We recently connected with Hawthorne Oachs and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Hawthorne, thanks for joining us today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

 

Thank you for the invitation to join you!

I have 3 major heroes who have influenced my journey thus far.

The first 2 of my heroes are my mom and dad. They’ve always been there whenever I need them, and they care and want the best for me, which I will be eternally grateful for. They’ve also taught me so much, and have been such valuable guides throughout this messy world. I am SO lucky to have gotten them for my parents.

My mom is really proficient at influencing others, and she handles tough situations so gracefully. I can get worked up over nothing sometimes, so she’s been really helpful to calm me down and talk through it with me. She’s also really strategic and has helped in several situations both personally and with my music/art.

My dad is very kind to other people, while also protecting his boundaries. He’s really patient, funny, and has the best dad jokes.

Both of my parents are super talented musicians.

They have not only influenced who I am, but who I will become.

My third hero that I would be remiss to not include, because his music has helped me through some very tough times in my life, is Japanese singer/songwriter, Mafumafu.

A couple of years ago, I started going through a really tough time in my life. I didn’t know where to find refuge (besides with my parents) until I found Mafumafu’s most popular cover song, “Hated by Life Itself.” I was still beginning to learn Japanese at the time, so I couldn’t understand a single word, but even before I read the lyrics, I could feel the pain in his voice. It made me feel validated, as if he was screaming out my pain for me. I had that song on loop the majority of my recovery period.

It wasn’t until maybe a year ago that I did a deep dive into his other material and realized how much his music spoke to me. All the noise and chaotic sounds reflected my inner state of mind at the time, and his voice can convey so much emotion. He is genuinely talented, and when I learned about how he went through some hard times too and came out on top, I acknowledged that I truly admired his perseverance.

Hawthorne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi, humans! I’m Hawthorne Oachs, and I’m a 13 year old singer/songwriter and artist. Nice to meet you!

My music is available on all streaming platforms, and my art commission list is open to new clients via Ko-fi. I’ll be opening a shop on Redbubble soon with music merch that I designed, and some original art pieces as well. In addition to this, I also have a children’s book available on Amazon that I wrote/illustrated, called Raven’s Secret.

I started drawing pretty much the day I could hold a crayon. I was also a very vocal baby, and my parents have told me that I was singing as soon as I could talk. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t do either, and I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t continue. When I was little, I had a toy guitar that I played around the house and sang whatever song was in my head at the time. Eventually, I got a real guitar and started to take lessons. And before guitar, I did a lot of piano. I enjoyed neither. True story! But I had a feeling I would regret it if I didn’t continue, so I kept going, and I’m glad I did! It wasn’t until I reached a certain age that I started to appreciate and like them both a lot. To this day, I still go back and forth about which one I like better. I started writing complete songs at about 11, although there were many unfinished songs before then. I released my first single “My Lullaby” at age 12, and have been loving the journey so far!

Since then, I have released 2 more singles. I wrote my most recent song “Maybe Time” about depression and anxiety after living through a global pandemic in my formative years. I struggled with my mental health during the pandemic and writing about it was cathartic for me. I didn’t expect to share it at first, but it felt like a topic many people might relate to. I was nervous to release it because it’s so personal, but it’s my proudest achievement to date.

I have been learning so much about music production, the music business, and about myself. I’ve also been making the cover artwork for my music at each release, and of course I draw for fun! As I start thinking about my future, the thought of doing what I love for the rest of my life truly lights me up.

You might be surprised to hear that I also enjoy listening to many different kinds of music, appreciating all types of art forms, supporting and cheering for other creatives, being a helper where I can, and looking for the good in the world.

I can’t wait to share more of my music and art. I have a couple more singles being released this year, so keep an eye out for the announcements on my social media! In the meantime, please listen to “My Lullaby”, “Hearts & Roses”, and “Maybe Time” which are available on all streaming platforms.

Thank you so much for reading my story. I hope to meet you on social media, or at one of my concerts in the future!

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

Recently, I submitted my newest song “Maybe Time” to a program for feedback. It’s a place where music curators listen to your song and decide whether or not they want to add it to their playlist, write an article about it, promote it on social media, etc. They can also give feedback on what they liked/disliked. There are options to not get feedback at all, but I asked for specific and honest feedback so I can learn and grow. I was pleasantly surprised to get such good feedback most of the time! In fact, when the feedback started rolling in, they were all extremely positive. Of course, I knew there would be some people who would not connect with my song, and receiving their feedback was a bit more challenging. Normally, I try to perceive feedback as a gift, but this process was a little different. What frustrated me was that the difficult feedback was often either contradictory or vague, so it was hard to pinpoint any specific area for me to focus on for improvement. Honestly, it seemed to boil down to the listener’s personal preference in the end. Gratefully, there were a few people that were kind enough to spend more time talking in details.

Overall, I had 2 goals in mind with this experience:

Firstly, was to achieve thicker skin to hearing the word “no” and any criticism that may follow.

Secondly, was to obtain at least 1 formal piece of press coverage. I was able to accomplish both goals plus some, so I would say it was a very successful experience. However, the mission to “achieve thicker skin” definitely was a test of my resilience. As I mentioned, I received some positive feedback and was placed on many playlists, but there was a lot of toughening up I had to do as I adjusted to the process of “feedback for those with tough skin.” It didn’t feel very good at the time, but I’m glad I did it because it further confirmed my passion for making music, exemplified my drive to level up as much as I can, and it most definitely gave me a better understanding of my own resilience. I expect that I’ll be better prepared for any kind of feedback after going through this process!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media can be intimidating, overwhelming, and so discouraging at first! By no means would I say I have a huge social media presence as I just started a little less than a year ago, so I’m not sure I’m qualified to give advice on how to quickly build an audience and obtain long-term followers. However, I have steadily grown since I began. When I first started out on social media, it was only Instagram and YouTube. Since I do both art and music, I used 1 platform for each and spent most of my energy learning those 2 platforms. After I got the hang of those, I expanded to other platforms. I’m still learning! For example, I only just started posting more regularly on TikTok.

My biggest takeaway is to make authentic connections. I talk with the people who engage on my page and focus less on numbers, and more on quality content and interactions. Aside from the appearance of large numbers, vanity followers won’t do much for what I want to achieve long-term anyhow. I try to have fun with social media and post content that tells my story because I’d rather not stress about the algorithms, or posting everyday. In the beginning, I was hyper-focused on those 2 things. I initially went into this whole adventure looking to share something I love with the world. Over time, I became disenchanted with social media because I wasn’t having fun telling my story, while always feeling like I had a daily deadline to meet. Consistency seems to matter to the algorithm, but I had to start looking at it as a delivery tool. If I’m satisfied with my content before I put it out there (whether 5 or 500 people view it), then I’m happy. If I feel overwhelmed or burnt out, I make sure to take some time for myself to recharge before resuming. I have connected with so many supportive and wonderful people organically through social media who read, watch, and comment on my posts… I owe it to them to create quality content over quantity.

Aside from Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, other places to find me are on Twitter, and Facebook. Do come by and say hi!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/hawthorneoachs
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hawthorneoachs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawthorneoachs/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hawthorneoachs/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/hawthorneoachs
• Other: https://junipertideagency.wixsite.com/hawthorneoachs www.tiktok.com/@hawthorneo

Image Credits
Photography by Christi Williams Artwork by Hawthorne Oachs