Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mel Lanzieri. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Mel, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I learned about music making at a very early age, at around 7 year old I was writing my first lyrics, at 10 I was learning how to play the guitar and at 14 I was producing my first songs. I’m so happy I got to discover my love for music creation that early in life, unfortunately it took me many more years to be confident enough on what I was creating to share it with other people.

When I was 15 I started my YouTube channel posting covers of popular songs I liked, but I was so afraid of posting anything showing my actual creations because I didn’t want to be made fun of by my school peers. Looking back at some of the old projects I worked on during those years I see that it all had some potential, I just had to learn to trust my instincts a little more and even though the quality of my work has improved so much over the years I know that if I had started earlier I would’ve seen a lot more growth a lot faster.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Like any other kid in the 2000s I grew up looking up to so manny talented kids on the TV, specially on Disney Channel. Shows like Hannah Montana and Sonny with a chance made me start dreaming of being on stages and sharing my love for music with other people, along with that I was spending weekends and week nights in the studio with my parents watching them rehearse and record their music projects with their band. Whenever I wasn’t surrounded by musicians and instruments I was watching other artists on television.

My mom is a Songwriter and pianist and my dad is a Music Producer and guitarist and they work together on a metal band project called Liquens (@liquensoficial on Instagram). Through watching and listening to them I learned and developed my own taste for what I wanted to create, which is stories told by lyrics and pop music production.

My songs are mellow, catchy and infused with storytelling lyrics. My greatest works come out of me trying to wrap my head around a feeling or a situation and I’ll try my best to translate that into metaphors and sounds. In the song “Dancing” for example I talk about diving deep into a relationship with someone even if none of the parties are intending on it but they do because it feels like things are falling into place so naturally that we’re “confessing our love on the street and dancing bare feet”. On one of my recent releases “Time Bomb” a close friend of mine was going through a tough situation in her personal life and I suggested we sit and made a song together, even though she doesn’t know anything about music production or song writing she had a story to tell and I felt responsible for helping her translate her feelings and emotions into something like a song that she can scream at the top of her lungs in the car on her way to work.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For the last few years I wasn’t working on any creative projects, work got in the way and I was often drained and too depressed to spend my remaining energy on anything. I remember looking at my life one day and realizing I was letting the dreamer in me die and as soon as I started getting in the zone of creating music and visuals for my projects I started feeling excited to live again. It might sound silly to people who are not necessarily creatives but I truly am my best, happiest, most excited version when I’m working on my creative projects.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think creative people tend to have a big ego when it comes to their creations and that’s because we’re relying on our own taste and the few mentors we trust. That can lead to two things, number one: You never finish or share your projects because you don’t want to give anyone the opportunity to say what they really think about it. Number two: you avoid working with other people because you don’t want anyone to change your ideas.

I get both of those and have personally experienced it. The year of 2024 has been a real challenge for me in which I decided to let go of that ego. I believe I’ve improved my skills so much simply by working with other creative people like Tanner Borowski, Varsity Dropout, Giovanni Bueno and I started working on my songs more as fun projects rather that “the one big project that’s gonna change my life”.

The truth is when talking about creativity and skill the projects I worked on last year are gonna be inferior to the projects I work on this year, which will be inferior to the projects I work on next year. It’s all about growth and the ego can really stand in between you becoming the best version of yourself, so trust me, destroy that ego ASAP!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/itsmemel
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mel_lanzieri/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeSci8lmMgU4zLdC_LqAyJg
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/00dAqcqA7WaMFvYPqWQvwu?si=BLhq3ZVEQNeGlu1XT7ZOXg
  Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mel/1716649878

Image Credits

Diogo Fagundes
Ana Clara Dalzotto