“I remember receiving a ukulele as a present on my 14th birthday, and it was when I started learning to play it that I began to sing.
Two years later, I progressed to a guitar and I think that was a turning point in my affinity for music. I just went along with it. Songwriting also happened perchance – for my Grade 10 Personal Project, I wrote two songs about homophobia and police brutality. Through writing, I discovered a conduit for telling a story, personal or otherwise.
I’m now learning to play the piano, and for the last few months I’ve been taking singing lessons.
For me, music is a way to shut things out and spend time with myself. It isn’t something I feel pressured to do; it comes naturally to me. Which is why I don’t see myself pursuing music professionally as that goal often gets weighed down by expectations and obligations.
That said, I do love the aspect of performing, whether on social media or for a live audience. I’ve been performing at FIS events and outside the last years and have found it very fulfilling.
Music, I think, is one of the only places where there’s no pressure, no limits, no rules. I can do what I want. And, I have to say that’s one of my favorite things about it.”
