It’s all about emotion. I noticed in pretty much everything from singing, acting, to dance, there is an emotion and a story that is being portrayed. As the artist it’s your job to tell that story and feel those emotions. The coolest part I think about that is that you are in control over how you do that. Just as if someone was painting, you get to decide where you want to place thing, what shades of color you want, and how you make that shade. There’s just so many options when it comes to making art. Same thing in singing, acting, and dance! I think that’s part of what is addicting about being an artist, once you get that down, you honestly don’t want to stop.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Tyler Gomez. Tyler Gomez is an 18 year old Pop Recording Artist & Social Media Influencer from Central California. He has built his following through social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, And YouTube by posting Videos of himself singing and playing guitar, as well as photo and video content. Tyler currently has 3 singles titled Somebody, Without You, and Nervous that have been released with streaming companies such as iTunes and Spotify as well as on YouTube.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have always loved music since I was younger. I started by learning how to play guitar in second grade and eventually started to take singing lessons when I was a freshmen in high school. I got introduced into the world or recording after about a year of starting vocal lessons. I worked alongside with different songwriters and producers and had the opportunity to record my first two songs, Somebody and Without You. Since then, I have just been in love with the whole process of making music. I wanted to start developing as an artist to make my own music. So, I started learning more about recording, songwriting, music production, and performing by working one on one with amazing songwriters, producers, vocal coaches, and choreographers who work with some of the most inspirational artist in the world such as Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Tori Kelly, and even Britney Spears. It has been such an amazing opportunity to be able to learn from them and grow myself as an artist. Working with them and just being around a lot of the entertainment industry kind of led me into social media, which is something I also really love and enjoy.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Nothing really interesting has happened besides being able to do what I love everyday, which is just amazing to me! But something that I thought was pretty cool since I started doing more with social media was I have gotten recognized quite a few times around town at different stores, the gym, and even the mall. I though it was awesome to meet people who follow what I’m doing online and be able to talk to them for a minute and take a photo. Usually, it’s from different girls and it’s just funny to me to see them freak out a little bit. There’s that and seeing fan accounts of myself on Instagram was pretty interesting because I never thought that people would feel so inspired by what I’m doing or supportive of me to actually make a whole Instagram account with photos and edits of me. I’m so grateful for them and love each an every one of them. But, I mean it’s interesting to me because they post things that make me laugh like pictures that they photoshopped of me onto things like movie posters.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I honestly cant think of any funny mistakes from when I was getting started about what I’m doing now. But one funny mistake I’ve made that is music related is coming to mind. So when I was in 7th grade I was going to a Catholic private school, we would have to go to mass every Friday and I would play guitar in the church choir. There’s a part during the mass where whoever is doing the solo for the meditation they are suppose to go up and receive communion. It was my turn to do the meditation so I went up during my time and in order to get to the front of the church where I needed to go you have to go past the piano. During this time it was just the choir singing and the pianist playing. But on the floor next to the piano were a bunch of cords laying on the floor, and one of the chords was the power for the piano. I got up from my chair and started making my way to the front when I was suppose to but on my way past the piano I accidentally tripped over the piano’s power cord and unplugged it! the entire church went quiet and everyone just looked over at the piano to see what happened. I felt so bad, but it’s okay it was an accident and the music instructor just had the choir Continue singing while I plugged the piano back in and the pianist turned it back on. But I felt so bad. At the end of the day though we all just laughed about it. Now, whenever I go into that church and I see that they have the wires taped down to the floor so no one trips over it I just kind of laugh to myself. But the lesson I learned there is that mistakes happen and you just have to move forward from them and fix what you can.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

The most exciting project that I’m working on right now is a new song. I already laid down all of my vocals in the studio and we have the track itself done, but right now we’re just adjusting some of the levels in the production. I’m super excited because out of all of the songs I have recorded this one is my favorite. So far everyone I have shown it to has loved it and said that it’s their favorite song that I’ve done. I’m really excited too because we’re planing on doing a music video for the song and maybe even throwing a release party. So I’m really excited for this project and can’t wait to release it.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

That’s a hard one, there are so many people that you get to meet and everyone has a different personality. But I think the most interesting people I work with are other songwriters and producers. It’s always interesting bringing multiple people together to make music because there’s always a dynamic energy in the room we all kind of just bounce off of. A lot of times someone will start humming a melody and that triggers an idea for a drum pattern, and that drum pattern triggers the idea for how guitar should sound. And it just builds and builds until before you know it not even an hour passes by and you have a whole song recorded. It’s just such a creative environment and it’s awesome because even if some people might have different personalities we can all relate on the music and come together and bond over that.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

The biggest tip I would say would be to continue doing what you love, and not worry about what anybody else thinks of it. It feels so much more satisfying and rewarding to be working on something that you feel passionate about and not worry about whether or not you think other people will like it or not. If it’s something you want to make or do, go for it and just put it out there. Who knows they might be really down with it.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I am a really big believer in equality. I believe that we are all equal no matter what race, gender, sexuality, height, weight etc. I think that we are all human no matter what we look like and should work together to help one another, not divide and tear each other down. I just feel that the world would be a lot better with more love, kindness , and compassion. When it comes down to it we all are the same, we all have hearts to love each other, hands to help one another, and feet that are taking us all on a journey through life.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. That it’s not going to be easy and it is going to take a lot of time and work that you have to be willing to put in. — for a while I would always think that you just kind of sing and that one day a manager, label, or a company will just fall from the sky and everything will line up. I think that can be true for some people that things just happen for them, but a lot of people you see online and in the industry have worked so hard and spent so much time with trial and error until they found what works for them.

2. You have to just do it. You really can’t be shy, you have to just be yourself and not care about how others are going to look at you. If you’re a performer scared about going on stage just ask yourself what the worst that’s going to happen? You mess up? You trip on stage? So what you just continue on with the song and get back up. It’s not the end of the world. The best thing you can do from it is learn from it. All those little mistakes you make at the beginning make you even better at what you are doing later on.

3. Not everyone is going to like you and that’s okay, for every person who doesn’t like you there’s someone else who does, those are the people who really matter because they care about you because you are you, not because you are this concept or idea that someone else wants or thinks you should be.

4. It’s all about emotion. I noticed in pretty much everything from singing, acting, to dance, there is an emotion and a story that is being portrayed. As the artist it’s your job to tell that story and feel those emotions. The coolest part I think about that is that you are in control over how you do that. Just as if someone was painting, you get to decide where you want to place thing, what shades of color you want, and how you make that shade. There’s just so many options when it comes to making art. Same thing in singing, acting, and dance! I think that’s part of what is addicting about being an artist, once you get that down, you honestly don’t want to stop.

5. Try not to be so hard on yourself. A lot of times as artist we want to make everything perfect, so much to the point where we beat ourselves up for it if it’s anything less. You really do have to keep things balanced with that because it really can get to you. It’s okay to take a break every now and then you can’t expect yourself to work on something for every second of the day, obsessing over al the little things isn’t healthy and can even ruin the art. There’s a quote that I like and that is that “there is beauty in imperfection.”

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lesson quote is that happiness is the most important. Anytime I think this I always think of a specific scene in Beyoncé’s music video for Pretty Hurts. The scenario is that Beyoncé is in a beauty pageant and the host of the show ask her “what is you biggest aspiration in life?” Her response to that was “to be happy.” I think that is just so perfectly worded and portrayed. Especially, when it comes to our society’s standard of beauty. So many times we see a model online or someone who is successful in something that we want to accomplish. But we don’t know what they have gone through to get there.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Yes! There are two actually. My mom and dad. They have supported me so much with everything that I am doing. I wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for all their love and support. They have helped me through so much and I just feel so lucky and blessed that they are in my life.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂

I would love to get some fro-yo with Beyoncé! And yeah I know she’s vegan but they make vegan friendly fro-yo too, so it will be all good. But she just inspires me so much to work hard every day to accomplish my dreams and to become the best version of myself and to just give everything my 200%.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

I post everyday on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. You can follow me there @TylerGomezMusic

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!

Recording Artist Tyler Gomez on why music is all about portraying emotion was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.