We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christineh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christineh below.
Christineh, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
I definitely wish I had started out sooner. Like, way sooner. I started about 3 years ago at 33 and when I think about it, I wish I had started after high school or even in my earlier teen years but it was definitely a different time then and not as easy to put a song together as it is nowadays. I definitely would not have had the resources that we have today, like social media, all the apps that help artists, the many options we now have thanks to technology and the ability to network and meet many different people in the industry. Sometimes, I do get into my feelings about the fact that starting at an earlier age is a huge advantage with music, but I also feel like it’s a blessing in disguise because I got to have a normal childhood and now as an adult I can navigate this music business and everything that comes with it. I feel like back then I would have had to be signed with a label in order to get a name out there or get my music played. Now, I can operate as an independent artist and although there is a lot involved with that, I get to make all my decisions and do things how I want to with my art. Now, I have a very creative little boy myself, so I have the chance to do things differently with him and when he wants to get started in whatever he chooses to do I can get him involved as early as he wants and be there to guide him the whole way <3.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a music artist. I sing and I write and I got started about 3 years ago. I have music on all streaming platforms right now but am also working on an album which will be out later this year. Along with that, I will be making music videos to go with some of the songs and I’m really excited about this one. The album is going to be a double album and it’s titled “Yin Yang”. I feel like I have 2 different styles to my music which ultimately come together through their messages etc. however, I am influenced by so much different music so I get inspired and write to a lot of different beats. The album will showcase some slower songs as well like “Pheromones” and “Where Did We Go Wrong” which are two of my favorites. I love the Yin Yang theme because it represents pretty much everything and everyone. We all have two sides to us and the key to life balancing them. I also create content and work with brands through Instagram to create posts for their services/products etc. I’m working on much more To be continued…
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I decided to answer this question because I feel like a lot of information out there about social media is not necessarily correct. Keep in mind people aren’t just gonna give away their real secrets for everyone to also take advantage of and keep in mind the algorithms are constantly changing. I really only use Instagram and Facebook because I’ve always used them and I only have the patience for 2 social media apps…. with that said, when I first started on Instagram I was doing travel/food and it was pretty much back when that all started and it wasn’t so flooded with travel accounts as it is now. I used to do a lot of traveling and fine dining so this gained a lot of momentum, however, my account really blew up when I started in music (so you don’t necessarily need a niche). With that said, I did research as everyone should, and I found basically it’s all trial and error and it’s all what works for you. Of course, there can be a formula that works for everything but for me following formulas doesn’t work. I just tried different things until I figured out which works best. For example, influencers all recommend you post a lot and all the time, but I have found the more I post, the less engagement and reach my posts get. It’s more so about being consistent but doesn’t mean it’s necessary to post constantly. People don’t like that (I know I don’t.. I will unfollow a page that is constantly flooding my feed). I think it’s more about quality over quantity. But ultimately if you are trying to build a social media presence my advice is (other than having good content) to research, and try things until you figure out the formula that works for you.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resilience is so important in everything in life and much needed when you’re putting yourself out there to be judged. I honestly haven’t had anyone talk trash to me or talk down to me other than 1 person, but it was someone very important in my life at the time. At a time in my life that I was going through a divorce and some of the most difficult days and crippling depression, this person told me I can’t sing and will never make it in music. Because of my state of mind at that time I took these words as truth and my fear of singing in front of people became even stronger. I feel like those few words took me back like 10 steps in my progress, self esteem and idea of my future. After some time I just couldn’t ignore my need to make music… I had to start from scratch and figure it all out. I embarrassed myself in front of strangers, had to be vulnerable in front of others which is so hard for me to do and I had to make it through my one hundred break downs and still get up and continue with a positive attitude. I’ve had to have resilience pretty much every step of this journey.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Christineh_Music
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524942924
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfEpQCScb8vxVmbSnC6b4ng
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4npby4o5zW0xFNqsqrX6fI
Image Credits
@armawn.armawn @madphotostudio