We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Miz.Clover a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Miz.Clover, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

It actually took me quite a long time to come to terms with what I wanted from my artistry and that I wanted to pursue my passion for Music as not just a hobby but a potential career. The prospect of having an avenue as a singer in any sense growing up was kind of a fantasy. I grew up in a family that valued work and a sustainable job. Being an independent artist usually means that you have to put forth a lot of the funds and promotions from your own pocket but it was such a pervasive thought in my mind that it really didn’t matter anymore, especially when I started to get older and I just didn’t feel the sense of fulfillment from working regular jobs like I had been told growing up was the path to success. I realized that life is about taking risks for the things and the people you love.

Miz.Clover, 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?

Some of the most important things to me have been and always will be the appreciation of life and the pursuit of my passion. Since I was a young child I always felt like there was a message that I needed to relay, something that needed to be shared that I had hidden within my mind that at some point would come to the surface. Now that I have lived and experienced the highs and lows of life at least to the degree that I have had the opportunity to, I realized that my message was to open peoples minds to their inner world. Everyone has experienced a tuning down of who they really are in order to conform and even just to stay alive, but within this skeleton we have a deep and intrinsic connection to the world around us that cannot be denied or hidden. My music dives into the inner psyche, the spiritual message of inter connectedness and of course, love. I hope that people are able to hear it but most importantly feel it within when they hear my songs. I’ve always sung, even when I was too young to recognize that I had a good singing voice. it wasn’t nurtured in me at all by my parents. Only by the public school system that had exposed me to choir, was I able to get positive reinforcement from my peers and my teachers that encouraged me to sing more to build on my ability. I Think in a sense a lot of us go through self doubt and we criticize ourselves to the point where we no longer see the beautiful innate qualities that we are born with. It takes some type of intervention either from within or from others around us for us to recognize what we are capable of. I’ve made it my life’s mission to be the match that lights the fire in peoples souls. If I can inspire even one person to dig deeper to open up their minds and dare to dream, then I’ll have succeeded.

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 had to unlearn doubt and the fear of failure, which is actually something I still have to actively work against. We’re told that failure is nothing to be afraid of and that’s how we learn, however when we actually fail its usually not looked at in that regard, we’re shunned and placated without being given a chance to digest and process what went wrong. which leads us down a road of self doubt. for years I had isolated myself into a dark hole where no one could see or hear me. It took a lot of years of meditation introspection and unlearning all the negative coping mechanisms that I used to deal with my demons without having to truly face them, Only when I really sat in silence with myself was I able to break free from the judgements and the opinions of other and also of myself. Freedom lies within, it’s when we relinquish ourselves to the darkest depths of our minds that we truly start to live.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

The best thing that society could do is just to give artists the space to be artists, which in my opinion is already happening. I see more venues opening up their doors to showcase independent artists and give them a foundation to build on. Not only that but also seeking out and giving independent artists a chance. There are so many well established singers and musicians that have already made it but they choose not to help the underground scene get the recognition it deserves by shouting them out or supporting people who have smaller platforms. It takes a lot of money and connections in order to get recognized, I think that needs to change. Artistry shouldn’t be designated to the wealthy and well connected it should be an open field for anyone with something amazing to be seen and heard. We support each other by building with each other.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miz.clover/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkN3je17ejJ60IFg6mmISvQ
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6gA4MzTLw2hpFXF5weYoGI