As it was the week after Father’s Day, we decided to include two fathers on the run order. Both were to bless the stage and read a poem.
To my horror, my dad decided to call me and my younger sister to the stage as he read one of his poems out! (My older sister had a lucky escape).
I don’t remember the name of the poem (sorry dad) must be the mental scarring that has forced it to the back of my mind! My dad proceeded to read to us and I have to say, it was/is, a beautiful poem, telling us to watch out for unworthy men and how much we mean to him. Really touching stuff! But the fact that the poem was three pages long and read out in front of a lot of people took me back to my days as an awkward child with wonky teeth! Imagine standing in your best dress, make-up looks good, hair on point. You have performed, like never before. And as you stand and wait for your much deserved applause, your dad comes over to you and whispers down the microphone “Your dress is stuck in your knickers!” Oh the mortification! That there, is how I felt! According to some, public humiliation never anyone! In fact, it builds character. Hooray for me then!
Jokes aside though… it was a fabulous evening!
The only true downside to the evening, the untimely demise of a musical legend! As a huge fan of the late Michael Jackson, it is only right I pay homage to his astonishing contribution to music and echo the comments made by many “The world has lost a musical genius!”
It seems somewhat selfish to continue talking about my meagre efforts to make it in the industry in the shadow of someone so great. But we must all continue in our efforts in order to make the most of the short time we have. I will never reach such a colossal level, but I am more than happy to leave that to the likes of Beyonce and Jay-Z. For me music is the ultimate form of expression but I do not need to reach superstardom, to fulfil my dreams.
The day after the show, I went for an audition. This is unusual for me, but if I tell you that the prize was to get to work with Pharell Williams and N.E.R.D., you may understand my exception to the rule! I borrowed my mum’s TomTom, and with boyfriend in tow, drove all the way to London. Now driving long distances, is not my favourite thing! In fact, it’s not so much the driving as opposed to the fact that my car, is not in the best shape for it! It’s not an old car, but it is not the smoothest of rides. I do believe I would drive further if I had a better car and I am in the process of looking for one. I need to. I have been offered shows all over the U.K. and need to be travelling further afield. Anyway, I digress. I drove to London giving myself, 3 hours to get there. Not enough time, unfortunately, as I did not factor in the daft traffic that they have in the capital. I am so fortunate that they had affordable parking on the street so I didn’t have to walk for miles once I had arrived.I was very flustered by the time I got there though. I had to get changed, had to try and remember my song lyrics and I was late! I do feel for my boyfriend. He really gets it in the neck from me when I am stressed. He truly has the patience of a Saint!
London was a humbling experience. Humbling in that, being in Birmingham the number of aspiring artists is far fewer and it allows you to stand out. Once you hit London you are amongst hundreds of female singers who can blow you out of the water, who have become experts on knowing what is expected at an audition and what the casting crew like to hear. With all this, and then the plague of age old ‘nerves’ kicking in, I didn’t stand a chance!
I have come to the conclusion that auditions to me, are like GCSEs to a 15 year old. I view auditions the way that many view an exam. In class you can perform so well, answer all the teacher’s questions and complete all class exams and assessments. But come exam time, you bomb out and fail miserably. That there was what happened to me in my audition! I can laugh about it now because I am getting better at finding the good in all bad situations, but as I stood in front of the casting guy, who bubbled with enthusiasm and smiled (somewhat scarily) in my face, my voice (which I believe to be pretty decent) decided to hide at the back of my throat and I knew it was a bad audition. I hope I am not alone in this. For all of you who have wanted something real bad, knew you were more than capable but then let yourself down when it came to the crunch. Feel my pain!
The good thing to come from all of this was, one, I got over my fear of driving to and through London. Two, got to see how competitive it is in London and how good I’ve got it in Brum and last but not least, got to spend the afternoon in the big city with my babes. Massive bonus! In between my stressing about this and that, we took a nice walk through Leicester Square – where people were holding Michael Jackson vigils in the street. We crossed the Thames and I saw the London Eye for the first time (sad). We had a wonderful meal and I got to see a prospective venue for future gigs at a top class restaurant. Result!
I truly believe that nothing worth having will come easily! I have had to work hard for what I have and I believe this will continue. Thing is, don’t think I would want it any other way! I love the sense of achievement that comes with success in the face of adversity. Of proving people wrong and having no-one to thank but me! Control freak tendencies, yeah I think so, but still, me not getting a call back is not the end of the world. May even be a blessing in disguise. And at least I know why I didn’t get the call, I did not do myself justice and I have no doubt, the young lady who gets the shot, is going to be dynamite!So here is how I link this experience to my tip for this session. To all budding artists, entrepreneurs and the like.
You are a business: so you need to put personal feelings aside and view yourself as such. This will help when dealing with rejection; not getting called back for gigs or when thinking of ideas to move forward.
There are a number of reasons why people don’t buy into certain products. It is not what they need, they don’t understand what to do with it or they just don’t see the benefits. That does not mean there is anything wrong with the product or that it will not have its success in the correct forum! This can also be said for an artist. Some people will not need your type of music in their life. Some will not understand your style or how to promote it to others. Others will not know see the benefit to the industry. That does not mean your music is not hot, does not mean you will not make them feel shame when you get the top spot. All it means is that you have something more to prove. As a businessperson you simply have to find your target market and blitz them with your sound.
If you can view yourself as a product this could help you to promote yourself and your music! Think about how are products are normally sold to the rest of the world… Catchy name, logo, merchandise, presentation! Get the idea?
Take time to brand yourself and think of your career in the long-term as well as the immediate future. I will suggest some ideas next time, but in the meantime, I would be interested to hear your views and ideas. Drop me a comment and check out my web sites:
www.myspace.com/yelitzauk
http://www.yelitza.co.uk/
Stay tuned for more tips and don’t forget you can see me performing every month in Brum.
Tootles… Flutter
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