We recently connected with Ria Barkr and have shared our conversation below.
Ria , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?
Backstory, my mom is my voice teacher she was signed at 17 so we’ve had a studio in our house since I was a kid. When I was 14 she took me to Atlanta to audition for Americas Got Talent. When we were waiting in line my mom made me practice and I was so scared to start just singing around strangers even though I had been on stage my entire life. I remember her saying, “do you wanna make a mistake out here or with the judges?” It was that day I learned as an artist you have to be okay with being uncomfortable because you’re gonna be uncomfortable the majority of the time and also learned if someone asks you to sing, just do it because you never know whats gonna come from it. I was fortunate enough to make it to the filming portion but was let go because they didn’t know what genre to put me in since I could sing multiple.
Ria , 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 grew up in Bristol, Va and moved to Nashville for college. I was actually paid to attend school so I graduated without any debit – woohoo. Growing up with a mom that was an artist / writer in the music business helped tremendously. A few years ago after a producer in the UK heard a Jazz cover I did with Jeff Franzel ( Frank Sinatra, NSYNC, Josh Groban, The Temptations, etc) he reached out to work together and just last year (precovid) I went on a writers retreat and finally met him in person where we produced over 20 tracks. 7 of these songs will be on my EP coming out this winter!
Music has been apart of my life since before I can remember but one thing that most people don’t know about me is I’ve performed in musicals with Broadway and Tony award winners Gary Mauer, David Elder, Cary Miller and Denise DiRenzo; The Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis., SNF, Cats, Sweeney Todd, Jesus Christ Superstar, White Christmas, etc.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
This is a great question, I feel that people don’t realize how important it is to follow your favorites artists on social media and Spotify or other digital streaming platforms. Artist can gain so much more exposure when fans engage with them on socials, it can drive more people to their page and Spotify can actually tell when artist are being talked about because of the algorithm and they will push those artists more. Another way to support independent artists is to buy tickets to shows or purchase merchandise! Nothing means more to me than when someone goes above and beyond to support what I’m doing!!:)
Have you ever had to pivot?
This year I decided to change my artist name from Ria Marie to Ria Barkr. I kept seeing so many artists with Marie in their name and also my sound changed so my team and I thought it was best to change my name. One of the most difficult parts in doing this is all of the press and media coverage I had under the old name no longer mattered and I lost 200k streams. It felt like I had to start over but really it was just a pivot because the lessons I have learned still haven’t gone anywhere.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://express.adobe.com/page/VIn1rLD3H8xwL/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riabarkr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riabarkr/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/riabarkr
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD3TGdhJ-ij7gTW1j3qniKQ
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@riabarkr
Image Credits
Libby Danforth Eliyya Lane