We recently connected with Julia Larkin and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Julia, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I’ve always known my purpose was to entertain and share my music with the world, but it took me a while to pursue my dream professionally. I had to overcome a lot of self doubt and fear of failure. It wasn’t until I had settled 2 years into my “real job” of Dental Hygiene back when I was living in Virginia Beach in 2020. I remember feeling like my life was over when it should have been just beginning. I thought “is this really it? is this all there is?”. That’s when it clicked for me – life is too short not to pursue your dreams. I couldn’t imagine living another day not doing what I know I was meant to do. It couldn’t hurt to at least try. That’s when I also realized that success may not always look the way you picture it. Success comes in many shapes and forms.
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?
I grew up in the suburbs of New York. My father got me into music by gifting me my first guitar around the age of 8 and promptly put me into guitar lessons. I started songwriting and music quickly became an instinctual form of therapy. I was raised on classic/alt rock and credit my vast musical palette for my unique take on country pop. I take inspiration from the likes of Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, Alanis Morissette, Paramore, and Avril Lavigne. I’m now an independent artist based out of Nashville. After moving here in 2021, I’ve taken every opportunity to perform and hone in on my craft. I was able to release my first 3 songs last year in the pop country genre. I’ll be releasing a new single “Green” on Friday, March 29th that I’m really looking forward to. Come the rest of the year, I actually plan on switching genres to alt/pop which feels more authentic to me. I’m super excited to step into a whole new world of music and really fall into my sound.
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?
Three qualities or skills that have most impacted my journey have been confidence, resilience, and a positive mindset. The ability to build your confidence can have such a huge affect on performance. I’m a strong believer in “fake it until you make it”. If you come off confident, you not only make other people believe it, but you believe it yourself. I also think that if you don’t believe in yourself, then who else will? Resilience has been important because there will be many times where you fail or don’t feel like you did your best. Being able to continue and learn from these experiences will only make you better in the field you’re in. You just have to keep going, learning, and trying. Trying to keep a positive mind set has also had a huge impact on me. I think it’s so important to be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. We are our harshest critics, and if you’re anything like me, I’m extremely hard on myself. Being able to change my mindset from negative to positive helped me to build more confidence, stop overthinking as much, and to not care what other people think.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The number one obstacle I’m currently facing in music (and what many independent artists are facing as well) is financing our music careers. It is so expensive to put a single song out. Your everyday person doesn’t know or take into consideration all the costs that go into it i.e paying the producer, session players, mixing, mastering, marketing, photoshoots, cover art, etc. The list goes on and on. In an oversaturated market, it’s also extremely difficult to get your music heard. That’s why supporting live music and independent artists is so important. I rely heavily on my day job to cover my living expenses and to afford to put my art out into the world. I also supplement my income by playing as many gigs as I can in my free time. It is definitely a grind.
Contact Info:
- Website: julialarkinmusic.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/julialarkinmusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@julialarkinmusic?si=VTMVBllW4Z8QAZMv
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4jAZmNuOdl0d8MsPJ1s2Vk?si=SPQq0TkhSgylNyIlmzcXgw
Image Credits
Hannah Laney
