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Putting Together My Own Show (A 2018 Retrospective)

December 14, 2018 by Sasha M

2018, DIY, independent, musicians, reflections, retrospective, review

As you guys know, I recently did a show at the Esplanade as part of Voices – A Festival Of Song, where I performed my own original songs, most of them for the first time. It was an incredible honour to be invited back to perform at the Esplanade, and I could not have asked for a better opportunity to debut my songs. (I sang 8 original songs in total. You can catch the show on Facebook live here and here!)

While there’s a lot that can be said about the show itself, I’d like to spend a bit of time talking about the work that went behind putting this show up. Being an independent musician means that I pretty much handle everything that needs to be done, or am responsible for finding someone to do it. And I’m looking back on the work I’ve done so far not to brag about it (not sure who really cares, lol), but more for myself to celebrate how much I’ve managed to accomplish so far. Because it’s important to celebrate the little milestones!

So, taking stock of what I’ve done this year:

1. Made a website

Alright, the first step to launching an artist identity is making a website, I suppose. This was really unplanned, I was initially looking at setting up a very different kind of website, but it somehow evolved into making my artist website (which I thought was a bit too early because my songs were still works in progress, but after a while realized it was just the right timing). I spent two solid weeks labouring away at the website, but am very satisfied with the end result, and just love how it looks now (especially the smoky effect on the main page, which moves with the mouse on desktop view, I think I’ve squealed about this before. Squeals again!). And now I have a web presence that I’m proud to show to people!

2. Planned a fundraising campaign

How did this fundraising campaign come about? Looking back now, I remember thinking I needed money for production expenses, and with my unstable freelance work I wasn’t able to raise it very quickly by myself. I needed help. That’s when I came up with the idea of selling USB drives containing the acoustic version of Loaded (which will be my very first song release under my own artist name).

It was risky, but it paid off. I actually raised my target amount after only selling half the USB drives, thanks to extremely kind and generous contributions by several strong supporters (I am so, so grateful). Another important thing this showed me was that I could conceivably sustain my artistic career. And now I have money to do other things with!

3. Expanded my merchandise

With the capital I raised from the campaign, I thought about what was best to invest in. What could give me some returns or grow my capital? My conclusion: more merchandise.

Several of my followers had told me they would buy tote bags or t-shirts, so I checked out the feasibility of getting those made. While doing so, I also considered other cheaper items that I could make, and ended up with button badges, postcards, and stickers. The button badges are actually handmade by myself and my dear friend Nik, a super talented artist (you can find her art on her Instagram)! Now I have more items to offer for sale along with the remaining USBs, to raise a bit more funds to support the production expenses I need to make (which I consider to be sunk costs).

4. Put on a show

Of course, an artist can’t get caught up in the business side of things – at the end of the day, it’s all about the performance. So I pulled out all stops to make the show as appealing and engaging as possible. From figuring out my look, to working on acoustic versions of my songs with my talented guitarist Pat, to sorting out harmonies with my guest performer and music bestie Zaleia, to incorporating audience participation wherever I could, I tried to make sure people who came for my show would enjoy it and remember it.

And of course, behind all of this…

5. I wrote a bunch of songs!!

None of this would even matter at all if not for the songs I’d written over the past year (or two). I’m really grateful to be able to have good friends to work on these songs with, who were there to give feedback or a second opinion, and be my sanity check whenever I wanted to put in something weird (not sure if one or two weird things may have slipped through though). Especially to the producers, Si Hao for being like the most talented and versatile producer ever plus a genuinely awesome person, and Riki for being so fresh and creative, and just super easy to work with. Very proud to have created music with awesome people like these guys!

For other aspiring musicians out there, starting out like me – this is by no means a “how to” of any kind. I’m also just starting out and figuring things out as I go. This is just my own story, of how I’ve gotten here, at the end of 2018. It’s also a bit of closure for me, so I can gear up for the exciting new plans ahead for 2019!

What’s next…?

I’ll be focusing on a few things for 2019:

1. Web store

This should be up soon, as soon as I can figure out how to set it up, anyway!

2. Recording music

Now that my songs are more or less written, I foresee myself spending a lot of time in the studio recording and working on finalizing the production.

3. Releasing music!!!

No explanation needed!

Look out for my music in 2019! I hope you guys are excited!

2016 In Review: Taking the leap and going solo

January 7, 2017 by Sasha M

Personal Growth

2016, artist, journey, Little Red Dots, music, production, recording, review, SASS, solo, video, videography, vocals, YouTube

It’s only been a week into 2017 so far, there’s still time to do a review of 2016! Mostly, it was about my journey to becoming a solo artist.

2016 was a lot better than 2015 for me. Musically, my 2016 has been full of adventures. It was definitely the start of new beginnings, with my vocal group SASS going on hiatus in Feb after two eventful years (on Valentine’s Day, also known as our anniversary hehe). Though we are no longer working on original songs together, we still sometimes perform together for shows. It’s always great to perform with these girls, and I really can’t get enough of our vocal harmonies!

SASS at one of our performances last year.

I also got together with another talented vocalist/producer and two extremely skilled beatboxers, and we formed a group called Little Red Dots. The awesome thing about making music with them was that firstly they were all guys and this was a new thing for me to figure out how to sing in a group where all the other vocals and parts were male (a big jump from SASS as an all-female trio). And best of all, we were going after a very urban, beats-oriented underground sound. Our first cover was a drum and bass remix of a pop song, which basically sat perfectly within my musical tastes:

Well, Little Red Dots didn’t go on hiatus, but everyone is so busy with such conflicting schedules that we may as well be! Nevertheless we did some great gigs:

LRD performing at a National Day event.

LRD performing at the Manhunt finals show – Caleb was a Manhunt winner!

Above all, 2016 was the year when I finally had to face up to the fact that I needed to become a solo artist to pursue my music as fully as I am able.

This may not seem like a big deal for some, but it was a very big deal for me. I have basically been working in groups all these years (I used to be in several a cappella groups and bands like my university band The LaundroMATs), and I’m very much a group-oriented person. So to become a solo artist was really, a pretty terrifying idea. Though I’m used to being in the spotlight as a vocalist, I’m also used to being credited in my group, because it’s always a group effort that’s needed to pull off a show. How was I going to shoulder the entire responsibility of a performance by myself?

After thinking a lot about it, I realized what was the one thing really holding me back: my insecurities. I didn’t have confidence in my own abilities. And I also realized, most importantly, that if I didn’t have confidence in my own abilities, it didn’t matter how talented or not I was, I was going to go nowhere.

So I took a leap of confidence, and started my YouTube channel (more on that in another post). And it was great, because now I’d finally started, I began to know exactly what I needed to be able to do in order to make good videos, and create quality content as a solo artist.

That’s how 2016 became the year of training and equipment acquisition. I saved some money to buy a decent recording microphone, and learnt the basics of vocal recording. I recorded my vocals to backing tracks created by other people, and made videos to post on YouTube. And at the end of the year, frustrated with my limitations in making my own videos to a decent standard, I bought myself a good camera so I could really tackle this video making issue.

This year, it seems, is looking to also be a year of training and self-improvement. I’m still just at the very beginning of a music career, and I hope to be able to take some steps forward in that this year, particularly as a songwriter. I still love to perform so I will be focusing my YouTube channel on improving my own performance, as well as technical skills (vocal and video production). And there are a couple other online courses I’m looking at taking as well.

And that’s my direction for 2017. Hoping all goes well!