We were lucky to catch up with John Olowe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

What I truly believe my parents did right, was that they took a lot of chances with me. Some that have paid off sooner than others. My parents truly granted me the freedom to explore my passions and ideas early on in my life. They weren’t as strict with me regarding traditional schooling, with my mother homeschooling me the majority of my life, and them being so loose with the curriculum. They gave me opportunities to participate in many things your typical child wouldn’t even have had the time for nor the access. Not that my parents were rich, by no means. But they were intentional on cultivating me to be a well-rounded, individualistic person. They provided me the tools and the space (which is so important) to find out who I wanted to be, and then work towards it. I surely wouldn’t be anywhere close to who I am today if my parents never opened up the door for me to be free.

John, 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’ve been a creative from birth. As long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to create and bring new ideas to life. I’ve always had vision and drive for innovation. I didn’t commit to pursuing the music industry right away earlier on in my life. I had other ventures I was interested in pursuing, including game design, animation, film, and more. Not to say that I have abandoned those things, but I believe that my interests in all of those things collectively brought me to this pursuit of a musical career. I believe that a lot of the disciplines and character that developed within me while doing those other things carried into the cultivation of this new craft. The same or more time; the same or more energy; the same or more passion, frustration, disappointment, love. This process of developing a career in such a difficult industry to operate in has taken me high and low over the course of many years and it has built a resilience and patience in me that I probably wouldn’t have recognized I needed. Music truly helped me find God. I believe God new that music would be an effective way for Him to speak to me and cultivate this person that I couldn’t have imagined when I was fifteen years old, crying because I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out, but knowing that they were supposed to. These days I just want my craft to be honest and real. I want heart and truth to speak through what I create, or more-so what I consider God to have created through me. This is the difference I strive for when I create these days. I don’t want to create a temporary moment, I want to take part in creating what will last for times to come. When I make a beat, it’s more than a beat. When I write a song, it’s more than a song. When I sing, there’s more to it than a voice and notes. My focus is to be used to bring life back to music.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative to me is the satisfaction of having successfully translated yours or someone else’s vision to reality. As cliche as this sounds. But, truly, regardless of the responses of anyone else, being able to sit down and know in your heart with certainty that something amazing just happened, as though it fell from heaven into your hands, is wonderful. It makes you appreciate life and inspires you to continue. Because if it was done once, it can surely be done again. It’s that much more rewarding when you weren’t sure if it was gonna work out or not either. So many times I’ve found myself to be a part in some very ambitious projects, and a lot of the time, these projects don’t start so wonderfully. Honestly, it may seem like an impossible feat and a waste of time to continue trying. But every time we’ve followed through and rejected giving up, the reward has been great and greater than we foresaw.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I believe everyone has some level of creativity within them. The creativity of some are more active than others, and that’s okay. Being more or less creative doesn’t make you more or less. Everyone has their role in this world and we all serve individual purposes, but if we learn how to function collectively, we’ll be much more successful. Some people have the ideas, and other make sure the idea actually happens. Neither is greater than the other. Without both, the idea is dead anyway. We all have or good and not so good qualities, but if we did less to disparage each other and more to support each other, we’d have a greater understanding of ourselves even. I know where some of my faults lie as a creative, but I will always have faults. I will always do better to have less faults, but I’d do even better to connect with those who are stronger where I am weak. Because I will always be weak somewhere, but where that is, there will always be someone better than I. Thank God,

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnolowe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnolowe2001
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/johananolowe
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2OTu4gcdQuvr5ddQ3dGgQ
• Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/johnolowe/triple-sided https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/johnolowe/gotta-know

Image Credits
Brandon Malcolm or MalcMedia, Jayla White or Creative Focus