We were lucky to catch up with Julie Craig recently and have shared our conversation below.

Julie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Making my first album, FROM HERE, has so far been the most meaningful project of my life. It was the first time I embraced the true uniqueness of my voice. Not just my actual singing voice, but my voice as an artist too. I tried for many years to fit into what I thought was popular and what other people wanted me to sound like. But at some point, that burnt me out, and I stopped altogether. I always sang, but I stopped pursuing singing jobs as a main focus, and honed in on acting, a craft I also loved.

At some point on that journey, I really missed singing. At the same time, I was hired to sing in a concert format in wine country called Broadway Under The Stars. The company allowed me to sing what I felt were my strongest types of songs. I didn’t have to fit into someone else’s box. So I sang my heart out doing what I loved best – opera. To my shock, the audiences went crazy for it every night. I had no idea there was an audience for my voice. I was getting full house standing ovations in the middle of the show EVERY night. People would come up to me afterward with tears streaming, so moved. It made me reflect on how much music had meant to me my whole life. I used to make little recordings for my Grandmother, who inspired my appreciation of classical music through her love of Pavarotti. I would regularly burn her CDs (remember those?!) of myself singing. She had recently passed away at the time.

So I made a decision. I would make a REAL album, independently, no label. And I’d do it the way I felt was uniquely me, for the pure sake of my own creative expression. I hired a composer/producer and a sound engineer, put together an Indiegogo video, raised all the money, and got to work. We composed music, rehearsed, and perfected tempos. Then we went to Budapest and recorded a 48-piece full orchestra. We came back to Los Angeles, recorded piano, percussion, and vocals at the famous Village Studios, mixed it, mastered it, and then released it on all streaming platforms.

Before I started this project, I knew nothing about making an album. I proved to myself that I could do anything I set out to do. And to be honest, as soon as I committed fully, everything felt like it was falling into place out of the sky. It was meant to be. I am so proud of this beautiful thing we created. And to this day, people have been asking me to sing more and more, in bigger and bigger venues. Fans tell me how much they enjoy streaming the album. I am very grateful for the way it all came to be. Grateful for the way my music moves people to their feet or to tears. Grateful for its connection to my Grandmother (whom I dedicated the album to). And grateful for my unique voice that I finally embraced.

Julie, 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?

Sure! Let’s see…I started performing at age 3, studied acting at 7, trained classically as a singer at 12, and took it seriously as a career path from high school to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. I am a Broadway singer who also performs with orchestras. I am an actress working in film/tv. I split my time between Los Angeles and New York mostly. I have recently begun to write and produce as well. Basically if it’s creative, count me in.

I usually run directly toward what feels the most vulnerable. I enjoy exploring a character or a song from the most honest and human part of myself. I think that’s why it connects, which is the point of art. I’m proud of my resilience and commitment to a business which mostly feels out of my control. The one thing I do know is that I am an artist through and through and always will be. The more I embrace that, let go of the outcome, and focus on the work itself, the better off I am. I’m proud of how hard I’ve worked for it. I always figure out how to do the things I don’t yet know how to do. When you’re in touch with your creativity, there’s always a way. I’ve got the will.

In the music world, I am building my orchestra guest artist engagements. I feel I have a unique sound to offer that world. My voice naturally splits the difference between opera and Broadway. I can whip out Puccini or Gounod as fast as Phantom of the Opera or Sondheim, all in one show. My classical crossover vocals do what Josh Groban did: provide a beautiful night of easy listening to the classics. Songs we all know and love and want to hear sung with great vocal tone, skill, and heart. My vulnerability through singing is what puts the secret sauce on my package. And I love showing up in a huge gown, bringing as much beauty to the night as I can offer.

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

Connection. To others, to self, to humanity, to spirit. I love feeling in the flow state where something bigger is coming through me through my artistic expression. And then to get to share that with someone and touch something in them that feels bigger, which is the energy that connects us all, that is the best outcome. It couldn’t be more rewarding to hear someone express how my art moved them. It’s an exchange, and everyone is better for the expression of whatever it is. Even if it is something different for them.

I love making art that helps people feel less alone in their struggles and joy. Connection is the best part of being alive in my opinion. And what life is about. Love and connection. Art inspires empathy that gets us all closer to those things. I love discovering more about the depths of myself and therefore humanity through my art. It feels like a bottomless well of learning and growing. There’s no better feeling than getting something out that used to be within, and sharing that with someone else who can relate. Again, it’s all about connection. And compassion. They’re close cousins to me. Seeing the ripple effects, and how your own art makes someone’s life better, their sense of self and belonging deeper…nothing more rewarding than that.

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

When I was younger, I would get the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and my answer was always, “A performer!” Without fail, I would be met with the same long-faced response about how hard it would be. I never met anyone who responded positively. I usually felt their concern came from a good place of trying to protect me or prepare me for hardship. But the truth is that most people who were responding had never pursued a life in the arts. How could they know? It seems that everyone is given an unspoken rule book when they are born which states that artists live a hard life and that fact should be communicated as much as possible.

This notion was very hard to shake. I think it prohibited me from taking some big swings. Not all, but some. It has made it difficult for me to think positive when times are tough. To believe in myself against all odds. To trust and not panic. To own myself, fully, as an artist. I had to get over some sort of societal shame around it. And I think this is a sad thing. We need more creative people owning their creativity in the world. And yes, sometimes it is hard, but if we constantly tell children that, we end up with way less artists in the world perhaps. How many great artists ended up in a safe job who never wrote a song that could have changed the world or helped a lot of people? How many artists give up as soon as it gets hard because it validates what they’ve heard and they expect the hard times to always continue? I have had to take a good hard look at my expectations based on other people’s reactions and decide which ones to keep and which ones to let go of. But it took me some time to even realize that I had adopted some of them as my core beliefs. Because of this, it took me until later in life to find my way. I would have liked to have unlearned this one sooner. That being an artist doesn’t have to be a scary, depressing, hard way of life that only equates to struggle. It can be beautiful, fulfilling, magical and full of abundance and love too. Just like any career path. It’s all how you see it. And mindset matters more than you think.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.imdb.me/juliecraig
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/juliecraig_
• Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/juliecraig/from-here

Image Credits
Gerard Sandoval, Ericka Kreutz, Morgan Demeter