Check Out Elia Berthoud’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elia Berthoud.

Elia, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Since I was a child, I always wanted to become a musician, but how do you become a professional musician? That was the question I asked myself all my life, and the best strategy I could come up with was to 1) never tell anyone about my dream, cause when I tried to tell people in the very beginning, they only tried to talk me out of it, and 2) surround yourself with artists of all kinds and learn with them and from them. The biggest art about being an artist for me is to create amazing things with zero budget – if you never went through a time where you had no budget on your side, you’ll probably never be great.

I started with modeling, then I learned how to take photos, then I learned how to make my own songs, then I started working with other people on my songs and then I started making my own videos. It was all a process, and I had to learn a lot and will have to learn a lot, but now that I have worked with several Grammy winners and award-winning videographers, I’m slowly feeling like I’m on the right path. Just three years ago, I started writing my first songs thanks to some great advice I got from the singer Ron Pope: “just write a thousand bad songs and some of them will be good”. While I have released six singles with my current management team, Joey Harris Inc, only two of them was self-produced, but when I wasn’t working on recording or shooting videos, I tried to produce a demo every day and my next few singles will come from them.

What probably sets me apart from other musicians is probably, that I never want to be like anybody else and I’m trying to be as far as possible from any references and influences. Sometimes people love the outcome and sometimes they don’t, but I guess I just rather take that risk than using cheap tricks and safe bets. At the same time, I don’t try to be any kind of different either. I just want to be. In my creative process, I like honesty, simplicity and experimenting with randomness.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I always felt like I could handle the present but I was worried to keep things going the same way in the future.

I always worried a lot about the future, but to overcome that, I try to deal with one challenge at a time and live day by day. In a way, I feel like no challenge is too big, but when we struggle with many obstacles at the same time, only persistency and our capacity to keep a general overview can make us or break us.

In a show I watched recently, an actor says to another actor, actors have two fears: 1) not to make it, or 2) to stop being relevant – and I think that is probably how many artists feel in general – but making music makes me so happy, that I don’t know if I could ever stop, even if I wasn’t on the radio or doing well on any charts.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My passions are songwriting and singing. I produce in order to be independent but I love to collaborate with friends and artists that are excited to work with me. I also create all my cover artwork for my singles and EP’s and I direct or edit most of my own music videos.

Some people know me better from my modeling days, but I only got into modeling because I always wanted to create music and I jumped on the first opportunity to get into the art and entertainment world.

I’m proud of being able to have learned a lot from that time and now am capable of making my own music and take photos and videos to support myself financially.

The last video I directed for the #1 Dance Radio Hit “Chase” by VASSY x Bonka had been selected for 20 international film festivals and won prices in London, Athens, Stockholm, Paris, Los Angeles and Istanbul.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I think this city is all about who your friends are. Are they good friends, are they honest, do they understand you, your work, are they supporting you? and vice versa.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eliaberthoud.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/eliaberthoud/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/eliaberthoud/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/eliaberthoud
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIUuvMrgaPI&list=PLK5IaXLW_nPXNF-JKiiRV6jHE4ifjGos7&index=2
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7qOYs3scgUqvCMA0GyeFRi

Image Credits:
1,2,7 Davide Micciulla 3,6,8 Elia Berthoud (Self protrait) 4 Stav Ben Zur 5 Omer Lotan