We were lucky to catch up with Tariq Lewis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tariq, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

I’ve started out dancing– around the age of three– and I fell in love with love with it; I would try to replicate choreography from movies and music videos and I was kind of good at it. By the age of five, I started playing my first instrument; acoustic guitar. Shortly after, I found myself more enamored with the keyboard, so I stuck with piano as well. I started singing seven years old, and I instantly fell in love with in love with it. Growing up, I watched artist like Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Usher, and Prince, and they all culminated these artistic passions that I had in some shape or form, and that’s when I knew that I wanted to be a music artist. Since elementary school, I spent time honing my craft and finding ways to express myself through the musical arts. I took up school choir, church choir, dance clubs, instrument lessons; you name it, I did it. I even took on music theatre for a while. All together, I was enrolled in nine performing art programs from grades K-12. Once I graduated high school, I went to Delaware State University and majored in Music Industry, with a focus in vocal performance. I was in the University Choir and Hidden Vanity Dance Team full time (for a majority of my college career). Around my junior year, I decided to focus solely on my solo career as an artist, so I started to write, produce, and record my first mixtape– it was called ‘Eclipse’. I headlined a few shows before finishing my undergrad degree, and now, we’re here. I currently have four singles out and I’m actively working on an EP.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Tariq. I am a singer-songwriter, dancer, and producer. I’m from Southeast Washington, D.C. and I’ve been an avid student of the performing arts for a majority of my life. If I had to label myself as an artist, I would say that I’m somewhere between being an Urban Pop and Urban Contemporary artist. R&B is always the foundation of my music, but I am also a student of Hip-Hop. I’m a classically trained vocalist, so I try to showcase that facet of me when possible, too. My favorite part about being an artist is performing live. I just light up whenever I’m tasked with singing, dancing, or both on stage; it always feels like I’ve been waiting and preparing my entire life for those moments. I always strive to improve upon my talents– as a vocalist, as a writer, as an instrumentalist and as a producer. I’m inspired by the likes of Beyoncé, Brandy, Janet Jackson, Usher, and Aaliyah.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

If I could go back to 2021– around the age of 18 y.o., before moving to college– I would tell myself “That inherent need to do everything yourself is going to hold you back and stress you out. It is okay to delegate to people that your trust, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and heartache if you’d admit that you can’t be every man at once; that you need other people. If they’re the wrong people, chop it. But if they’re the right people, they will pour into you and make your art as big of a deal– as big of a priority– as it deserves to be.”

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

While I’ve officially been active in the music industry for the better part of five years, I’ve had to pivot a lot! Sometimes on my own accord, on account of me being a bit indecisive with my vision for how I want to direct my career, but mainly because I’ve come across so many irresponsible producers, writers, artists, etc. I’ve had to swap out key players in my impromptu team more often than not. This has led to me pushing back release dates, scrapping ideas, changing the order of shows and more; it’s really unfortunate when you find yourself surrounded by people who don’t want ‘it’ as much as you do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/itsxtariq
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsxtariq
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tariq-lewis-19ba9b239/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@itsxtariq
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@itsxtariqq

Image Credits

Elijah Taylor