We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keenan Friberg. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keenan below.
Hi Keenan, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
This is a tough and interesting first question. I come from a faith-based background, so I want to say that those values shaped me at a young age to try and be generous to as many people as possible. However, I do think I want to shout out my parents, as they’ve definitely raised me right in that aspect. They taught me everything I could know about morals and what makes a good and bad person, and have helped develop me into a person who strives to be on the good side of that line.
To be fair, I also think I’m still working on being a more generous person as a whole every day. I think it’s human nature to claim everything that’s put in front of you as your own, and definitely as a musician that feeling becomes amplified. In the music world, it’s so easy to become arrogant of your work, yourself, and what you can do for the industry when you begin to starve for success. I think that’s why I try to use opportunities I’m given and try to highlight the people around me just as much. I throw a house show at the end of every semester, called the Interstellar Festival, and try to bring together as many different artists as I can. Music is community, and although I could use the festival to center my own music, I try my best not to. Also, I make sure to give everyone on my songs their splits and credits, as well as making sure band members get as much recognition as I do when performing. Music is much more than one person, so it’s always important to recognize everyone who makes the music come to life.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Hi! my name is Keenan Friberg, and I’m a student at Berklee College of Music studying for Music Production & Engineering. I also am an artist going by the stage name of “LKF,” which you can find on all platforms!
I’ve been writing for years, and am currently working on a new project that’s going to be roughly 6 albums, with each flowing into the next, and following the story of an astronaut leaving his planet to find a new home, facing different antagonists in each album. This first one coming out will be the concept of fear and doubt haunting the protagonist as he tries to escape his burning down planet. Two singles have come out for that first project already! Check out “Goodbye” and “Outer Space.” They should give you a rough idea of the world I’m beginning to build.
As for production, I’m working with many different artists from folk to soul to rnb to hip-hop, trying to bring as much of my style as I can to the table. I love the idea of working with new artists because it feels like I’m bringing a brand new story to life, and I’m able to help build and shape their world in whatever way possible. I have many projects in the works as of now, but you can find all of the tracks I’ve produced on in my Spotify artist bio!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Learning not to be afraid to mess up or look silly doing something you love. That was honestly my biggest area for personal growth. Almost all of the productions and songs I’ve made that people have collectively loved have been tracks in which I went far into left field.
People made fun of me at first. For example, one of the closest friends I’ve made at Berklee thought I was really weird at first because I sampled myself chewing on potato chips. Now we make beats and instrumentals all of the time together, and he’s the drummer in my band as well, and the best one I know. I think it’s very common for people to see something novel as weird because it’s different, but truthfully most of the time it’s just taking time for a person to process and understand something new to them. In the moment, it was totally weird that I was sampling chips for a beat, but in the context of the song, it made complete sense, and added a unique flavor, and that’s what music is about.
There have been many moments where I’ve told myself I was going to give up due to the pressure and doubt in myself being different, but I’m really glad I didn’t stop. Personally, I think being the right amount of weird within music makes an artist unique. At one point, what Prince was doing was considered to be “weird,” what Kendrick was doing was “weird,” what Tyler was doing was “weird” all to the general public. By no means am I putting myself in the same categories as these legendary artists, but I rather look at them as role models to help an artist like me to understand the concept around trends and fanbase cultures. Artists follow something unique enough to be considered a “niche,” and then will build a community within that niche, allowing worlds to be constructed around the art and the music..
With all this being said, the first lesson I think has been so important to my journey as an artist has been to not really listen to external opinions, and instead to just have fun with what I’m doing, that way I can create the best art I possibly can. That way people can come find the art themselves, and either rock with it or not. That choice isn’t up to me, but if I spend so much time trying to make music that’s acceptable to as many parties as possible, then I lose the authenticity in my own artistry.
2. Learning how to be the kindest and best communicator I can possibly be. In the music industry, everything circles around connections: who you know, who works the most efficiently, how likable you are, etc. If I could give any advice to anyone who wants to pursue a career in the music industry, it would be to try and be the most genuine person you can be, and to make as many friends as possible.
Making friends has only gotten me further within my career, and I honestly wouldn’t even be close to any sort of musical career if it weren’t for the people I’ve met and the connections I’ve made. All of the majorly successful musicians I’ve met were extremely kind, helpful, and easy to talk to, which was a bit of a learning point for me and the person I wanted to be both as an artist and a producer. When situations begin to run downhill, that is the most crucial moment for an artist or producer to step in and settle the situation. If the control board is malfunctioning, the producer should keep the artist calm. If writer’s block hits, then a writer should suggest an activity to stimulate creativity. It’s this quick-on-your-feet thinking that helps a person get invited back for more sessions. Being uptight and stressed only makes an environment worse for the artist’s team, and will likely result in the team looking for someone else the next time a creative session happens.
In building relationships, I have learned that good communication is the core of what makes a great musician/producer. Interpersonal communication is seen between all of the musical legends, and nobody is ever left out to dry in any situation when working with these greats. With this said, my honest opinion for aspiring musicians and creatives is to start by becoming a strong communicator in every area possible. Whether it be at the workplace, in classes, or in collaborative situations, use any opportunity to try and get better at pitching yourself, your act, or even to learn more about the other people and what they do. The ideal goal of any musician who wants to be successful in the industry is the concept of bringing as many people up to the top together, rather than just one person trying to make it themselves, so communicating with others to learn about their passions may lead a person to rooms they couldn’t ever imagine. This all stems from the idea that a musician has to be authentic as both a collaborator and an overall person. If they fail at this, then it genuinely leads to the creation process becoming so much harder for everyone else in the artistic space.
3. Patience is the key to success. Nothing great has come from trying to get things done immediately, but a lot of the greatest accomplishments in my career have been from waiting until the right moment comes.
The best example of patience paying off was when I applied to play at the Music Hall in my hometown at the beginning of the summer. I made a goal to keep working on my live performances until I heard a response from the Music Hall, and create the best show I could possibly present. Then, when I felt like I was capable enough to put on a well-designed show, I did a backyard gig with some of my friends from college over a weekend in summer break. The gig went extremely well, and then a few days later I actually got an email from the Music Hall giving me an opportunity to perform there. Since I was consistently working on developing my act, I was confident enough to accept the offer and perform later in the year. Thus, the show felt prepared, and turned out incredibly. I was super blessed to perform there, and now I’m lining up more shows in Boston for the next semester due to the successes of the shows in my hometown.
With regard to patience within the production and artistry field, there have been some instances in which I’ve gotten record and management deal offers from significant people in the industry; however, the deals weren’t the best option for me at the moment, so I was patient, and was met with even greater opportunities to come in the future.
As of right now, I’m being patient by doing the work off-the-record in my home studio, and having enough material to present to people. That way when I begin to roll my music out, I can have enough high-quality material for people to digest, rather than one single here or there. I’m also working on my brand, and being patient with that too. I’ve been working with strong artists to generate logo designs, as well as merch and music campaigns too. All of this takes time though, so going with the flow is such a necessity, or else impossible deadlines could derail my progress. With this said, patience has played a major factor in my career path, and a lot of where I am now is by not making impulsive choices, but rather informed decisions.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Right now my top challenge is content creation. I absolutely hate social media. It’s the bane of my existence, which is unfortunate because that’s often the thing in the music industry that sets artists apart from the crowd. Because of this, I’m meeting with peers around campus, and working with some of my close friends to develop marketing strategies not only for myself, but for one another, so we can all tackle the behemoth of an obstacle which is social media.
A related challenge is trying to think outside of the box when making content to promote a conceptual album that is trying to move in a direction that hasn’t been tapped into as much as other concepts, which is both fun and tremendously stressful at the same time. To try and help with this I’m working within the 3D animation software Blender, and I’m working on trying to manually build scenes to contribute to the worlds I’m trying to build. However, that’s still no simple task. I’m still learning how to use the software, and it is definitely not as easy as it looks online, but that’s just the process.
I’ve also set a goal to try and reach 1500 followers through content creation by the end of Winter Break, and I’ve already just hit 1k, so I do think that the goal is reachable, it’s just going to take some work. Creating a marketing strategy, branding layout, and storyboard for content is all needed for an artist to truly connect to their fans, and in a world so saturated with social media, it’s genuinely difficult to make consistently interesting content.
I generally believe content creation for any independent artist is the most daunting task for a creative, and figuring out a way to tackle it takes a lot of time, as it is for me, but that’s all part of progress. As the cliche goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but if the foundation of branding is carefully built brick by brick, it makes the walls of the brand so much easier to construct, allowing for the world being created to be limitless.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/lkfmusic
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iam_lkfmusic/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keenan-friberg-5bbb0734b/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxSAqncDg5ZnA1XBRxXRYZQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@lkfmusic
Image Credits
Brianne Friberg
