Spencer Day – HuffPost 4.4.13

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Spencer Day: That is a great and difficult question. I suppose the primary thing I’d tell any new artist I meet–it might sound cliché–but it’s really to stay true to what you want to do, and to check in with yourself to make sure that you’re living your life authentically. Do a lot of self-examination. I think therapy or working on your own psychology is incredibly important for everyone, but especially for artists because after doing this for ten or twelve years, you really realize how many people will try to pull you in different directions, and how the ego can get in the way of making the best art possible. So check in with yourself regularly to make sure that you’re expressing yourself in an honest and true fashion and not writing or performing for other people. It looks really grim out there, but most of the artists that have lasting success and really touch people are the artists that come from a dangerous and authentic place that is not diluted to fit into the confines of what we think the industry wants.

MR: What’s the best advice that you’ve ever been given?

SD: Probably about the same. When I was signed to a major record development deal–which is basically artist purgatory–I had a great singer-songwriter hired to be my performance coach. This record label would say really vague things like, “We need you to be a star. Don’t joke, just be a star.” I’m very goofy when I perform. I tell a lot of jokes and I’m very off the cuff, and I think they wanted me to be very slick and polished–maybe more like Michael Bublé or something. This performance coach’s job was to whip me into shape, and the first thing that she said was, “Screw ‘em. Nobody knows what you want and need to do more than you do.” Her first lesson was to ignore everything they were telling me and to check in with myself and do what feels right to me. I had to learn it the hard way. I spent a lot of years writing songs and singing just to impress other people or do what other people wanted me to do. I think she really inspired me in that some small way, I could be making the world a better place, and that changes everything because then you’re not thinking, “Was I pitchy? Did they like me?” Just know that you’re putting something beautiful out into the world, and you’re being part of the solution and not the problem. That, in and of itself, will inspire you for the rest of your life.