Show Up As You!

Managers tell me all the time that artists don’t know fully who they are, and knowing who you are is the key to a successful career. A career that resonates with fans because it rings true.

So, what happens to artists if they don’t really know who they are? SOMEBODY ELSE starts to tell them who they are, with good intention - to help them move forward, in a direction, make choices… and soon the artist is making music and putting out creative material that doesn’t quite feel right, which leads to feeling like an imposter. It’s a misrepresentation. A feeling of - it’s not really me and that is PAINFUL.

If you want a new haircut — take PHOTOS of the haircut you want! You have to show it to the hairdresser. They need to see it. This applies to everything you do as an artist. You need to speak the language of each element in order to communicate with your team. Use AUDIO to point to the sound you want, IMAGES for the look.

And you need to get specific and clear to direct yourself and the people you work with so every choice is a match to you, it resonates TRUE to who you are and how you want to show up and communicate with the world.

I remember working with a major artist in Electric Lady Studios, and they had 3 huge storyboards in the green room. A collage of images, sentences — it looked like an illustrated book and it immediately gave me an emotional feeling, put me in a decade, an artistic genre, colors that told me it was dark, Victorian, otherworldly, giving a tone to the album. It was amazing! And so so effective.

You need the language to communicate who you are and what your vision is - from your sound, your look, image, and your art direction.

SHOW UP BEING YOU!

You can rock a lot of different hair styles cuz your expression is going to change throughout your life and career. So your art will express every version of you. You just need to be able to communicate the changes as you go!