was tapped into in my childhood years. It wasn’t until I had a battle with stage 3 ovarian cancer at 15 that the path opened for me to pursue music as a career. I had a video go viral of me singing “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten to another cancer warrior named Thane. From the video going viral I got to sing Fight Song WITH Rachel Platten on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Then I auditioned for America’s Got Talent season 11 and I received Simon Cowell’s first ever golden buzzer!
By the time that show ended I was nearing 17 and had a choice to make. Was I going to stay in Ohio or move to Los Angeles to give the music scene a spin? So, I hopped in my 2002 yellow bug and drove cross country with my dad and moved to Hollywood. I was immediately placed in studios that blew my mind and wrote with some of the best songwriters in the industry. Since then I have been experimenting with my sound and perfecting my songwriting skills

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

My story starts with me battling stage 3 ovarian cancer. After I went through that, my whole outlook changed. I realized how fast life can be taken from you and decided that I wanted to create a life that would leave a legacy. I moved to Los Angeles at 17 with the goals to create music and release it into the world. I felt like I had to really know my sound right away. What I found was that boxing myself into a genre was not what I wanted to do. My soul yearned for being able to experiment with all types of “pop” music. So for the past 7 years I’ve been all about finding new sounds and putting my melodic flare onto it.

When it came to finding what I wanted to say in songs, that unfolded as I got older. The more life experiences I had, the more I had to write about. I also found myself reflecting a lot on my past and being able to see situations from multiple POVs. My main realization was that in order for me to feel fully happy with the songs I was writing, I had to have some vulnerability put into it. Even if it’s a song about partying, there’s still a softness and a sense of self through all my lyrics.

When I first moved to LA I had never technically written a song. I watched the co-writers weave words together like it was as easy as walking for them. I was definitely intimidated at first. I would just share what I was going through and let the songwriters craft the songs. But I really wanted to be able to be involved in the actual songwriting. So over time I got more and more comfortable with sharing my ideas. It helped working with people who would take my ideas and then refine them, I would be sure to pay attention to how words were placed into the melodies. In my down time, when I wasn’t in sessions, I would always be crafting my own songs in my journal. Even if I never recorded anything, it’s a great exercise to just write and not judge yourself. Doing this also made me way more comfortable when it came to writing in sessions. I would say it took me about 2 years of this to become totally comfortable and confident in my ideas. Now most of my songs are fully written all myself. This journey reminded me that you don’t have to have a natural talent in order to chase a dream. All it takes is dedication and daily practice.
A typical day to day for me is practicing my craft and creating content. I used to hate doing social media but I changed my mindset around it and now I find it beautiful that I am able to share my art across so many platforms. We have the opportunity for our art to be seen by the whole world.
In between my daily grind I have been blessed to be able to help raise money for countless cancer organizations by performing at their fundraisers. I have been able to sing the national anthem for NFL teams, as well as halftime shows! Now in my career I have been working hard to book shows around Los Angeles and beyond, performing sets with all my original music. I am 100% independent so I spend a lot of time reaching out to managers, booking agents, A&Rs… really anyone who I think will see the potential in my music and story and wants to help me get my music out there.
I’m currently working on a couple releases for May as well :)

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal in my creative journey is for whoever listens to my music to feel like they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through. My songs cover lots of topics such as depression, lack of motivation, relationship issues, resilience, nostalgia, lovey dovey feelings, finding your power and so much more. When I write, I write from my most human, vulnerable place. I want my listeners to feel and hear that.

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

As an independent artist I feel as though I’m always showing resilience. My whole entire career started from me covering Rachel Platten’s Fight Song. That song was written about not giving up in the music industry. It can get tiring, but I have learned so many lessons through my journey. When I first got into the industry I had a manager who did every little thing for me. Then as years went by, they got super busy, I was still finding myself as a person let alone an artist… and our working relationship slowly dwindled. I was left clueless to so many things. I didn’t even know how to distribute a song. I found that being left to my own devices was a blessing in disguise. It forced me to really learn the business side of the industry.
Then constantly having a small budget forced me to learn even more creative endeavors. I’ve learned to record my own vocals, still perfecting that. I have learned lots of digital art skills, I love making my own cover art. Editing videos is another skill that is very important, definitely in this time of Tik-Tok.
I think to be an independent artist, you must be resilient and able to work with what you have.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/calybevier
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calybev/ https://www.instagram.com/calybev/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CalyBevier https://www.facebook.com/CalyBevier
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/calybev https://twitter.com/calybev
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@calybev https://www.youtube.com/@calybev

Image Credits
white outfit photo- Jessica Christian (@lovesquish) Neon light photo- Cameron Driskill Swing photo and tree photo- @itsscorch