We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tess Clare. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tess below.
Hi Tess, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I’ve developed my resilience from the years I’ve put into my music. I’ve seen ups and downs, but I stay on track because of my passion for music and the security that being an artist is the truest thing I know.
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’m an indie pop singer-songwriter based in LA. I’ve been writing since I was 10-years-old and singing since I could basically talk. I’ve always known I wanted to do music. I studied songwriting for my last two years of high school at an arts boarding school, Interlochen Arts Academy and then moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University where I graduated as a songwriting major. Now, I’ve been in LA for over a year, and I’ve been releasing music and playing live the most I’ve ever done. The most exciting thing to me is the feeling on stage, performing with my band, feeling the energy that’s buzzing in me, and watching the audience feel it too. For my songwriting, the coolest thing about it is taking a raw emotion felt in everyday life and transferring it into the power of a song. My next single, “Never Be A Boy,” does just that, and it’ll be released May 17th. I’m playing a single release show May 16th at Bar Lubitsch for any people in LA who want to check it out 🙂
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Aspiration, authenticity, and ambition. I try to stay true to balancing all three qualities because I personally believe a great artist has all three. Being aspirational and seeing beyond reality with how you want your life and art to look is so important for staying creative. Being intentional about who you are and what you want to make, and staying true to yourself, having it come from you and not based on what others want, that’s what creates an artist who can last forever, evolving and not constantly comparing oneself to others. Lastly, I’ve learned that creativity and talent don’t get you too far without having the fire of ambition under you. Whether it’s promoting your music online, practicing your set, writing a ton of songs that will never see the light of day… you really need to want this to keep going.
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 biggest challenge is not having the right business team around me. As a fully independent artist, I’m constantly trying to self-promote and find new avenues for my music to be heard. Although I can do a lot on my own like releasing music, promoting it online, booking local gigs… there’s so much behind the scenes like editorial playlisting, opening for bigger artists, marketing… that really, mostly happens when the right team helps you. For now, I’m taking this time to be the best artist, songwriter, manager, booking agent, and label for myself, so that when the right people come along who want to team up, I’ll have had some experience in each of their roles, so I’ll be more prepared to know how to properly run my ship.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tessclare.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessclare_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tessclaremusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2npw4XO4goI157AMfCKR2g
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0w3V7iEOBeQUDg8xm6NB6L
https://www.tiktok.com/@tessclare_
Image Credits
Annie Noelker Marjorie Lutich
