We were lucky to catch up with Trinity Alaina recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Trinity, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I feel like pursuing a creative career takes such a toll on so many mentally. While there is no ‘right’ way to go about pursuing your dreams, it can feel like a setback when everyone around you has been writing songs, performing, and auditioning since they were children. I have always been lucky in the sense that my parents have supported me through every pathway I have chosen, but I had never really taken any lessons or been taken to auditions from a young age. It’s hard not to compare yourself to those around you who have gained much more experience in the field you want to work in. Since I was 15 years old, I have felt like I’m running out of time to be successful as a musician. It feels like everyone your age is already succeeding. Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish were both able to break through at such a young age. It’s always been hard for me not to compare myself to stars like that.

Moving to LA, I started school as a songwriting major having only written about 4 songs in my life. I was surrounded by people who have been writing songs since they could speak and had hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify. I definitely felt like I was already behind when we hadn’t even started. I have never been the best with words, so I had to learn to push myself to get creative. I began to learn from everyone around me and figured out that even though others may have been writing and performing for longer, we were all in the same place to learn from each other. I learned that co-writing is an amazing skill and one that is necessary to succeed as a songwriter.

If I could go back in time, I would push myself to start pursuing music more seriously at a younger age. I would take the initiative to ask my parents if I could get vocal lessons sooner or maybe take more time to practice writing songs. Practice playing the guitar. Practice expressing how I feel on paper. However, I do give myself grace and know that everyone has their own journey. I know everything happens for a reason and I am on the journey I am meant to be on.

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 have loved music for as long as I can remember. I just found some old videos of me performing songs from the show ‘Dora the Explorer’ for my family at only three years old. I grew up inspired by Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez, and all of the Disney Princesses and found myself loving pop music from such a young age. My parents have always been big music lovers, my dad would bring my siblings and I into his office, turn on a flashlight, and play 80s music and we would all dance for hours. I grew up hearing my mom sing her favorite songs like ‘Hey There Delilah’ and ‘American Boy’ as her iPod was plugged into a speaker every morning while performing daily tasks. I feel like my parent’s love for music also translated into my love for music.

I grew up moving between El Paso, Atlanta, Cameroon, Ukraine, and South Africa and have felt that music has been a constant in my life no matter where I’ve been. I have always felt seen through the lyrics of artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. I have always hoped to be able to impact people the way they have.

I have always loved being on stage, but started to take more initiative to perform when I got to high school. My school had an open mic almost every month in the cafeteria during lunch. I would sign up for almost every single one and I would even encourage my friends to sing with me. I became the leader of my school’s a capella group, I joined choir, and took high-level music classes to practice and build my knowledge in the field.

I wrote my first song at the end of 10th grade. It was for a school ‘camp’ where we had 2 weeks to work on an individual project and present the final product in front of the whole school. I decided to write my first song for this project. It was hard work and took a lot of re-writes, but I was proud of what the song came to be. While it’s not my favorite song now, I look back fondly and am super proud of the fact that I was able to even write a song at such a young age.

A few months after writing my first song, I began to take vocal lessons. My teacher, Marina, was incredible and she even introduced me to a producer who was a former student of hers. We connected and after meeting I wrote a song within a few days. That song became my first ever release titled, ‘Watching You Bleed’. While this song was released over 3 years ago, I am still proud of the work that was put into it and how I was able to write a song at 16 that I still sing to this day.

After high school, I decided to attend the Los Angeles College of Music to study songwriting. While I was unsure of my place here in Los Angeles at first, I feel like over time I have been able to make connections with my peers and found what works best for me to be creative. I love co-writing and have felt that it’s the best way to overcome writer’s block which I struggle with quite often. Since moving here, I have been able to write so many more songs and am currently in the process of recording three.

My dream is to be able to connect with those who hear my story and can relate in any way. Whether they hear an upbeat, dancey song or an emotional ballad, I want people to find themselves within my music or story and feel like they are seen. I know I have a long way to go still, but I choose to cherish every moment of the journey.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I recently started to work on growing my TikTok account and have found success in being consistent. I started going live on TikTok every single night and found that my account started to succeed. I would make TikToks of me singing and trying to predict songs that artists would release and found success doing so. TikTok lives are the most important part of growing a loyal following. I have loved being able to make friends and getting to know everyone that tunes in to the lives, they all mean the world to me and are one of the reasons I feel so motivated to continue working hard.

If I had to give any advice, I would say to be consistent in any way that works best for you. Whether that’s 2 times a day or once every few days. Try going live on platforms once you have the requirements. I would also say don’t be afraid of what people might say. It can be scary, especially when you have a lot of people you know following you, but be confident in yourself and your material. Most importantly, just give it time and be creative!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A month before the end of my junior year of high school, I found out I was going to have to move from Pretoria, South Africa to Atlanta, Georgia right before the start of my senior year. This change started a spiral of change that would leave the following year being the worst of my life. I found myself crying every day, not feeling motivated, not being able to sing to my previous ability, and being glued to my past. I didn’t know how to move on or how to find myself in such a drastically different place during a time that was supposed to be one of the best of high school. Looking back, I know I am stronger for this experience, but at the time I didn’t know how to move forward with pursuing my dreams.

Because of my negative mindset in Georgia, I chose to leave after graduating. While it was scary moving to a new place on my own, and I do miss my family constantly, I found that another change (of my own decision) was necessary for me to be able to let go of my past and start to figure out who I want to be as an artist and as a person.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sites.google.com/view/trinitywilson/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trinityalainaa/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trinity-alaina-wilson-3715aa243
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tawilson145
• Other: https://trinityalaina.univer.se/
  

  @trinity.alaina