Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leanna Firestone. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Leanna , thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
To be a working creative is to have your personhood inherently intertwined with your work. At a regular job, when you go home from work, you can leave it behind, or at the very least- being bad at your job doesn’t make you feel like you are a bad person. But making art is a response to being alive and your experience of life, and to have your livelihood be tied up in that can make it hard to define a boundary between you and what you make, and even harder to separate the criticism of your art from the criticism of self. I’ve been an artist full-time for about 4 years, but I still have dreams that I’m working back at the smoothie place I worked at through college. In them, everything is simple. Although I love making art, and I feel very fulfilled by it, I sometimes do long for the earlier times before I got everything I wanted. I wish for it weekly (especially when a song I’m writing isn’t coming together in the right way) but there’s a reason I never throw in the towel on being an artist and go back. Even though I find it incredibly taxing and emotionally exhausting to produce art for everyone to perceive, there’s nothing I am as passionate about as music, and there’s nothing like it that has connected me as deeply to myself and my community as it has.
Leanna , 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’m Leanna Firestone and I’m a 23-year-old singer/songwriter. I started writing songs in 8th grade, after combining my love of writing fan fiction and singing. My influences are Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzy McAlpine, Maisie Peters, and pretty much anyone else that falls into “girl-with-guitar” style music. My songwriting style is very literal, based in pop and musical theatre roots.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I just recently read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and it was truly life-changing. I’m not sure if there is any other self-help book that I have ever read that I have thought about as much after finishing as this one. One of my favorite passages from it talks about fear (which I have a lot of) and says something to the effect of “your fear will always have a voice, but it should never have a vote”. That quote has guided me through every song I’ve written since, inspiring me to be as honest and vulnerable as possible.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my platform by posting singing videos day after day on TikTok. Even when I sounded bad, even when I had somewhere to be, even when I really, really didn’t feel like it. I think the best piece of advice I could possibly give is to be consistent. Work on your craft even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard. Sit with your discomfort, learn how to push through it. Dedicate yourself to trying anyway, even if you think you look silly or you’re not good enough. Even if it never financially pays off, if you truly love what you’re posting about, just engaging with it frequently will make the effort feel worthwhile (and something will eventually hit the algorithm if you just keep trying!).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leannafirestone.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/leannafirestone
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCejVvvf5n_U-2rTRzta9KgA
Image Credits
Leigh Ann Rodgers