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

Zander, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have been singing and playing the piano my whole life, but at a certain point I wanted to get out and perform. As a young teenager, I walked into a senior home and I asked if I could play for the residents. Right on the spot, they sat me down at the piano and asked me to show them what I could do. I remember being nervous, but soon I fell right into my element and delivered a great audition. I was invited back, and soon I was playing twice a week for the residents. This is when I fell in love with live performance. It seemed like magic when I could walk in there and change the mood of the whole room. I knew the audience would feel whatever I wanted them to feel, and that is my favorite part about live performance.

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 Zander Jett. I am a 19 year old songwriter and artist from Ocean City, Maryland. I currently study Songwriting at Belmont University in Nashville. I started to release music when I was 13 and I have been writing, recording, and releasing songs since then. (Some of my earlier stuff is taken down because I feel that it does not accurately represent me anymore). I love music with all of my heart and truly can’t imagine doing anything else for work. My goal is to become a songwriter and an artist, and to write the next hit song. I grew up listening to a lot of Ed Sheeran, and I would say that he is my biggest inspiration. I think that he is the most incredible songwriter and he pushes me to write songs every day.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is seeing your work come to life. One day I will be walking to class and I will hum a melody in my head. I put it right into my voice memos, and attend the class. However, I am distracted by the melody fragment in my head and I start to put lyrics to it. I scour through my notes and look for lines that lend themselves to the melody. Soon enough, I head back to my room and start writing the song. I try to sit back and let the song write itself, not rushing anything or overthinking. Finally, I have a written product… but that is just the start. Now comes the recording process. I lean on some of my musical friends to play different instruments on the track. I sit with the track for quite some time, editing and re-recording until it is perfect. Once the recording is finished, I send it off to be mixed and mastered. When I get the song back, I am excited to released it! However, I must wait about 2 months to run a promotional campaign and pitch the song to different playlist curators, music industry folks, bloggers, etc. By the time the song comes out, it has been half a year, if not longer. BUT, the most rewarding part of being a creative (more specifically a musical artist) is staying up until midnight on your release date and taking the first listen to your masterpiece. You know that it is out in the world for anybody to listen to. While that can be scary sometimes, it is just so rewarding to see the final product on a public platform.

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?

I think as a creative, your career begins from the moment you start engaging with your craft. I feel as though I have already been working in my career field for 5 years now! It is interesting being in college and working in the Music Industry at the same time. For the most part, I think non-creatives don’t have to focus on their career until they are done with school/training/whatnot. (This is not absolute) It is an interesting difference, but there is definitely a different drive/motivation found in creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zanderjett.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/zanderjettmusic
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zander_jett?lang=en