We were lucky to catch up with Jordan Whitlock recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jordan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?
Oh my god, I wish I started sooner. But I also realize that I needed to take my time. I wanted to travel a little, focus on school. When I first started college in Santa Barbara, I would go to class, then run to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich and some apples, lug my guitars to my car parked off campus way uphill and I would rush to the studio in LA. It just wasn’t really possible to do it all, so I eventually put the music to the side to live a little and learn how to be an adult. I do envy the people who are 17 and just absolutely ready to dive in.
Jordan, 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 am an independent musician, vocalist, songwriter and producer, specializing in ethereal electronic pop music with lots of layered vocals and harmonies. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been getting into writing music for T.V and film, which has me making scores and also writing specific songs for commercials or shows. The way that typically works is if you have a film that needs a song playing in the background while, lets say a couple is slow dancing at prom, and you have a certain feeling you want to come across in that scene, I will take that info and craft a song based on that mood you’re going for.
I have thus far in my career been doing most of the production, writing, photography, booking, etc independently, but am hoping to expand the team a little in the future! I love the fact that doing it independently forced me to learn how to produce the music I wanted. It definitely wasn’t my original goal in starting my music career, but having worked in it for a little while now, I hope to help make space for more female representation in music production. and engineering. I think if we take the time to learn the trade, we will make the most beautiful unique music and the world needs to hear our perspectives.
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 remember a mentor in the industry once telling me there was no room for anything less than absolute perfection [in regards to a song we were recording]. While this can be helpful in keeping attention to detail and striving to make the music the best it can possibly be, it can also hold you back so much. I definitely grew up with perfectionistic tendencies and have thankfully learned to give myself a lot more room for freedom and making mistakes. If we’re constantly fearing rejection and negative feedback, we’re not ever going to share anything with the world. And part of the business is getting rejected over and over – what matters are the people that believe in you and share that same vision, and you will find them if you put yourself out there.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I don’t think you can be a full time artist without resilience. I wish more artists were transparent about this. I feel like we all want to prove to ourselves and our friends/fans that we did it and we’re successful – we made the full-time thing work. But it can be such a rollercoaster. I wish people were more honest about this, so we wouldn’t feel alone in the struggle of running your own business. I think that would help our little community feel supported and have a sense of connection in an industry that can be isolating if you’re doing it all on your own. The thing about it, though, is that it’s so worth it. The ability to make art and spread that peace and joy to people will always outweigh any challenge.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jordanwhitlock.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanwww/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordanwhitlockmusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-whitlock-a5799b1b3/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_jordanwhitlock
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCsKgHV4SZrqcL55Lep9jzPg
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2hfjbY3nRSsfIVyOG5j3Eg
Image Credits
Blake Wurtzler (All I See Is You Album Artwork)