Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stryker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Stryker, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
Man, this is really a loaded question! I think part of being an artist, or at least progressing as an artist, is never being satisfied. Always feeling like you need to improve, or grow in some way. So trying to find happiness in a constant state of dissatisfaction is no easy task. Happiness comes and goes, and it’s easy to say “Oh I’ll be happy when ‘this’ happens.” Or “I’ll be happy when that happens.” But feelings only exist in the present. So you need to be able to find happiness all around you in the little things. Even if it’s as simple as taking a walk and just reflecting on your current moment. “It’s a beautiful day, I have incredible friends, and I’m doing what I love.” What more could you need in a moment? As for the question “Do I ever wonder what it’d be like to have a normal job?” Of course I do, from time to time. Specifically at my low points, I think about how much easier it’d be if I just had a typical 9-5, and I knew exactly how much money I was going to make every month, and my life was super stable. However, that’s not the hand I was dealt. I was born with this fire inside of me to create, and to chase this dream, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. There’s a line in a Michael Bolton song that says “I don’t wanna know the price I’m gonna pay for dreaming”, and that line hits so deep. I’ve already lost or given up so much, to keep pursuing this dream, and it hurts sometimes, “but if it was easy…”
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.
I always loved to sing. My father is a pastor, and I grew up singing in our church. Then of course, in middle school and high school I did choir and musical theatre. It wasn’t until college that I picked up a guitar and actually started to sing like mainstream songs. Originally, I didn’t want to be a songwriter at all. I thought I’d just be one of those artists that just sang, and would get songs from writers who weren’t artists themselves. As I began to write my own songs, I started developing a skill for it which led to developing a love for it. Somehow that lead to me writing songs for other artists, and then eventually for movies/tv shows/etc. To me it’s a very different process to write for someone other than yourself. It’s easier I think. It feels more like putting together a puzzle from the ideas you have about this person, whereas writing a song for myself feels like just creating something from absolutely nothing. It feels like a different part of my brain. What’s different about me:
It honestly kind of gets on my nerves a little bit sometimes, but I try to just accept that it’s what makes me “me”, but when people mention my country accent when they hear my songs. I make pop or pop/rock music I guess you’d say, so I don’t want people to hear my accent. I grew up on a cattle farm in East Tennessee, and I’m not ashamed of my accent or anything, but it makes people question what genre they’re listening to which can be troubling. Ultimately I’m trying to tell myself that it’s what makes me sound unique, and so I’m trying to learn to love it. Obviously I can always improve on my singing, but at this point I sound the way I sound. I’ve always been heavily lyric focused, so I’m just gonna keep focusing on writing the best songs that I can, and hopefully people will like my voice as well.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
There is just so much sadness, depression, and anxiety in the world today. The common denominator amongst those three things, is just feeling so alone in that feeling. So I want to make music that does it’s best to counteract that. Whether is creating a super sad song that other people can listen to and feel a sense of community, and know that they’re not alone in their sadness, or just creating a vibey feel-good song that you can escape into, and use it to forget whatever shitty situation you’re in right now. Just building that sense of community within your feelings is so important.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
How exhausting it is to create. There’s actually a lot of studies out there, that say the brain can only make so many decisions per day. As you approach your limit, your decisions will become worse and worse, and harder and harder to make. When you’re doing something like creating a song from scratch, you’re making a tremendous amount of decisions in just a relatively short time span. This is often so mentally exhausting. I don’t do this super often, but if I write more than 1 song in a day, my brain is done for! It really takes it out of you!
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