Today we’d like to introduce you to AnDel.
AnDel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Originally, music was never the plan for me. I had grown up doing musical theatre and stage performances as a kid, but I saw myself firmly as an actor. When I moved to LA, I started going on auditions, trying my best to book film without having any professional training or guidance beforehand. Looking back, I’d say my skillset wasn’t good enough to compete in a city as saturated with talent as LA, and as a result, I found the audition room to be particularly nerve-racking. I would look up and see ten other guys that looked exactly like me, all vying for a chance to disappear and conform into a character and a plot that had been constructed by someone else. From my perspective, it felt very reductive, and at the time I didn’t see it as an art form that often rewarded individuality. (I was very young and wrong, but it was how I felt.)
One day I was working at a kiosk in a mall with another coworker. The job was probably my least favorite to date because it was so unbelievably boring, and I would often disassociate to pass the time. Whenever I do that, I tend to sing or hum a lot. Very much “the lights are on but nobody is home” type of behavior. My coworker overheard me singing and introduced me to a young producer, and the producer and I became fast friends. He had made a lot of amazing instrumentals, but he wasn’t that great of a songwriter. I had dabbled in poetry here and there as a kid, and he asked me if I could try to write a song. We worked for months, and when the song had been finished and I heard the playback for the first time, something clicked. “This is it… this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Now, many years and hard lessons later, I’m slowly approaching the ability to make music my full time career. I write, produce, and record my own demos, and I have friends far more talented than I help me to clean the songs and make them even better. I have friends who dress me for visuals, friends who shoot my cover photos, and I have a small but mighty fan base who support my music and dreams with everything they have. God has blessed me beyond belief, and even though its hard at times, I constantly see and feel confirmation that I’m on the right path. I only wish it didn’t require such patience… It’s not my strong suit. 😉
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not!
Being a professional musician is one of the hardest and most expensive “hobbies” that you could turn into a job in my opinion. Firstly, it took me years and years to develop my sound, my image, my persona, and also my aesthetic choices, so the first thing it will cost you is time. If you want to do EDM or pop music, you’re going to need a producer. You can learn production, but that will take you years, and then it will cost you thousands of dollars on top of that to buy everything you need… Laptop, microphone, interface, speakers, headphones, PLUGINS(?!)… Even second hand you will be spending a lot of money. If you want a more professional sound than you can provide, you can hire a producer to work with you, but again, that costs money. Wanna do something creative with your image? You need money, even if you don’t have a stylist. Photos and cover art? More money. That’s not to say you can’t get lucky and find friends who will help you for free, but I’ve found that free work means long turnaround times, lack of motivation and excitement, and a lack of care for the project, at least to the depth that most artists want. I’ve found the people that are the best in this industry are people who don’t do free work. Discounted? Sure, but free? Rarely if ever.
There’s so many moving parts of being an artist, and it’s a high learning curve. It’s dealing with all of this, finding time to create while sometimes working two jobs, and managing the back end of the business, too. Until you have a team, you have to do pretty much everything yourself. Registering songs for distribution, contracts, splits, understanding your rights as a songwriter or producer or artist… There are many people who will try to take advantage of you, exploit you, and will cast you aside or disregard you if they feel they can’t gain enough from you. I’ve had producers, other artists, and even family members and friends try to tell me who I should be artistically and musically. Most of the time it’s well meaning, but it’s a lot of people who don’t know what they’re talking about who are gonna have an opinion on your music, your clothes, your themes… It can be frustrating. And of course, people can be very unkind online. You gotta have thick skin, but be open to solid criticism from the right people too. A lot of contradictions, exceptions, dichotomies, opinions, and downright mudslinging you have to navigate through. You have to have grit, or you need to develop it. Hell, I sometimes question if I have enough.
All this to say: Only do music if you really, REALLY love it. That’s the only way you can hold on to your sanity, and I use that term very loosely as I’d hardly describe myself as sane. You have to be sturdy in who you are while still being malleable enough to compete in an industry that changes like the tide. My unsolicited advice? Dive into yourself, learn yourself, and know yourself. Brace yourself. And only take advice from someone who has a career or a life you want.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
On the music side, I’m a singer who makes pop music with a very hands on approach. I write, arrange, track my own vocals, and often times co-produce my songs as well. Most of the time, I will come up with a full demo in my room, take it to my songwriter friend who helps tighten things up a bit, and then have a producer fill out the demo and mix and master. I’ve been told by producers that I tend to have a LOT of background vocals and harmonies. I grew up doing musical theatre and choir, so I love the intricacies and life they can bring into a song. I tend to handle the vocal arrangements myself, and while I don’t have an extensive knowledge of music theory, I am proud of the fact that I can manage to deliver well in that regard. My turnaround time would be very fast if it wasn’t for my desire to always go big on the visuals! Depending on the project, I’ll usually do cover art, promo photos, and a small visualizer… sometimes a music video if the situation calls for it. It mostly depends on the resources, skillsets, and people I have around me. I’ve been very blessed to work with the people I have. Some have stayed, some have gone, but all of them have been amazing at what they do.
I am known to be very unserious, and it shows in my song content. My songs are quippy, with tongue-in-cheek humor, and often a hint of sarcasm. I’d like to think I tow the line between introspection, sadness, and fun pretty well as an artist, and while that doesn’t necessarily make me unique, I’d say it is a great skill. I get bored easily, so while I try to have a cohesive sound, I don’t think I have a single song as of now that sounds the same. As for image and fashion, I pull a lot of inspiration from anime and Kpop men. I always found fashion, makeup, and hair so fascinating. How when done correctly it can make even the most average person look like a work of art. I’ve never been the most masculine man, but the men in Kpop and anime are celebrated for the elements of femininity they have. They showed me you can be both: masculine and feminine, yin and yang, powerful and beautiful… And that’s exactly how I feel I really am deep down. They aren’t confined to exclusively male fashion, which I find mostly to be boring. There’s another level of creativity with their hair, contacts, makeup and clothes. I guess maybe part of the fun of it all for me is I was told as a kid that boys can’t and shouldn’t do that. It’s my way of “sticking it to the man”, or rebelling as I didn’t do that a lot growing up. It’s too much for me to do every day, but I love occasionally dressing up like someone you wouldn’t meet just walking down the street.
The way in which I stand out the most in my opinion is how I approach being an artist. I’ve built my brand on duality in the form of two distinctive identities: AnDel and Tony (or tonytalks2much on TikTok). AnDel is an alter ego I’ve created to express myself creatively and musically, but Tony is who I really am in everyday life.
Tony is how I originally built my fanbase on TikTok… it’s who I’m speaking as now, and who I am most of the time. I would just make videos about subjects I liked such as astrology and psychology, share personal stories and anecdotes, and sometimes would rant because I love to make people laugh. I’d say I’m more approachable, loving, funny, and constantly living in activewear and shorts that are far too short for me. I’m wild, quirky and goofy, and I think that comes across very clearly in my content.
On the other hand, AnDel is a character I created by amplifying all of my darkest traits I used to suppress because I saw them as “bad” or “unlikeable”. He’s bombastic, judgmental, selfish, petty, thinks he’s better than most people, and utilizes his sensuality to get what he wants. I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s possible he isn’t even human… You’ll just have to wait to see the lore unfold. He’s also British (cuz why not), has red eyes… He’s a weird character and he’s very polarizing for people. Some of my friends and family have stated plainly they don’t like him or that he scares them, and that is exactly why I love him so much. AnDel doesn’t diminish himself for the sake of others in the way I sometimes used to. He knows what and who he is, celebrates how unsettling and beautiful (he thinks) he is, and is unapologetic about pretty much everything. He takes up space, commands attention, and doesn’t care if people are pressed or have strong opinions on him… in fact, he prefers it. Portraying AnDel has helped me so much with learning to embracing myself for not only the things I like about myself, but everything I am. He’s helped me with my confidence, handling conflicts, and setting boundaries in my real life. Most importantly, he’s given me an outlet to create for myself with fashion and music in a way I haven’t been able to do since I was a child. He’s set me free in so many ways… It may sounds stupid, but I feel like he’s healed a lot of damage to my psyche from my childhood. And he’s also a complete menace. I love it.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I’ve always been a bit odd. I loved to sketch and paint, and for a while I even wanted to be an animator. But the end goal since I can remember was something in entertainment or the arts. I was very smart, but if I wasn’t passionate about a subject, I would rest on my laurels and get by on the absolute bare minimum. My head was usually off in the clouds, constantly daydreaming about leaving my small town and making something of myself. We had some family troubles, so we moved around a lot when I was young. I was also homeschooled for some of the earlier years of my life, so when I finally did go into public school, I had a lot of trouble making friends. Social cues were very difficult for me to understand, and I was super obsessed with Star Wars and video games. That and being HORRIBLE with comebacks and standing up for myself, I made myself a very easy target. I was made fun of for everything… Looks especially. I grew up in a place that didn’t have a lot of diversity, so I got made fun of for my skin and unibrow… I was routinely called “ugly”. Gave me a lot of shit I had to work through in adulthood, and while I didn’t feel grateful at the time, I’m grateful for who I became because of it.
Despite all that, I wouldn’t say my childhood was bad. I’ve always had a family who, even though they may not have understood me, they accepted and loved me anyway. I found drama and musical theatre, and that gave me some friends. I spent a lot of time in middle school watching the more popular kids from a distance and was able to pick up patterns in their interactions. I began to duplicate the patterns, and in high school I was much better received. I left school with a wide social network, and I’d like to think that my younger self would be proud of that. Now in adulthood, every great thing that has ever happened in my artistic career has been due to my network. I’ve learned to choose friends well, and have been blessed beyond belief with the ones I have.
I try to measure my success by how happy I would be if I could speak to my 9 year old self and tell him about my life now. Having lots of talented and beautiful friends, working and making money as a singer (though it doesn’t pay all my bills yet), and having an out-of-the box image that embraces all the things I was told boys can’t or shouldn’t do? I think he’d be stoked. So even if I never achieve a greater height than this… I’ve already succeeded in my book. Everything else is just icing on the cake and a blessing from God.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/officialandel?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaoXI83eVCrCPf5IOlXbIUzhfPODrzKCy4eQZEO1Pfp_AeYcA-iKLgfG3Y_aem_ngASrQQEwSDDwoXI5g51Fg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialandel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andelofficial/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4mQbJQ3EFJdjcDzWuf_0kw
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0PuhIPqMJj5o2438P4BF7N
Image Credits
Shanon Berlin for Crooked Kitty Photography
