We were lucky to catch up with Alex G-Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alex , so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
Music is so personal, which is why there are so many varieties and styles. Not everyone is going to like what what you do, how you do it, or what you have to say. To me, a ‘hater’ is synonymous with an unproductive ‘critic.’ I have had several memorable moments where an individual took it upon themselves to let me know they didn’t like something I was doing. For example, I was working with a group and one of the members told me he didn’t like how I ‘fit too many words’ into the chorus. Another person in a peer review blatantly said ‘I didn’t like her song, but I also find female songwriters annoying.’ These are not people who will like my music. I don’t write anything for a specific group or type, I write what I want from an authentic perspective that only I have.
One the flip side, I have had people reach out to tell me how a song I wrote really helped them through something. You can only achieve that balance of fans and not-fans by being true to what you want to write about.
When you come from a place of honesty, and accept that not everyone’s going to understand it or like it, there’s a real sense of empowerment. I also cut myself some slack because even I can be a hater to myself. Some songs are written in darker times, and others are written in better times. Some songs were written when I was younger, and others are more relevant to me now. But the thread that ties them all together is that I wrote them from a real place in my heart, and I wont judge what my heart has to say. And I especially wont let others judgements affect how I present my heart to the world.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Like most singers and songwriters, I have had a love for making music since I was very young. There’s a video of me at the age of 2 singing into a power supply because I was under the impression that everything was a microphone.
My family was very supportive, and they’d come to every talent show or theater production I could get my hands on. Since then, I have made a real effort to have more control over my music by learning piano and basic home-recording.
In the past, I knew piano just enough to write very basic music to my songs, and then would have to ask other musicians to help finesse it. Now, I can write exactly as I want the songs to sound on piano so I can play more live shows without relying on other musicians.
A career in the arts is a marathon, especially when you aren’t lucky enough to have all the resources you need at your disposal.
I used to feel stuck in my own idea of what success should look like, but as I’ve gotten older, I realized that the pressure we put on ourselves can be counter productive. We feel like you can only accomplish your dreams in your early to mid 20s, and if you haven’t had any success by then, you wont have any at all. To me, that is creativity and career poison. An artistic career is not one big moment, it is a lifelong body of work that takes years to hone and practice. I now take time to appreciate what little wins I have, because each accomplishment is a step in your career that you made happen.
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?
I think that pursuing any career requires some level of creativity, persistence, and self-motivation. But in a career specific to creating something out of nothing, like art or music or character work, these qualities are non-negotiable.
Creativity doesn’t just mean ‘creating something,’ it also means being creative with how you get people to see your work. If you’ve written songs or wrote a play, that in itself is an accomplishment. But there’s a whole mess of things that need to happen after so people can actually see or hear your work, and it takes thinking outside the box sometimes to make that happen. Especially for me, if you don’t have thousands of dollars at your disposal, you need to figure out how to stretch what you’ve go for the biggest payoff- And that brings me to Persistence.
Persistence is a mind-set. You will have moments where it feels like everything is taking off and you are finally seeing some forward momentum and everyone wants to work with you because you are so brilliant and talented.
Then there are other times where you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything, and somehow everyone around you is more successful, more talented, better looking, better dressed, and why would anyone want to work with you?! After all, you told yourself that if you didn’t ‘hit the big time’ by so-and-so age, you’d move back home and make jewelry or do whatever someone can do with a BA in Screenwriting… and it’s not looking good.
Like any long term career, it isn’t something that happens over night. You are building a body of work that you will one day look back on and see how one project led you to another, how one risk payed off and led to another job. As long as you are specific with your goals, you can make headway. And even though you don’t know where the end game is, persistence will keep you in the moment and motivated. Which brings me to my last point- Self Motivation.
I used the word ‘self-motivation’ instead of ‘self-discipline’ because I find the word ‘discipline’ to be too authoritarian. And the point of being a performer is to not have to work for someone else, I work for myself most of the time! And as an employee to myself, I can be very difficult to manage at times. There’s a quote from ‘The Office’ that has somehow tattooed itself onto my brain, and it pops up maybe once a day. The scene starts with Jan running a ‘women in the workplace’ workshop. Jan tells Pam about an art internship that the company offers, and though Pam seems interested, she keeps presenting excuses for why she can’t do it. Then Jan looks her square in the eye and says, ‘There are a million reasons not to do something.’
Any time I think about something I should do or need to do, I can feel my mind desperately start to search for anything else to do. Who knows how many opportunities I flitted away just by being afraid of rejection or assuming I wouldn’t get the part, so why try? And then I think of that quote, and it gives me just enough perspective to realize that this is the job. Auditioning is the job. Meeting other creative people is the job. Then when you get the job, that’s the bonus.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking for new people to work with! I am always amazed at how many bright, talented people are just walking around. Usually, if I see someone impressive or vice versa, I’ll send them straight to my website so they can see everything I do in one place. One time, I was doing karaoke at a Thai restaurant in Hollywood and this guy got up and did an incredible rendition of ‘Falling in Love’ by Elvis. I remember asking for his card because I knew someone looking for a male vocalist and I thought he’d be perfect. Another time, I went to a stand-up night, and I hired one of the guys to be a part of my web series just based on his set. I actually keep a list of people I’ve worked with, and have it organized by actors, voiceover, writers, musicians, directors- I call it my ‘arsenal,’ and I look at it whenever I’m working on something to see if I can use anyone. Every year, it grows bigger and bigger, and I’m always excited to add someone. It’s a visual example of all the people I’ve met, and a reminder that that there are so many more I haven’t met, yet.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alexgsmith.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dramaramasmith/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/286014934907308
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexGSmithArtist
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/alexgsmith
- Other: https://www.reverbnation.com/alexgsmith
Image Credits
Bjoern Kommerell
