Today we’d like to introduce you to Hallie Romero
Hi Hallie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I always loved music, but was raised in a ‘sports’ family. One of my childhood best friends had a jazz musician for a father, which meant two baby grands in her house, a music studio attachment in the garage and every instrument imaginable. Discovering my itch for music making was in part due to growing up adjacent to that world. At 13 I got a ukulele and began to write songs with it, and that’s when I learned my passion for songwriting. It wasn’t until High School choir where I was truly able to express my interest in singing and performing. I also started using the livestream application, Periscope. At the time I would freestyle, write songs, or even curate songs while livestreaming, and accumulated over 60,000 followers. After high school, I took music classes throughout college and downloaded Logic Pro, since I became aware of the strenuous process of music licensing and wanted to avoid copyright issues. Many beats later and I came to the conclusion that although my producing skills were solid, I couldn’t get my vocal mix the way I wanted. Most people who offered to mix my music for free, were either too busy to do more than one, or couldn’t get the sound I wanted. So I paid a producer to track my vocals and began to release songs through distribution services. When I graduated college, a year after releasing my songs, I started doing live performances. While doing performances, I met a producer who liked my music, and offered to work with me. Now we’re almost finished co-producing my debut album. At the same time, I began to pick up DJing as a hobby and began to be vocal about my desire to DJ for events. Presently, I have had countless opportunities, from DJing at a local Sephora store to performing and DJing for multiple UCSB events. How I got to where I am today was by putting myself and my work out there to the public. By showcasing my freestyles, my songs, and my DJ content, many people became inspired and would reach out to work, or even offer performance opportunities. Not every person or experience was amazing or life-changing, but every single experience was an adventure for learning and growth.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Yes and no. I have had a lot of privilege as an artist, being born and raised 20 miles away from one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world. I have had the privilege of a supportive family who encourages my passions, and that is priceless. I know it’s a shared experience as an independent artist that you’re required to do every part of the job to build your brand. Ultimately, what Ive learned from trial and error is no one else is going to build your dream life for you, except you. No one was going to book the location, or the date, or the cars for my music videos. No one was going to book shows for me, or studio sessions. That being said, there have been so many amazing friends who have contributed to building the Hallie brand over the years. From photographers, to videographers: VFX artists, producers, musicians, clubowners, party throwers, the list is endless. Creating Hallie the artist, was something that took me years and I am still molding. Jumpstarting my DJ career actually was a lot smoother and quicker. I think it’s in part to a higher demand for DJs than live performers, but also thanks to my previous knowledge of building a brand and what that entails.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a vocalist, DJ, producer and writer. I attended UC Santa Barbara for a Bachelor’s degree in English, with a specialization in creative writing, and a minor in Music. Songwriting was always my passion, and when I discovered producing, I learned the art of composing, which felt like writing in music rather than words. I am also an open format DJ, mixing music from EDM, to hip hop, to classic pop. Of course I have playlists curated, but with an intuitive understanding of reading the room, I focus on what kind of music the audience wants, in order to craft dynamic live sets that truly resonate with the crowd. Ive been attempting to establish myself and social media presence by live-streaming freestyles and DJing on social platforms. My TikTok page has accumulated over 19.5k followers, and 59,000 likes. One of the most rewarding elements is receiving messages from people who truly like my music, and listen to one song in particular on repeat. There was a girl who messaged me that she still thinks about the party I DJed 8 months ago as one of her favorites, and that she would attend any future event I DJed. Nothing has felt more fulfilling than knowing my art and what I enjoy, other people also enjoy.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My advice is ask questions and seek answers. Don’t ever be ashamed of your work, even if you know it could be better, post it. Don’t expect anyone to do the work for you. You have to be involved in every aspect, and there is so much. Because you are taking the workload that gets split up through so many people when working at the highest level of the industry, you’re going to be a bit overwhelmed. It is all overwhelming and it will continue to be overwhelming, but that’s how you know you’re on the right path. Stay humble. Stay disciplined. Work on your career a little bit everyday, even if its just by thinking about it, or writing things down. Make a plan. it can be loose but still, have the plan to refer to always. Finally, affirmations and manifestation. By building yourself up daily and speaking out into existence about what you want out of this live, you will believe it and if you believe it, then its your reality.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hallieromero/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hallieromeromusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0uFv_jQr05U9v_xxfYdlA?sub_confirmation=1
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hallieromero
- Other: https://linktr.ee/halliemusic?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=f036fe3c-8420-45ea-a563-d3f85c910138
Image Credits
Noelia (maribelarchive)
Axel (sunsetsnjune)
Jesse Cortez
Megan Wu (meganwumade)
