Denae
Scott: How long have you been a musician?
Denae: I would like to say I have been a musician my entire life. Some of my earliest memories are of singing and I have journals from elementary school filled with songs I would write. A couple of girls from my class and I would perform them for teachers at recess with choreography we created. It’s always been in me, however, I didn’t publicly become a working musician until 2019.
Scott: Why did you start playing music?
Denae: It is something that started naturally from a very young age. I felt different when I would sing, dance, and write songs. It brought peace and created a sense of self. I would sing to cope with my emotions and there was something so special about how it would sound like the emotion I was feeling. The fact that I could make other people feel things with my voice was so fascinating and fulfilling. I don’t ever remember a time when singing wasn’t my favorite thing to do.
Scott: What instruments do you play?
Denae: I sing, play guitar, and am beginning to mess around with my keyboard and ukulele.
Scott: What do you enjoy about music?
Denae: Music checks so many boxes for me. While listening to music, there is a song and a vibe that fits every occasion, mood, activity, etc. I can listen to music while doing almost anything and it will enhance the experience or provide comfort. Making music, I find it healing. Singing and writing are a release, a coping mechanism. It’s very vulnerable. I love the way music makes me feel and what it continues to teach me about myself.
Scott: What are your goals for the next year?
Denae: I have taken this past year to slow down, step back, reflect, and build a better foundation to grow from. So this next year, my goals are to feel confident in that foundation and continue to build off of it. Continue to figure out who I am as a musician, find good matches of people to create with, record and release the music I have been working on, and start playing for an audience again.
Scott: What was a roadblock in your music journey?
Denae: My biggest roadblock, one I am still working through, is that I was consistently being taught not to explore or listen to this side of myself. Which was coincidently the only part of my life that felt like me. I kept being told music was an impractical profession, it wasn’t something to invest money or time into, and to dream smaller because reach my big goals. Growing up with a “unique” voice and no vocal training, you get a lot of people who have opinions they feel the need to share. I lacked a support system and was bullied, so I shrunk. In my mid-twenties, after pretty much being a closeted musician the entire time, I realized that the first thing I had ever wanted to “be” was a singer/songwriter and that was one of the only things about me that had never changed. I had tried to let go of my dreams many times and I just couldn’t. So I started taking action and continue to work through those seeds of doubt daily.
Scott: One positive thing about yourself?
Denae: One positive thing about me is that I always see a silver lining. I am a very sensitive person and I feel a lot of things but no matter what, I can always find positives mixed in with the negatives.
