We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Del Carmen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.

Natalie, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I started writing songs at 12 years old and it was definitely a casual, curious beginning, as I think many passions are. I had been taking some lessons for piano and voice for 4 years, but picking up guitar on my own felt more like something I was really passionate about learning on a daily basis. My brother was an avid guitarist too at the time, so I’m sure that played a part in the exposure aspect of it.

Creativity is sparked in a lot of ways, but there’s really nothing like being influenced by what others have built. The Lumineers’ debut album drew me to lyricism and Folk in general, and I spent the bulk of my teen years “studying” that album without realizing it. From them, I learned stuff like song structure and true storytelling. My discovery of fingerpicking at 14 or 15 opened a lot of doors creativity as well, and it took many songs and stabs at writing poetry to realize how much I loved conversational writing. Something that really stuck with me in songwriting that I learned in my college years is how much every word matters in the story you’re sharing. It’s been fun to not only write these songs, but develop them over and over until it serves the story well.

Natalie, 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?

Growing up in Los Angeles, CA, I’m a 22-year-old Folk/Americana musician, songwriter and artist. While living in LA has been a huge part of my life in music, I also graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and spent some time down in Nashville, TN recording and diving into music. This past year in 2023, I released a Folk/Pop album called Bloodline, and an Americana EP titled Tandem Songs in September surrounding themes of understanding life and growing older. As a conversational writer, I have a passion for releasing music that hopefully feels responsive to what others see and experience in their own lives, and writing about the everyday is a corner of songwriting I love.

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

Particularly as a songwriter, it’s a privilege to be able to go about my life experiences and end up writing about them in a way that makes others feel understood. There’s a lot of aspects to life that feel very isolating when you’re the one going through them yourself, but at the root of it, a lot of us are moving through the same feelings every day. It’s very rewarding to reflect and write on personal stories that somehow end up being oddly relatable. Outside of just writing, being an artist surrounded by other wildly creative people has made me feel like I’m part of a good community.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe that direct engagement toward your favorite artists is the best way to keep creatives thriving! Whether that is adding their music to your favorite playlists, supporting merch stands or simply reaching out with encouragement, it always means a lot.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nataliedelcarmen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natalie.del.carmen/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMlRROPXY86HYB7JcoftIQ
• Other: https://linktr.ee/nataliedelcarmen

Image Credits
Main Photo taken by Ava Ghasiri 2 other photos (one with the camera and the other with the bright close up) taken by Leanne Tarrab