Today we’d like to introduce you to Aleyna Moon.
Hi Aleyna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Sure thing! My name is Aleyna Moon. I’m a Korean-American 19 year old singer-songwriter, top-liner, and artist from LA, and I’m also a senior at USC. When I’m not studying, working, or making music, I enjoy playing video games, watching anime and cartoons, and napping.
I guess the easiest way to talk about who I am is to explain how I got here. I started out in music through dancing as a toddler, taking local classes at first and eventually teaching them myself as I got older. As far as dancing goes, I was pretty active in the local community, teaching other kids and starting and directing dance teams. I had always been into poetry, but I started writing songs when I started middle school as a creative (and emotional) outlet. Coming from a low-income family and not fitting in too well at school often made me feel like I didn’t have a place of my own to feel comfortable. I found that place through writing music.
Soon enough, I found myself taking part in local competitions and talent shows. Eventually, I was scouted to compete in *K-pop Star 6: The Last Chance* in 2016, which was a very eye-opening experience. I was flown to Korea, where I was also scouted to join one of the biggest entertainment companies there. The whole journey made me realize that music was a career that was tangible enough for me to pursue. Though things didn’t end up working out, I was even more motivated to take music seriously as a career when I came back to America.
In high school, I started writing in studios and ended up releasing my first two songs, “Video Game” and “Breaking News”, at 15 years old. Although the songs aren’t currently up anymore, they both peaked over 500,000 listens on Spotify. I’m anything but a social butterfly, so when my classmates would approach me about my music, I felt like I was able to connect to people more easily.
After that, I began writing songs to pitch to K-pop artists and have been doing so ever since. I left high school early, went to community college at 16, and transferred to USC within a year. In the meantime, I continued to work on music whenever I could, whether it was through my laptop or through performing on stage. Since then, I’ve been trying my best to balance school, work, and music.
At the moment, I’m looking forward to any opportunities that lie ahead for me. I’d love to venture out into different aspects of the entertainment industry, but mainly, I hope to continue working on music and releasing my own songs in the near future.🙂
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I mean, to be honest, I think most everyone has gone through struggles to get to where they are now. Rarely anyone has it easy. For me, a lot of my struggles have been with time and money. I was never able to take formal music lessons because my family couldn’t afford it. I eventually learned how to read music when I got to college, but I’m still really bad at it!
I knew pursuing music wasn’t going to be easy, and I also knew I would have to balance chasing an elusive dream while managing my own personal realities. I started working as soon as I could to help support my family and myself, and focusing on getting my degree on top of it all has made it so music hasn’t been my priority as much as I want it to be. There were definitely horribly long days of going to classes all morning, scarfing down a cheap burger, bussing for an hour and a half, and working from afternoon till midnight just to go home, finish homework, and do it all again the next day. Between everything, it’s an understatement to say it’s been hard to find time for music.
However, at the end of the day, music is what I truly love and enjoy doing. It’s rarely ever felt like work. In fact, songwriting for me has always been my form of escapism. Even considering the hardships or tough times I’ve faced, I’d say that I’m still pretty fortunate and lucky to have been given so many great opportunities to bring me to where I am now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In music, I’m mainly a singer-songwriter and top-liner. I write melodies and lyrics, whether it’s on top of a pre-produced track or something that comes to mind at 4am when I can’t fall asleep! Especially if I’m co-writing something in the studio, I’m usually known for pumping out lyrics within a short amount of time. I think I tend to write and perform better under pressure and time constraints. As a hobby, I like to produce songs on my laptop, but it’s definitely more for personal enjoyment than for professional endeavors.
It’s hard to say what I’m most proud of, especially because I consider myself to be my own biggest critic. I really enjoy coming up with creative concepts and thematic situations for the songs I write and playing with words to work around them. It’s also hard to say what sets me apart from others since I’m still pretty young in music, but I’d like to think that I can work in a wide range of genres. When I’m writing for other artists, I especially have to work around what that artist in particular is looking for. With my own work, I aspire to be as musically flexible as I can be and try my best not to contain myself through labels.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
In all honesty, it’s hard to say. I think I try my best to always put my best self forward. It’s not about being the greatest, it’s about trying to be the greatest version of yourself you can be.
For me personally, I feel like persistence and burnout-avoidance is the most important trait I’ve made an effort to maintain. Though I have a lot of ambition, I have a tendency to overwork myself and lose my sense of self-worth, resulting in a lack of self-care. I think I often get trapped in the mindset that I could be using my time better by not taking a break, but I’m trying to get in the habit of thinking that relaxing can be just as productive as work.
In addition, staying consistent, humble, and genuine is something I want to emphasize for myself in the long run. I believe that success is something that should be shared, and hope someday I’ll be able to give back to the community that raised me. Until then, I’ll just keep trying my best to get to where I want to be.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleynam00n/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/aleynam00n
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/aleynam00n
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/aleynam00n
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/aleynam00n
Image Credits:
Kaya Wong
