We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jefe Chindrix a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jefe thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I believe I am still learning “what to do”, in terms of creating music. I’ve been creating music for about three years now and began releasing music two years ago. I would say my foundation for learning music was by watching people who created music around me. My family has several artists and instrumentalists, so growing up I would see how they created or performed and I believe it stuck with me throughout my life. Being able to go to the studio with my older brother or seeing the process of how a concert is set up before the event starts gave me a different perspective on music besides just being a listener.

One thing I believe I could’ve done to speed up the process would have been taking myself more seriously with creating music. I’ve always loved music, whether it was just being a listener or creating random songs in my head throughout the day as a teen. With that being said, however, I do believe things happen for a reason and my time to become a creator seemed to be booked later in life than earlier. One of the most essential skills to me would be confidence. Having confidence, I believe, is important and something a lot of people struggle with including myself. Which in the same breath brings me to my obstacle, confidence. Confidence plays a massive role in being a creator. Starting out, I remember times where I wouldn’t share snippets of songs because I felt what I created wouldn’t be good enough in people’s eyes.

There’s moments to this day where I still find myself falling into those concerns and maybe holding back on sharing my craft. In addition to that, even creating the work took confidence within myself to create it. For example, I’m trying to learn how to create songs from scratch, such as creating the beat, mixing vocals, adding effects, etc. Me even coming to terms with the idea of me being capable of learning took some time. Not because I didn’t feel like I was intelligent enough, but because of my lack of confidence in achieving my goal. Learning to create a song from start to finish is something I’m still learning and honestly will always continue to be learning with the way music is always changing.

Jefe , 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?

My name is Jefe Chindrix, I’m an artist from Cleveland, OH. I come from a family oriented household. Growing up, music always played a major component in my life, but more so as a spectator instead of a creator. I never focused on being a creator with music until I was a little older in college and I began writing more. I found myself writing literature more often in college during my free time. During this time, I even wrote a book. I never released the book because I created the book out of a need for an outlet for the things that happened to me throughout my life. Writing became therapeutic to me. However, after writing the book, I still wanted to use literature as a form of an outlet for myself, but wasn’t sure to what capacity. Until one day one of my childhood friends asked me if I ever tried writing over a beat? That was three years ago and I’ve been creating music ever since. I enjoy creating music because it gives me the chance to continue to have an outlet, but also share & connect with people who may feel the same.

Still being relatively new to the music industry from an artist standpoint, I’m learning everyday on how to move in the industry. I think one of the biggest takeaways I have from it so far is the connections I’ve made. Not in the sense of business, but on a personal level. A lot of times I feel that people who are in the industry forget to take a step back and enjoy the moment. There have been times where I feel an artist can have so much focus on the overall goal set out for themselves that they may miss the bigger picture that’s in front of them. I’ve made connections with people through music that ended up being a welcoming surprise. I’m aware that this is not uncommon to happen, but to me, I don’t feel like it’s the norm. So, creating these relationships that I’ve made so far has been surprising, yet a blessing as well.

The connections I’ve made intertwine with a company that I am honored to be building with them. Fragmentz Imagination, or “RAGZ” for short. Is a company that aims to foster a welcoming, sincere, and friendly environment where independent artists can thrive. Through our innovative platform, we will empower artists to unleash their creativity, connect with other like-minded-individuals. We believe in the power of imagination and we strive to provide the resources to allow artists to not only dream, but also create their vision into reality. It’s a company that we believe can disrupt the industry and the best part about this is that it will be done with friends. This is one thing that I am proud of even before the masses get to see it. The other thing I would say that I am proud of is putting my craft out there for people to hear. I believe anyone who creates and allows other people to see or hear what they’ve made is a brave person and I commend them.

Finally, I’m grateful for the growth that I’ve gained within the years of being in the industry. My next goal for my career is to finish my first album and release it for everyone to hear. I hope whoever is taking the time to read this article about me will come along with me on my journey. Traveling with someone is always better than being alone.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to meet people who are passionate about music. It’s always cool to me to connect with people who don’t create music themselves. People who enjoy listening to music are just or more passionate as the ones that create it. Whether it’s at networking events, on social media, or at shows, I always leave the conversation ready to work on music again. I find inspiration when I hear or see others talk about music and what it means to them. The passion they have for their favorite music genre or artist is the same I have for mines. I try to find inspiration or match the perspective of whoever I speak to. I realize looking at things from more than one angle has always helped me in the studio. Gaining different perspectives has affected the way I approach creating and usually adds a new element.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I would say this pivot turned out to be for the better, but a pivot I made with my music was singing more on my tracks. When you hear my music, a lot of my songs have me singing on them and most would think that was the aim from the beginning. However, When I started making music I was against singing on the tracks for a long time. Which is part of the reason I didn’t release anything until a year after I started creating music. I would share my music to my circle at the time and they would always suggest for me to think about singing more. I was against it for a long time. I partially think it had something to do with confidence, but I also was hell bent on not singing. The only experience I had with singing prior to my music was being a part of a church choir growing up, so I felt singing solo wouldn’t translate well. Then over time, my encouraging support system along with my producer Cam Ezra convinced me that I should incorporate singing into my music more. The pivot was the correct one, and this is my formal apology to them for being stubborn.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/jefechindrix
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jefechindrix/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jefechindrix
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jefechindrix

Image Credits

Robby Vallarelli
Jacob Ciptak