We recently connected with Henry Vildosola and have shared our conversation below.

Henry, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I didn’t start writing raps until I was about to turn 25, so I started pretty late compared to most people who do this. Growing up, I had heard (and internalized) this belief that people are either left-brain, logical, scientific people or right-brain, artsy, creative people. And I was really into science and I wasn’t very good at drawing so I just figured I was more the former than the latter. Sports became my main focus around age 12, and I ended up majoring in astrophysics in college and running track and field. Ironically, it was sports that led me to music. As I was trying to create a social media brand for myself as a pro athlete, I started spending a lot more time editing photos and videos and trying to come up with ideas that people would find inspiring or interesting. The more I did that, the more the ideas just kept flowing, each one more random or grand than the one before it, and one day I found myself just listening to this beat on YouTube and writing down lyrics to a verse that I would eventually record, film, and put on Facebook, and I guess the rest is history. I have sometimes wondered what it would’ve been like if I would’ve started my creative journey earlier in life instead of focusing on sports or being so interested in physics, but honestly I think I was always on my creative journey. I was following my passions in a lot of unconventional ways even before I considered myself “creative”. I was constantly improvising and coming up with unique solutions to solve unexpected problems in my life, especially with track. And it all contributed to what I do now. The way I have to build the muscle memory to rap and sing and compose, the way I have to build the discipline to work on my weaknesses and block out distractions. Even my background in physics heavily shapes the way I think about music. I think of everything I know about sound waves and their properties, and what happens when you manipulate them in certain ways. Or even the mathematical relationship between different frequencies and how that produces harmony. Everything I was doing prepared me for this, even though I didn’t know it at the time, so in a way, I can’t even imagine being able to be creative in the way that I am without having spent all that time believing that I wasn’t.

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.

So after that first time writing a verse, I kept writing, not with much serious intention on what it would become, but more so just because I liked it. Over time I started learning production, and mixing, and all the other aspects that go into making better songs. But I still had no idea how to effectively market the music and build a fanbase, so I just had a handful of songs on Spotify that no one was listening to. In the summer of 2020 (I was 28), my wife and I started making content on TikTok, and eventually we started getting some of our videos to go viral. And then we started getting fans, and over time we developed a really strong sense of the way to use social media to market a growing business. Even now, I sometimes think it’s crazy that I’m not really in the music “industry” in the way most people think of it. I make songs and videos in my garage. I’ve never been inside a fancy studio or even performed live for people (unless you count karaoke at the local bar), but millions of people across the world have heard my music and seen my content. For us, the main focus is on creating songs and videos that resonate with people in a strong enough way to funnel them to other platforms and apps where we can actually make money (you can make some money directly on social media but it’s very little, relatively speaking). We talk directly to fans via DM, probably hundreds every day, in order to still have the sense of connection that they don’t get in the way that they would if they were actually seeing me in person. I’m most proud of the way my wife and I persevered through the times where we had no fans and learned how to establish some repeatable routines and structures once we did start getting fans, so that we could keep serving them while also having a sustainable way to keep growing and improving. It’s difficult to establish healthy boundaries with it, because the work is truly unlimited. You can always be responding to more comments and messages, or making more songs and videos, or reaching out to other artists or brands, so it takes awhile to develop a system that’s both effective and sustainable.

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

First of all, you are not that unique. I don’t mean this in an insulting way, I mean it in a positive way. In the world of 8 billion people, there are millions of people out there who like the same weird stuff you like and will gladly follow you and support you because they see something in you that they identify with or aspire toward. You have to internalize that belief, because if you don’t, then you will give up when you first start and don’t immediately get some traction. The goal is eventually to be able to offer the world something that’s authentic (you can fake it if you want but I don’t think it’s sustainable) and a little bit different than what they’re used to (that’s what makes it interesting). The problem is when you start, it’s highly unlikely that you have the skills to do both of those consistently (or else you’d already be famous). So it takes a lot of practice (aka posting videos that get very little views) to find something that’s actually in line with who you are and actually provides value to the people who see it. And even once you do get to that point, you still have to play the numbers game, because there are billions of people on the internet and there’s no guarantee that your video is going to find the people it’s actually meant for. Most people give up when that happens, but if you keep creating and posting, eventually you’ll make a real fan, Then 2, and 3, and so on. And along the way you’ll change and the world will change, so what you create will change and so will your target audience. So no matter how successful you become at it, it’s an ever evolving process that you have to keep growing through.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Soooo many, but I’ll just stick to the one I use the most today in 2024, and it’s Chat GPT. I use it everyday, multiple times a day. Initially I used it like Google, but now I just treat it more like it’s a person with the collective knowledge and beliefs of humanity (I know that’s not exactly accurate, but trust me it helps). I just start with a question, or describe an obstacle I’m facing, and then when it responds, I follow up with more questions about it until I feel like I understand. Or I’ll even offer up ideas of my own and see what it says about them. In the last few months I’ve been able to learn so much faster than I was even learning when I was mainly using Google and YouTube. Ultimately, your experience is the only thing that really truly teaches you anything, but being able to leverage one of the most advanced tools our species has ever created can save you so much time on everything from repairing a door hinge to figuring out why your song sounds boring. And every time you can learn something faster, then you get to learn MORE (which is really cool if you’re a nerd like me).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Verum_music?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=2cff512b-6c09-4926-b118-7fe0d6b0b627
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verum_music?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068244446672&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@verum_music?si=1h0qSXXRYu8VUgvG
• Other: I’m @verum_music on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, and I’m Verum on Spotify, Apple Music, and all other music streaming platforms

Image Credits

All photos take by Megan Vildosola