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

Hi Solace, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I guess I’ve always been singing. It started in the children’s choir at church, and then the young adults, to adults. And I was also in choir at school from elementary through high. I lettered in choir in high school actually. But I really did that because I saw my sister do it and my brother played piano for our church. So my introduction was my older siblings really. And I learned how to record myself in college on GarageBand. I was actually interest in iMovie because I’ve subtly always loved visual art too, but GarageBand was next to it and out of curiosity, I clicked it one day. As far as playing piano, that was also due to my older brother. He’s really nice and has played for a lot of churches but started in his teens at ours. When he would leave to go hang with his friends, I’d sneak in and play. I wasn’t aloud to play because I kind of had a heavy hand and would break stuff sometimes.. only sometimes though (lol).

In hindsight, I wouldn’t do anything different not speed up anything. I think that’s actually apart of the problem with our way of thinking. We gotta have everything instantly or speedily. When I’m reality, you learn more and appreciate more when you slow down and take your time. It’s counterculture, but slow and steady does actually win the race.

I feel like patience and authenticity are essential. Figuring out your “sound” which wasn’t even a focus of mine, so maybe I’d say figuring out what you’d like, takes time. And becoming good, and I mean undeniably good at your craft, no matter what that is, takes time. Authenticity is found in patience. And once you get that, no one can do what you do how you do it, because no one is you. So you’ll be adding something new every time.

Capitalism hahaha! Bills and having to participate financially takes up a lot of time when it comes to learning more. Because I’m always watching interviews, or performances or making playlists full of artists I’ve never heard of but they crazy talented. I’m still learning, especially when it comes to mixing music.

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.

So yeah I basically fell into music from seeing my older siblings do it and then I started singing early on in church and also in school.

Well recently, one of my songs hit a million streams ana that was a big deal for me only because I wrote that song years ago and threw it up on SoundCloud without thinking about it. So when I rereleased it, I wasn’t expecting it to do what it did. I really thought it was whatever, but the response has been amazing. It’s also not heavily produced either. Mixing is something I feel like I suck at, but I actually mixed and produced that song, so I guess I’m wrong? (Lol)

I bare my soul in my music. I tell on myself a lot. It hasn’t gotten me in trouble yet and the response from my listeners has been progressing through the years, so I guess I’ll keep doing that. I love the community it builds. People really like what I do and that makes them feel like they’re not alone, and it does the same for me honestly.

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

I heard a lot of people, friends and family, say that they’re not “creative” and while I understand what they mean, we’re all creative because we’re made in the image of the ultimate creator. I’ve never felt that before and I try to remind myself that that’s a privilege for me. I’ve never not felt creative, even before music, I was into drawing and painting. So yeah, I’m thankful for that.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

To be completely honest, I have no goal for my music except to keep producing it. Keep giving it. I’m not really interested in any hierarchy at the moment. Just want to keep telling stories and sharing them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @withsolace
• Facebook: Solace Music
• Twitter: @withsolace
• Youtube: Solace

Image Credits
Lawrence Pratt Ikaika Cofer Solace