-Article and interview by Libby Chidlow
A young artist that goes by the name Stephthelyricist has begun to make her way up in the music world. This self-motivated instruction and determination to become an artist began when she was only 14 years old. She taught herself the guitar and a myriad of other instruments. As a child, she lacked the support of her parents, due to their dedication to work she was short of their support and focus. She grew up independently. So far, Stephthelyricist has performed at festivals, on the streets, subways, and wherever she can be noticed. Her writing focuses primarily on issues and real life stories instead of the typical songs about sex and partying. I am proud to say that I had the honor of interviewing this sincere and lively young writer. Her music style is all her own and deserves to be recognized. This girl deserves to have her story told and her music spread universally. Below is a genuine interview between Steph and myself this past week. After the interview, the artist was so kind as to offer a CD to me. Honestly it is such a great relief to hear and learn about artists like her. Instead of sickening autotune, Steph uses her true voice to captivate the listener. I am awaiting her CD with eagerness and you, as my reader, should look into this music also!
Now read and understand the exquisite Stephthelyricist…
How did you get into the business?
I didn’t really plan on music as a business…It was more of a hobby. I started singing when I was like 8 or 9 and posted videos online and got critique from others. A lot of people told me I sucked…I was off-pitch and that I should just go back to drawing or doing math and science. I just sang around the house a lot and took the criticism that was honest and tried to improve my singing…So from then till the beginning of high school, the summer of my ninth grade year. I ended up buying my first guitar at a flea market and I basically devoted that time to practicing and teaching myself…I ran cross country too so I would sometimes have my guitar with me at practice because my English teacher would help me tune it after school. So I ended up playing in front of others and a girl named Claire really encouraged me to keep pursuing music…My family wasn’t supportive (they discouraged it) so that kept me going and just my English teachers as well. Following after that, I started doing open mics, festivals, and gigging around the Pittsburgh area and teaching myself other instruments at the age of 15. I’ve played on subways and street performed too…I sort of hoped that having these experiences would help build my character and improve my singing. And I guess that sort of paid off. 🙂
What image do you think your music conveys?
I think my music is something that a lot of people out there could relate to that not many artists talk about considering how the music business is working right now and markets pretty much mainstream music only (sex, drugs, and partying). With poverty, loneliness, and those issues, I think my music touches on risky topics that labels and other big industries are afraid to put out there because they are afraid that it won’t sell. So I think my music gives off an honest persona as well because most of the music I’ve written comes from personal experiences. A lot of artists have songs that deal with bullying and those issues to encourage others or uplift them…However, most artists I’ve read about haven’t actually gone through these experiences. So by me having gone through these experiences, I feel like the listener would be able to relate more…I relate more to the listener as well so that’s how I’m able to pen these songs because I understand their perspective too. Therefore, I think that my songs are honest, soulful, and catchy enough tunes that have meaningful messages that could work its way into mainstream music. I see my music as a mask. Some of the songs its catchy and can blend into what everyone likes to hear, but the lyrics sorta stays with you.
Was this always your goal or did you have another dream?
Writing songs that could potentially help others is a dream of mine to live. I still don’t know if following this path will work out. It’s very unpredictable and very tough getting signed to a label that will support meaningful songs nowadays. In fact, I’ve turned some agencies down because they wanted to make me a Billboard top 15 dance singer. But I want to stay true to myself and hopefully show the world that you could come from a broken, dysfunctional home (with abuse, seeing some of my family members fall into drugs/other problems, and alcoholic/gambling addiction dad)…and get booed to get good at something you’re passionate about and still end up being great if you remain positive and have self-belief/passion. You don’t have to have taken the easy way out to ease the pain with drugs and alcohol. Instead, you take that frustration and become more passionate with your hobby or what you like to do and you can end up being successful/proving others wrong. That’s my story so far and hopefully getting to where I’m currently at now with these two articles and having others support me proves that. May be that message right there will help convey to others that…And inspire them to do what I’m trying to do now. I consider myself even lucky to have made it this far so I’m very grateful. But if things don’t work out, I’d still like to pursue psychology or a degree that would help others.
What or who are your inspirations?
My life experiences are my inspirations. Learning from others from various age ranges have inspired me…A lot of teenagers nowadays miss those moments and I think that if they took the time to talk to someone like who is homeless or an elderly ninety year old, it could change their perspective on life. One of my songs, called Her is about a life experience I’ve been through. I was suicidal my junior year of high school going through the above family conflict issues at home; I was made fun of a lot at school, and had no friends. But one of my classmates in one of my classes talked me out of it on Facebook. I wanted to be her friend and did whatever I could to support her by attending her sporting and other events…However, she did not feel the same and I became a bit depressed afterwards. But that song was about remaining hopeful and still believing in her and thanking her despite that happening. I’ve also talked to a ninety year old this past summer and helped carry her grocery bags to donate at a local Presbyterian church. I met her when a friend of mine and I were watching a couple bands perform and my ears suddenly started ringing…So I went outside and thought to myself how cool it would be to help an elderly lady…So suddenly that event happened and she talked about how much she enjoyed reading and her life experiences traveling the world and dancing along the way. She told me to give everyone one a chance and to not base ideas/beliefs off books because there are so many interpretations. Then at the end of the night, she told me we met tonight for a reason. She also told me it was her birthday on Labor Day…so I surprised her by mailing her a gift card. What was very shocking, was that she lived in a tiny apartment, had arthritis, and was poor…She was so strong and doing all of this to help others….So life experiences like the two I mentioned have really helped shape me…
Who do you aspire to be like or become as successful as?
I want to be myself. I feel like a lot of people aspire to be like the musician, models, and others they look up to. I think that people should be satisfied with who they are and content with that. I think if people do that a lot and aspire too much they become insincere with themselves which leads to all these problems like with how society embeds this idea that beautiful is thin and what’s good is upbeat top-20 hits. That’s what leads to the many issues I’ve mentioned like with insecurity. But I hope that in 5 years may be, that a record label will like my music enough that I can be signed and be able to tour and continue to help others…I look up to Ed Sheeran a lot…and hopefully I’ll get somewhere where I have enough people that will be able to pass my messages on. So if that happens, I’ll be very thankful and blessed.
What made you want to do this?
Growing up, I’ve been through a lot of these experiences and been blessed to experience these things…So I figured that since our generation and how today’s music doesn’t sing or mention anything with these issues in wake of all these cases like the Rebecca Sedwick one most recently, I wanted to do it. And considering that I can understand all these different perspectives with bullying and everything, I thought why not? It would help others and I’m young enough to possibly get away with it. And no one else is doing it, so maybe this will make me stand out a bit with writing about girls instead of love songs with insecurity and those things.
Do you have a personal favorite song from your recordings? If so, what makes it so special to you.
I think Her is actually one of my favorites. Its special because it was real and that experience I mentioned with suicide and everything happened to me…I tried pursuing a friendship with this person for almost 3 years (sounds insane right?) cause she gave me hope. And I never let go of that…I think now she’s more open to a friendship with me and I’m still holding onto that but she’s been busy with her schedule. So I haven’t talked to her lately…But I remain hopeful and am still very thankful. And it sort of teaches forgiveness in a way to others. Usually if things don’t go a certain way, some people would usually get frustrated and be sort of angry and hateful…But I want to teach that to not be like that and still remain grateful. I don’t think I would be where I am today without this person I wrote about in the song. And I think that doing that and being the opposite of how mainstream media talks about guy-girl relationships, it makes the song special…And it’s just shocking when people go on the radio stations this song has been accepted on which includes various Iheartradio stations, that this song is about me (a girl who was suicidal) admiring and thanking another girl? It’s just not the typical daily Joe that people are used to hearing and that’s why it’s so unique and special.
Music from Stephthelyricist:
http://stephthelyricist.bandcamp.com/track/her-mastered-piano-edit
http://stephthelyricist.bandcamp.com/track/katie
http://stephthelyricist.bandcamp.com/track/it-dont-matter-mastered
Links to blogs/features:
http://hughshowsredux.blogspot.com/search/label/Stephthelyricist
http://monvalleybands.com/2013/02/21/young-artist-spotlight-stephthelyricist/
http://homoground.com/2013/09/114-eli-conley-amy-bronson-stephthelyricist-countless-others/
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