Riveting or Frightening? There are a lot of unspoken feelings that a solo musician experiences with their first creation. Here are some that I noticed.
You might be wondering what will happen when you finally push that golden upload button of your first song. If you are anything like me, you may be scared about friends and family hearing you, worried about the social response, and yet also excited for such a new chapter in your life.
The emotions and outcomes are different for everyone, but I’d like to share with you some of the things that I experienced.
As a 17-year-old high school student, creating music is my main outlet. Writing lyrics and playing instruments help me deal with hard emotions and difficult situations.
At the time, personal issues regarding my ex arose and thus began the start of my first song–Why Can’t I.
Friends and Family
The hardest part of it all was the thought of people changing their views about me.
I posted a teaser of ‘Why Can’t I’ on my personal Instagram account. This led to a lot of friends and family seeing it. There was a point in time where I considered deleting it, because I thought people’s view of me had changed. I thought they would actually cringe hearing the song.
What I was worrying about was my entire school and my whole sport’s team reacting to it, when in reality I got less attention than I anticipated.
I received kind compliments from friends and comforting support from my little community, but it wasn’t the judgy crowd that I had feared would tramp on it.
In the first month, I only got around 40 plays of my song on Soundcloud and after the excitement of the release dimmed down, my plays got lower and lower each day.
This, of course, is normal for beginner music producers, so don’t beat yourself up too much if you don’t get a ton of traffic.
Confidence
Another barrier I had to pass was feeling insecure about my music.
Sharing a song to the entire public was a huge step and I felt like I didn’t compare to any of the famous singers you hear on the radio. I had just recently gotten comfortable enough to sing in the car with friends, but it was a whole other thing to purposefully create something using vocals and lyrics that had meaning special to me.
As I slowly started to show my parents my work, I got more comfortable. Confidence comes with time and in time comes greatness.
I also realized I was comparing myself too much to popular stars such as Charlie Puth and JVKE.
One thing I learned from my journey, though, is that everyone comes from different backgrounds and has different opportunities. I didn’t start playing the piano at age 4 like Charlie Puth nor did I go viral on TikTok like JVKE, so it’s not really fair for me to measure my talent based off of people who had different upbringings.
Basing your music off of others may make you struggle more. This is your journey, not a replica of someone else’s. Besides, you have your own unique sound and personality that makes you different from the regular pop stars.
Too Personal?
Some of my hesitation when posting my first song also came from doubting what my lyrics were about.
I remember second guessing the lyrics simply because they were about my ex. I often contemplated writing about something completely different, because I thought my ex would get hurt feelings.
However, my dad came to me and told me about an interview he saw with Taylor Swift. He said that a lot of people were questioning why most of her songs were about her exes. She responded with:
“Well, if guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn’t do bad things.”
– Taylor Swift
I came to realize that I had every reason to express my perspective on the situation between my ex and I. My song was how I processed what happened.
You too have that same right.
Music is a way to heal and transform. It can help you process difficult times in your life. So, use it to your advantage and make something beautiful blossom out of the ugly.
Final Thoughts
Posting your first song is one of the most terrifying but terrific things to do. No matter where you are in experience level and no matter what you decide to write about, you have a voice that should be heard.
This is a new chapter in your life and you deserve to write it any way you want. Even if you’re scared or hesitant, uploading that first song is an exciting accomplishment and will get you that much closer to your dreams.