It’s always a great delight for us to be able to reach out and connect with some of the most exciting artists on the scene out there, and a particularly rewarding experience is hearing from them just as they’re emerging into the world. Musically speaking, that is. There really is nothing like a fresh perspective, and we find that our interviews with young artist help give us a new view of things, and (we hope), they inspire aspiring artists to find their own wings and “let their music out into the world”, as Ilianna would say.
Ilianna is an exceptionally gifted young artist coming at us from the south of London. Having gained national acclaim on the UK edition of The Voice, as a part of Will.I.Am’s team of artists in 2019, Ilianna is now growing her career, frequently traveling from London to the capital of the music scene, Los Angeles, on a regular basis to collaborate with other artists as well as create her own music.
We talked a bit about the intense effort of allowing the world to hear your music. As any artist will tell you, this is an incredibly difficult moment, particularly in the beginning of any artistic career since artists tend to be quite protective of their work. Indeed, many are so protective that they fail to show their creation to the world, for fear of criticism, and thus never truly “make it”.
Ilianna, however, is not such an artist. Although she admits that this is a constant struggle even for her, she seems to have just the right mindset not to allow herself to get trapped in such thinking, a mindset that is vital to all artists who truly want to succeed in today’s world.
“I think one of the hardest things to do as a creative is let your own music out into the world, I’m such a perfectionist to the point where I definitely feel like it’s held me back from releasing music in the past. That’s a constant battle for me, my songs are like my babies but I’m working on it!”
As a former competitive gymnast, determination and hard work come easy to her, and it is perhaps for this exact reason that she has come so far in so little time. She also has retained a very realistic perspective of the music business.
“That whole idea of an “overnight success” I find so misleading, it gives people the impression that their success came quickly. It could take one thing that could make an artist pop off suddenly but years of hard work to get to that point, that’s the bit people don’t see.”
But of course, Ilianna is not merely a musician, doing the singing and writing parts, but also a clever entrepreneur and businesswoman. She’s been steadily growing her following for some time now, both through her appearance on The Voice, and also through her online presence, through which she hopes to allow people insight not only into her art, but also into who she is as a person (seriously, go say ‘hi!’ to her on Instagram @ilianna.music).