“I am most afraid of – Selling out! It’s something I never want to do. But it is scary to think “what if?” What if that big record deal came along and you signed it and suddenly you were expected to produce music you didn’t like? That is very scary! ” @amandaloving17

GETTING TO KNOW AMANDA LOVING
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio

I continue to challenge myself…
By meeting other musicians and working with others to create music. I write with my father, but I also write with my new band who is a group of guys I have been going to high school with. We have alot of fun writing music together. Between writing with my father, writing with my cousin and writing with my friends, I have been challenged to create many different directions of sounds and music. So I would like to think that always finding new people to work with would be a great way to challenge myself.

3 Ways that I challenge myself…
1) I make sure I finish what I start. In songwriting, it’s easy to start a song and get distracted. Completing each song is a step towards finishing an entire EP.

2) I am addicted to healthy eating and exercise. It helps me to stay focused and feeling good about myself helps me in being creative.

3)Breaking out of my shy self. I am an extremely shy person. When I get on stage and perform, I find it’s kind of therapeutic. The more I do it, the more relaxed I am for the next time. Being totally comfortable on stage is a goal for me as a performer.

I am most afraid of…
Selling out! It’s something I never want to do. But it is scary to think “what if?” What if that big record deal came along and you signed it and suddenly you were expected to produce music you didn’t like? That is very scary!

Success…
I’m only 18. Success for me musically right now is just to stay true to myself. Write songs I like with people I like.

I’m proud of…
Completing my first EP. It was alot of work and sometimes I just wanted to walk away and forget about it. But after seeing the whole package come together, its a great feeling of achievement. I achieved it by staying focused and as a senior in high school, that was not easy to do!

Over all goal for my life & career…
I don’t know yet. I do know that I will always have music in my life. My dad has a full time job, but he always makes time to write and create music and play in bands. I think that the greatest thing about music, is that you can do it as a full time job, part time job or just a hobby. I hope I always surround myself with talented musicians and can continue to develop and grow as a songwriter and singer.

Listen to the Interview: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2015/08/13/813-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

My Music…
My dad will tell you it all started when he picked me up from the hospital at 3 days old, placed my tiny self into the baby seat of his car and turned on his favorite, BB.King, for the car ride home. But seriously, my dad is a passionate musician. Some of my first memories are of my dad playing guitar and piano. Before I even got out of diapers, I was always goofing around on my dads guitar or playing on the piano. Every Christmas, my family and my extended family would gather at our house and sing and play music. It’s just a part of who I am.

Heartbreak…
My cousin, Alex Dezen is a successful songwriter and musician who lives in Los Angeles. He has co-written with Cody Simpson, Justin Beiber and many other established artist. Since I was a baby, I have watched Alex travel around the world to play gigs, make records, release them independently, play concerts where he has fans that adore him and basically be a rock star . As I grew up, I realized that musically we are alot alike. When he saw that I was working on my own songs, he would say we need to write a song together. So one day, last year, he was in Texas visiting and I basically kidnapped him and forced him in to our home studio! Hahahah….well the trade off was good food. We spent the day in my the studio and had a blast. Having Alex, someone who I was close to and related to in many ways, mentor me and work with me to create “Heartbreak” was the best experience. “Heartbreak” just happened as we talked about love and being young. Alex has a great way of connecting to younger people. That is why he is such a great songwriter.

The Video…
When you write music, it just happens. You sit down with other musicians and it happens. It’s organic. I have made two music videos. We have a great videographer in Houston we worked with on both projects. I am a very shy person and the first music video was hard. I have never acted and suddenly there is this guy with a camera in my face telling me to give it more emotion. It was emotionally draining, but I think the video turned out great. When you have a director/ videographer who knows how to tell a story through music, it really helps.

The EP….
I just recently completed my first EP of original music “Heartbreak”. It has five songs on it. This EP is something my dad and I have been working on since last summer. I am lucky because my dad has a home studio and we were able to produce the EP ourselves. One of my dads friends mixed the music for us, another one of his friends had some connections and was able to mass produce the cd’s, my boyfriends moms good friend is an amazing photographer and took my pictures. I’m really proud of how we made this whole thing happen on our own. It really does take a village is what my moms says.

Texas…
I moved around alot as a child, but for the past four years, I have been living in Katy Tx, outside of Houston. But I just moved to San Antonio Texas. to attend college. In Katy, where I went to high school, there was a surprising number of really talented kids who were musicians. I was in a couple of bands and had a blast playing at festivals, clubs and music competitions. But for a more intense music scene, Austin Texas. is always a great place to spend time. There is a ton of musical diversity and so many choices in what kind of live music to go listen. I am playing in a music conference in Austin at the end of August, where I will be performing songs from my EP “Heartbreak” It is my favorite city to play . My favorite way to spend time right now is singing in another band I belong called The Rant. It’s myself and four of my musician friends, all guys. We are working on our first EP and we also play covers.

The music business…
I think the music business is a pretty cut throat industry. I have come to realize how a passion for music doesn’t mean you have to have a passion to try to become famous or to make lots of money with your music. I write songs and sing because I enjoy the process. I enjoy creating lyrics and making melodies. I don’t need a ton of people to tell me I’m great or want to buy my songs. That would be wonderful, but I never want to get trapped into some kind of business contract and suddenly have to be told what to write or how to sing. I have met more positive, supportive people than I ever imagined, but the people I have met are musicians because its their passion. I don’t know that I want to turn this into a business for myself. I know that I will always do it, no matter how I wind up making a living. Right now I am trying to figure out what to major in in college.

I kind of think that the record business is dominated by people who sign you based on where or not they think you can sell a million songs or not. There is a certain sound you have to fit into that is an automatic money maker. Maybe once in awhile a unique artist breaks out, but that’s not the norm. It’s a complicated business and I just want to keep making music I enjoy and hopefully finding people who like to listen to the music I create with my dad or my bandmates. I don’t think much past that. I’m only 18 and just want to keep developing as a songwriter and singer. My plan right now is to go to college, keep meeting musicians along the way and keep making music.

Social media…
has been a great tool for reaching music lovers and finding people out there who like my songs. When I post a song or video and get nice comments from people I don’t even know, it’s a pretty euphoric feeling! The only challenge in social media is how to keep posting updates and news without overdoing it or becoming annoying.

Singles vs an album…
I think I am very lucky in this department because I have a home studio. Releasing an album for me was 5 songs. It was a lot of work, but we weren’t under any time constraints, so it wasn’t super stressful. It takes a very long time to get a song recorded to perfection. And even when you think that is done, there are still 100 things you want to change every time you listen. So the difference in releasing a single vs. an album is really about time. How much time do you want to pass before releasing your next song? There is always an energy and excitement surrounding a new release. So if you release the entire EP at once, it’s over pretty quick. I think you have to do more marketing to keep people coming back.

I would love to have 5 minutes alone with….
Kurt Cobain. He was a complete bad ass. I admire his philosophies, his songwriting, his performing. If I were alone with him I would ask him the question we all want to ask: What are your songs ACTUALLY about? I read his biography awhile back and was so inspired by his struggles that I wrote a song, “Misunderstood” about him.

Feeling about trends..
I am lucky enough to be able to stay true to myself as an artist right now because I am not setting out to try to sell my sound or appeal to mass audience. I am hoping that people will listen to me and just like me as I am.

Bio:
Amanda Loving is an 18-year old singer/songwriter from Houston Tx. Started singing and writing songs in elementary school. Her father, David, is an avid hobby musician who has played in numerous rock bands. Amanda and her father gig together around the Houston area and have co-written an album “Heartbreak.”
Amanda also has an awesome cousin, Alex Dezen, who is most noted as the lead singer in the amazing indi rock band “The Damnwells”. Alex is also a songwriter for Warner Bros records and has written songs with many well known musicians such as ;Justin Beiber, Cody Simpson and Dave Grohl. Alex and Amanda co-wrote “Heartbreak” together. Its a ballad about teen love and heartbreak. Amanda is off to University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio next month and is undecided on what to major in. She hopes to find other musicians and continue singing in a band!

Social media –
Website: www.amandaloving.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/amandaloving17
Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/amandaloving
Facebook: www.facebook.com/amandalovingmusic
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/amandaloving
Other: www.artistecard.com/amandaloving

My song is available for purchase on iTunes – Amanda Loving “Heartbreak” and CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/amandaloving