We recently connected with Candace Matthews and have shared our conversation below.

Candace, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I first had the idea for my EP “EARTH TO CANDACE” after I took part in a Nashville Pop Songwriting camp called “Hell Yes Demos”. As one of the focus artists, I was able to work with several talented creatives (writers, producers and fellow artists) to write several new songs. On day 2, we wrote a song called Checking Outt which is essentially about getting lost in my head during conversations. Once I listened back, it sort of clicked. I knew I had a concept for the project. From there, I reached out to Tony Chetta to produce it. Tony has always had a very natural and intuitive understanding of how to produce my music in a way that just feels representative of my personality. There were so many layers of hurdles that I had to jump, and problems that I had to figure out along the way. I had to learn about music video editing, directing, lighting, green screen, pitching, marketing, social media, advertising, the list goes on and on. Despite the obstacles, at the end of the day, I was always willing to learn through all the struggles because I truly believed in the vision.

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

I launched my artist project, “Candace in Wonderland” in 2018 with a very simple piano demo called “Hollow”. After that, I started to settle into my sound and aesthetic. It wasn’t until 2021 that I truly felt that I had locked in. I have always loved visually representing my music in creative ways and for a long time I worried that I needed to stick with one visual identity to solidify my brand. As someone who changes their hair frequently as a way to express different chapters of my life, the idea of staying the same seemed impossible (and boring). Then one day it dawned on me…I could make my brand about change itself! Ever since, I’ve been changing my hair color with every project I release, as a way to represent the feeling of the song or project. My goal is not just to make art, but to fully embody the art.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was editing the video for Click, I was going through some really intense feelings of depression and burn out. Because of spending such long days on my computer, I started having wrist problems. it got to the point that I was wearing wrist braces on both wrists and had to go to physical therapy to train my muscles to get stronger again. This forced me to take some time away from editing, which made my anxiety about the project go through the roof! It took a lot of effort and introspection to get past my anxiety and get to the point where I could finish the video. Eventually when I did finish, it ended up being one of my highest performing videos on YouTube!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met my producer for this project, Tony Chetta through mutual friends and collaborators Michael and Chuckie Aiello. They set us up in a session with the two of them, my husband / collaborator Keyler Matthews and Tony. We instantly hit it off and wrote track 2 “Tom & Jerry (hail Mary!)” We didn’t realize at the time that this would launch the sound for the EP, but we had a blast making it, and definitely felt that we had tapped into something unique! I met my Keyler at Whiskey Jam back in 2019. We started writing together soon after, and we write almost everything together to this day. I call him my “write or die” and I couldn’t have made this project without him.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.candaceinwonderland.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candace.in.wonderland?igsh=eGVxa3N1eGhyZXph&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/16TXCBkKqB/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@candaceinwonderland?si=N0YUTBdG38KTdr6b
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/Bs7LBXsLLbo8476BA

Image Credits

All photos by Carly Brown
Cover Art by Bruno Caesar (@takiisbranding)