We were lucky to catch up with Caleb Jerome Morales recently and have shared our conversation below.
Caleb, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
While I have spent most of my life in a state of musical exploration, learning many instruments, improving as a performer, and discovering “my sound,” I have found my real purpose through the passing of my greatest musical idol, Avicii.
When he tragically took his own life on April 20, 2018, and the news reached me while I was living in a small apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York, I was devastated. Life in New York was a constant challenge, but Avicii’s music, with its themes of love, community, and living life to its fullest, was always there to lift me up. His songs like “Pure Grinding,” “Dear Boy,” and “Lay Me Down” were frequently on repeat, blasting through my Beats headphones and accompanying me on long walks, subway rides, and gym sessions.
In taking his own life, many lyrics from his songs transformed and took on new, sadder meanings. His classic “Without You” transformed from an uplifting anthem into an omen, and the lyrics “I gotta learn how to love without you. I gotta carry my cross without you… and I’m done sitting home without you… I’m going Bonnie and Clyde without you,” became an epitaph to Avicii’s mental health struggle and a call to action for me. It was as if he was preparing his audience for life without him, and I would not dare to take that lightly.
His passing forced me to address my own mental health struggle. For the next year, I receded in grief, mourning the loss of not only my musical inspiration but also the end of my post collegiate optimism. Electronic Dance Music was the sound of my early adulthood, through which I experienced and expressed the freedom of my early twenties. Avicii’s passing firmly signaled the end of an era and sounded the alarm that was my call to duty.
Avicii, as one of the world’s most beloved music makers, would leave behind a gap in the sound and culture that would remain unfilled, and in that gap, I found my purpose.
In the seven years that followed, I would dive deeply into my mental health struggle, my musical bag of skills, and my deepest desires, hoping to emerge as a competent creator of a unique brand of electronic music – one that seamlessly merges acoustic elements the way Avicii so masterfully did.
Tragic as it may be, Avicii’s passing forced me into alignment. Before April 20, 2018, I was a nomad, wandering aimlessly between far flung musical paths, never traversing long before turning back and taking a new route. Exactly one year later, on April 20, 2019, I arrived back in my home state of Florida, playing a show in Gainesville to debut my first record, “Amanda Soh.” While not a dance track, but rather, a six-minute broadway pop-rock epic, it was my fateful first step toward my true north.
I would join a dance band called Xotic Yeyo a few months later, where I learned how to entice audiences to dance with improvised music. I continued to experiment with synthesizers and production behind the scenes, feverishly honing my craft.
Then on April 18, 2025, in commemoration of seven years without Avicii, I unveiled a new project, debuting under a new name, “Good Moraale,” representing the mission of the project – to instill good morale among all who hear my music. A play on my last name, with the extra “A” of course representing Avicii’s spirit, alive and present in this project, Good Moraale is my offering back to the universe that blesses me with life.
My purpose, to revive and spread uplifting music the way Avicii did, is clear. I have heard my call to duty and respond with a fervor and dedication that cannot be broken.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As a very versatile musician, I am capable of playing many roles, but my primary focuses are as a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. My goal is to build a self-sustaining business that can one day generate a livable income while making timeless records and building a dedicated audience along the way.
My current project, Good Moraale, is my long awaited foray into creating electronic music records. While I love making music of all kinds and spent 2024 and early 2025 releasing a new song biweekly across alternative, hip-hop, latin funk, and other genres, I have always been enamored by the huge sounds heard at music festivals in my youth. House music has a special way of making people dance, feel elation, and engage in community. I have always felt that the best house music also centers around thoughtful lyrics, and while that is somewhat uncommon in the genre, my endgame was always to bring together my unique brand of storytelling lyrics with the festival house sounds of the early 2010s.
Harkening back to that optimistic epoch, Good Moraale offers both an exciting step back into a familiar and nostalgic sound while incorporating acoustic elements and current lyrics to retain a unique freshness.
My first Good Moraale release, “I Swear to You,” is my most successful song release to date, generating buzz in Latin America and Central Europe. The rapid growth and positive feedback from those regions validates my drastic pivot in sound, and I am currently working on a full EP or album to follow up on the track.
Crafting this EP has proven to be a thrilling journey, as I feel renewed in my excitement with music creation. The future is quite bright for the project, and I will continue to learn different methods to perform the music live in the months to follow.
If you are interested to follow me on my house music journey, please follow me on socials and your favorite streaming platform. With so much music lying ahead in the future, I’m exceedingly confident about what lies ahead for listeners and live music lovers alike.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Versatility – Throughout my life, I have learned to play over a dozen instruments, to produce in two different music production softwares, to sing and rap, and I have a strong business background. I am able to shapeshift into any role that a band or musical project might call for, allowing me to fill in a wide variety of gaps. This versatility and willingness to be flexible have opened countless opportunities for me in so many musical spaces.
Flexibility – while I have acquired a versatile palette of musical skills, I also am very flexible, enthusiastically morphing into various roles. I have also been flexible enough to move between cities and states throughout my life, quickly pivoting whenever the wind changes direction.
Communication – from an early age, I developed bonds with coaches, mentors, and other elders, becoming a very strong verbal communicator early on. I also developed both my poetic and prose writing skills, allowing me to seamlessly go back and forth between writing songs, business proposals, a website, and have written for so many other mediums.
For young, upstart musicians, I would strongly recommend dedicating lots of time developing a wide variety of skills in order to remain flexible and open the most possible doors. It is so easy in our Social Media age to try to race ahead and rush every step of life, but the reality is that fortune favors the versatile and flexible who can strongly communicate their visions. Take the time you need, even if it’s decades, to become the strongest version of yourself. Find ways to remain differentiated from your peers while also staying supportive of your community. You will reap the most benefits that way.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Recently, my biggest area of growth has been in my understanding of how to navigate the new music industry.
My path to success has been anything but predictable. In order to retain value for my country band, I’ve had to learn the banjo, but in doing so, I have made myself nearly irreplaceable, as there are few to no other banjo players in South Florida. In order to radically change my musical sound, I’ve had to learn to produce my own records and build a strong network of collaborators who can help me achieve my vision.
By relentlessly expanding my network across six continents through the ever powerful internet, I have developed a team of highly talented, cross-functional individuals, from music producers and engineers to marketing and advertising specialists.
As the old saying goes, your network is your net worth. Teamwork truly makes the dream work. And I can earnestly say, this dream is working more smoothly than ever before.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.calebjeromemorales.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calebjeromemorales/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CalebJeromeMorales
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/good-moraale
Image Credits
Anna Godoy
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