Meet Ross Alan

 

We were lucky to catch up with Ross Alan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ross, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

I think anyone of a certain age understands that confidence and self-esteem comes from experience and making mistakes. I’m turning 33 and I look back at who I was 10 years ago – hell even 5 years ago, and there was so much insecurity. I was figuring out who I was. And that’s the crux of it right? You feel insecure because you don’t really know what you’re doing or where you’re headed. Newsflash: no one does! I never thought I was attractive enough or talented enough or successful enough. And I definitely built those walls up as protection, but your fortress is also a cage.

Something happens once you’re in your 30’s. You care less what other people think. I remember waking up one day and realizing how short life really was and how I was going to feel at 60 if I woke up everyday and spent 50 years hating my body, hating my personality, hating my choices. So I told myself that day by day – I’d just start vocally affirming myself.

In those affirmations, you start to see yourself in ways you hadn’t before. You suddenly the things you thought were horrendous about yourself you start to see as special little shiny gems. It’s really easy in this world to feel small, but it’s also just as easy to feel luminous if you give yourself the chance. We spend so much time putting ourselves down – I definitely call people out now when they insult themselves and I make them say something nice about themselves. Self-esteem starts with ourselves!

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a musician who has just come off of an album cycle. It took over two years. I did more than thirty shows in eight cities. I produced and released two music videos. I produced a deluxe version of the album. There were remixes and features and costumes and touring. Just tons and tons of hard work. And I’m really, wildly proud of it.

As an independent artist, I think success isn’t as black and white as I once imagined it to be. I used to think it meant Grammy’s and notoriety and red eye flights to foreign cities. But now it looks more like self-funded touring and creative freedom and joy in creation.

This is the first time where I have felt a start, middle and end to an era. This album, ‘Revelation’, was this huge important part of me that I needed to let out as a creative and as a human. Now that I’ve given metaphorical birth to it and it’s grown out of the metaphorical nest, I feel so ready for the next one. And the liberty to carve it out at my own pace.

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?

I wish I could provide qualities or skills or knowledge that would be impactful for others. That I could answer this question with sage advice on how to avoid the pitfalls that I was unable to escape. But the truth is: we are all so different. We come from different places, we have different backgrounds and we view the world differently. Success and managing the journey to where you’re headed isn’t a one key fits all doors situation. I can’t say what would work or not work for anyone.

But what I can say for myself is how powerful I have found belief, diligence and patience to be. Those have been my lighthouses. You have to believe in yourself more than anyone else and without faltering. You have to work at it every day and acknowledge that it’s going to take a lot from you. And lastly, you have to be willing to wait for it. Good things don’t come easily or quickly, but if you work and wait and believe – you just might get the thing you’re wanting.

Nobody will toot the horn of manifestation more than me!

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Always! My current challenge is figuring out how to sonically make country music and disco music work together in my favor. I am from Ohio, so the country is in me. And I’ve lived in almost every major city in the US, so the disco has been burned into me (by choice). And as a genre that barely exists, I’m just so excited to figure out what it sounds like.

I’ve done hundreds of hours worth of research and I feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface. There is so much overlap in genre and fandom and structure. My producers and I have finally started to really tinker around in the studio to see what works and what doesn’t. I haven’t ever been this excited about a project before, but I also acknowledge it’s an uphill climb. Because even once we crack the code – we have to be able to explain it. We have to be able to market it and we have to be able to understand that it might not land.

But I knew going into it – that was a risk I was willing to take! I know this isn’t in my head for no reason. If it works in this tin can of a noggin, than goddamn it’ll work on paper!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All photos by Milo Fontanez

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