We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Barilla a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nick , thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
I believe that creativity is invested deep down in each and every one of us. However, choosing to use your creativity or not is something that I think a lot of people struggle with. And maintaining creativity can be even harder.
Inspiration is something that fuels creativity for me. I am inspired by a cool autumn day. time spent with friends, a good cup of coffee, and walks in nature. Creativity is an expression of inspiration.
For example, I don’t have any kids myself, however my song, ‘Daughter’ was written one night after a concert I attended. The artist on stage was talking about being away from his daughters for long periods of time on the tour, and reflecting on how much they had grown each time he returned home. Something inside of me was inspired by that message and a new representation of my artwork was written that night.
I think an important part of creativity is taking breaks at times. Experiences also fuels creativity, I find myself writing about things in my life months after they have happened. I just started writing music again almost one year after releasing my album, ‘Silence All The Noise.’ in 2022. I spent a year and a half writing and recording that album. I am in no rush to produce whatever comes next, however I know that if it has a purpose in the world and I am inspired by it, I will create something really special first and foremost to me, and hopefully to those around me.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to create. Don’t aim for perfectionism or fear failure. There is only one of you in this world and that means that you are unique and you already matter!
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 started writing music over ten years ago now. Since then, I have had the opportunity to perform at colleges, concert venues, private events, and produce tons of original music. I’ve performed with some amazing artists such as: Seaforth, Howie Day, Jon McLaughlin, Victory Boyd, Kris Allen, Lee Dewyze, Maddie Poppe, and more. I’ve performed at venues like: Music Box Supper Club in Cleveland, Ohio, Chicago City Winery, Rockwood Music Hall in New York City. In 2019 I won a big music competition in my hometown, Pittsburgh, PA, and was on the cover of the Pittsburgh City Paper.
All of those accolades are big moments in my career. However I try to stay as humble and grounded as possible. My faith in Christ helps me maintain my true purpose in life at all times while I continue to create, market, and interact with fans. I know that He has a plan laid out for my life and that ultimately. I am just along for the ride. Maybe I’m old school but I think in this new world of online socialization, live music wins every time. It is the best and most natural way to gain true fans and showcase your talents.
While my career used to be focused primarily on performing live music, I’ve cut back on the gigs recently and have been a studio rat. I love to write and produce music. During 2020, with the help from my longtime music producer and friend Daniel Blake, I fired up Garage band on my Mac book pro and got to work teaching myself how to record music. I also took a master class with Grammy award winning producer Ryan Tedder which taught me tons of useful information. As an independent solo artist it is like getting the keys to the car whenever you learn how to record your own music. Now I’m learning how to mix better records as well. I’m also turning into somewhat of a gearhead!
I am not working on anything in particular at the moment, however I have started writing again and am getting married in 2023. My fiance keeps telling me to make a Christmas record so that might be on the horizon for 2024. I also love to read and would like to write a book one day. I’m a fan of non-fiction but I am starting to get into fiction a little bit. We’ll see where that all ends up as well.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My college vocal teacher, Lisa Brovey-Kovach, shared the three ‘P’s’ of success with me early on: Patience, Practice, and Prayers. I feel like she was spot on and I’ve maintained those qualities throughout my journey.
When I was a younger artist, I wanted my master files back from the producer after I was done tracking the final vocals in the studio. That just isn’t realistic! It is good to be excited about whatever it is you are working on but in time you will reach the goals that you set for yourself with tons of patience and preparation for what’s to come.
Practice has been huge for me. I know that I will never be perfect even though I tend to have traits of a perfectionist at times. However striving for excellence at all times has been really beneficial for me in my journey. I took three years of music theory in high school and in college, but I don’t think actually sit and think about theory when I am creating music. Sure it helped me be able to sit at the piano and transpose things or write them out, however I am never hard on myself when I make mistakes. I would actually tell others to leave room for creativity. Taking piano lessons for a short time really made me feel like my creativity was being inhibited. If it sounds good, I promise you it will be fine.
Prayer has also been huge for me. Having a direct connection with God allows me to realize that my journey will happen the way it is supposed to in His timing. It took me five years to finally arrive at a recent opportunity I was granted, and I know I would not have been ready for it five years ago. Understanding the process by staying grounded in my faith in Jesus has given me a hope for my time on earth, and promise for eternity. Overall, I am just really thankful and appreciative of all of the blessings, and even setbacks, that got me to where I’m at.
Some general advice for younger artists:
Don’t feel like you have to compete with other people. While it might feel natural to do so, I would encourage you to be someone else’s biggest fan. Even if you think they might be better than you right now, cheering someone on is always the best way to go. Envy and anger won’t get you too far. Treat people with respect and watch how much more successful you become.
Another piece of advice, thoroughly read every contract you might be presented with and don’t fully put your career into the hands of anyone else ever. It is rare that you will find someone that will work harder for you than you will for yourself. You can do this.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
In general we can tend to be really hard on ourselves at times. At some point, you just need to be like Nike and just do it! You can woodshed and spend hours and hours trying to be the best guitarist in the world, but the harsh reality is it might not even matter to anyone but yourself.
I have had success in being good at a few different areas, but not being great in any one area.
I am a singer, songwriter, musician, and music producer.
It took hours and hours to even get to a basic level of any of those things, however I never spent more time than I needed to in order to do what I needed to get the job done. Find something you are good at and always strive to get better at it, but never abandon your songwriting to be the best piano player if you are a singer-songwriter. I know people who are way more successful than I am that only play four chords on a guitar with a capo and have millions of streams. Their voice and lyrics are stronger than their playing and 90 percent of the time the naked ear probably won’t notice the musical aspects of the hit song they are singing to on the radio. Just some thoughts.
That being said, I would like to get better at playing the guitar myself. I also realize that I am spending more time learning how to better produce music, plan a wedding, and help get my body back in shape. There is only so much time in a day. Spend six months playing guitar and six more months writing music and next year write the best album you can. There are really no rules when it comes to creativity.
Contact Info:
- Website: nickbarilla.com
- Instagram: @NickBarillaLive
- Facebook: facebook.com/nickbarillalive
- Twitter: @NickBarillaLive
- Youtube: Nick Barilla Music
Image Credits
Performance Photos by Krystal Ritenour
