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

Hi YOU’RE, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think somewhere inside of me, I had always known. Even when I wouldn’t admit it to myself. I grew up singing at church and at home with my family. I remember creating my first simple melody around four or five years old, and my family joined in and repeated the phrase, adding harmonies and other embellishments along the way. But as I got older, even though I was doing choir at school and singing at church, I started to doubt that I could actually do it. So when I started my freshman year at NYU, I studied general music and sang in random places like open mics and university events but still didn’t have full confidence in myself. The moment I believed I could really do it professionally was when I actually started doing it professionally. I started singing backing vocals for a band called Light Warriors and started getting paid gigs. And I figured, if I can be a part time musician, who’s to stop me from pursuing this full time as my career?

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

YOU’RE is a reference to a Bible verse in Exodus 3:14, where God tells Moses “I Am That I Am.” I believe that we are all fragments of that one “I Am;” that we are all connected. What I love about the English language is that when I say “YOU ARE,” I can refer to both the singular and plural simultaneously. So it’s just a reinforcement of saying that we are individuals but at the same time, we are all part of each other. I’ve listened to a lot of different types of music and it all inspires me, from Sarah Vaughn to Charlie Parr to Neu! to Aaron May, so my music is also a reflection of all the different walks of life and musical journeys of others I’ve been able to connect to while still reflecting who I am as a unique individual.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In all honesty, there is one thing that immediately came to mind. One, which is something I’ve started to see more of within the last 5-10 years, is to not let large companies dictate what you listen to. For the most part, the music industry is about profit, which is why it’s called “industry.” So it strips away personal creativity from many artists, but it also creates a huge imbalance in which artists are heard, not necessarily because of talent, but because of convenience. So I’m always a huge fan of doing your own exploration, digging a little deeper to find artists that make music that you truly resonate with. Look for local bands or smaller shows. Pick an artist you admire and see if they ever mention artists that have inspired them and go listen to those albums. If there’s a featured artist that you don’t know on a well-known song, go listen to something in that artist’s catalog. Look at songwriter credits and see what else they’ve written or if they have their own music. And don’t be afraid to like what you like, even if no one else does.

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

Being able to be me. I think a lot of creatives have a similar sentiment. Sure, I could have gone to school to study finance and gotten a well-paying…and steady paying…job, but I know I wouldn’t have been happy doing that. That routine doesn’t work for me, as I’m sure it doesn’t work for most people. But I sacrificed a level of financial comfortability for a more precious way to be comfortable. To know that I can freely express myself doing the thing I love to do is something that can’t be bought. I got to take part in an experimental jazz art film by the fantastic Shawanda Corbett, where we recorded the music at Abbey Road Studios. And I was very excited to record in such a legendary and almost sacred place, of course. But I was most excited about the music we had created and how amazing it was to be part of such a moving and beautifully crafted piece of art. It’s not about the potential of fame or millions of dollars as a musician down the line. It’s about where I already am. Even if fame and fortune weren’t part of the “payoff of the risk” of being a professional musician, I would still choose to be a musician because I’m just choosing to be me. It’s not what I do; it’s who I am.

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