We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Holden Miller. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Holden below.

Holden, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Although my parents met in law school, my mom is now an author and my dad sings, so I joke that they made the ideal singer/songwriter child. From a very early age, my parents showed their open support for any path I wanted to take, so when I decided to pursue music, I knew they would have my back. Without them, I definitely would not be where I am today.

My mom makes all of my cover art and she convinced to release my most-streamed song to date. She knows what’s best :)

My dad showed me that singing is cool and raised me on good music, curating my taste and planting the seed for my love of songwriting.

Holden, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I fell in love with music at an early age, but it wasn’t until my family dropped my brother off at college my sophomore year of high school that I really decided I wanted music to be a pivotal part of my life. When I saw my brother playing guitar so elegantly, I knew I wanted to be able to do the same thing. Shortly after starting guitar, I began writing songs as an outlet for my emotions and anxieties. When I played these songs for friends and family, I realized I sort of had a knack for songwriting.

After releasing a few original songs in college and seeing some small successes, I decided I wanted to pursue music full-time when I graduated. The course of the pandemic led me from NY to LA – a move that changed my life and really allowed me to express myself the way I wanted. https://music.holdenmillermusic.com/basement

I believe I see the world in an over-aware and unique way, which leads to songs that are relatable, yet idiosyncratic. I hope that through my music I can share some things that I have learned and make people feel less alone. I can’t imagine myself doing anything besides music, so I hope to be able to write songs for the rest of my life.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Living in a world where societal pressures encourage a 40-hour work week makes it hard for non-creatives to grasp the work-ethic of creatives – especially within the music industry. I know personally, I put a lot of pressure on myself to always be productive, but that’s just not how a creative brain works. You can’t force creativity, and when you try to, you don’t end up getting your best, most-authentic work. I think that because typical workers are used to 8-hour workdays, they expect that creatives can do the same thing… but there are certain days, even weeks (sometimes months), where creative output is stagnant and the only way around it is to put your craft on hold and just live your life. I wish there was less societal pressure to be productive all the time so that we could all just spend some more time enjoying ourselves and life.

I also think sometimes it’s hard for non-creatives to understand the mental toll that trying to be an artist takes. For example, common practice these days is to be posting on TikTok every single day. To have to see yourself that much and create genuine, enthusiastic and engaging content daily is exhausting, even if it seems like something rather simple and easy. Think about the annoying salesperson at the mall who you can’t wait to get away from, and then think about having to be a constant salesperson for yourself and your art and getting people to give a shit… it’s not easy.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Take some time (just a little!) to show support to the artists whose art you consume. A like, comment, share, playlist add, etc. goes a long way and it take very little effort. I think society can take art and artists for granted sometimes and not realize the massive amount of work that goes into creating the polished product that we all consume. If you like someone’s work, let them know! I also do think there should be some sort of funding that creatives can qualify for so that they can truly put the time into their work that it deserves. I have been fortunate enough to not have to juggle a full-time job while pursuing my art, but it is really difficult to balance outside obligations with a creative pursuit, especially when streaming payouts are so, so low.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://holdenmillermusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holdenmillermusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holdenmillermusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGsf-iQK5asY0d7MLVhEGMQ

Image Credits
Natt In Nature (Nathalie Benshmuel) Jake Miller Shanni M Zhou Zayd Ezzeldine