We recently connected with J. Lou and have shared our conversation below.

J., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Nothing is ever guaranteed in the first place, so anything you pursue is a risk. And I think I knew that from a young age. Seeing my parents divorce and struggling with jobs they weren’t even passionate about. Subconsciously I adopted a mindset of just doing things I wanted to do. Sometimes that was for better or worse, but it was always my decision. So when I decided to pursue music, I wasn’t scared of the possibilities of failure because that didn’t matter to me, I was doing it. Now I’m releasing my own original music and performing multiple shows a month in NYC.

J., 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?

I create music that reflects on my own thoughts and feelings. Mostly about my intimate relationships. The things that excite people about it are my melodic structure and the relatability people feel with my lyrics. I try to be real and vulnerable. My music style is heavily influenced by 80s Rock and Pop superstars mixed with a few great contemporary artists from my adolescence. Some being Michael Jackson, Queen and others being modern artists like Drake and The Weeknd. It wasn’t easy getting started as a musician with no actual musical background. I had to learn a lot of things as I went along. No one I grew up with did music and I hadn’t actually seen many live performances until I was already an adult. Most of my experience was watching videos of old performances on YouTube. But that was enough for me. So at 20 years old I decided to jump at the first opportunity to record a song at a friend’s house. In my mind it was now or never. The first song wasn’t very good, but that’s how most things are. I felt I had more to say and I still do. It’s like a personal competition with myself and I want to keep making better music. I want people to feel something. I wanna create a space and world that people can come to and visit at any point in time. The more I express myself, the more I’m building that world. It’s a beautiful thing and I’m grateful I’m able to do this.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I always had it in my mind that everything had to be perfect. And it’s just untrue. I think it’s something that you strive for, but can never actually reach. I think pushing yourself towards the idea leads to great content, but it’s something to always work on. And I realize now how much people love the process as well. As an artist you’re going to grow, so if you start somewhere, you might end up somewhere else, which is okay, it’s actually pretty fucking cool. And your biggest and best supporters are gonna be the ones bragging about all of that. The kinds of people that will say I knew him when he did this and that. It’s okay to start wherever you are. Not everyone’s going to like it or you in the first place, but by doing it and going through this process you’ll know yourself better and the support you get will be genuine.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I get to be as real as I want to be. And the more I do that the more I’m rewarded. It sounds simple, but most people actually have to suit up and act “professional” or however society feels fit. Being an artist is very freeing. It fits my personality as well. Because I’m an empathetic person, I try to see things from other perspectives. I hate this cancel culture we live in, it’s so easy for people to not even try to understand each other. At the end of the day we were all children that grew up and depending on our experiences is how we end up where we are. It’s a sad story for some and happy for others. But I try to do my best to be real and actually take the time and patience to understand the people and world around me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://solo.to/j-lou
• Instagram: @BoricuaBlanco
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@boricua.blanco?si=_MPXMIu9YqGpCAJe
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  J. Lou