Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Bruce.
Hi Sean, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My actual name is Sean Bruce and it’s also my artist name for the time being. I’m from Portsmouth, Virginia and I started writing when I was 19 as a way to keep myself busy when I decided I needed a change in my life. Initially, I started writing to rap but when I sat down to write my first rhyme there was entirely too much going on haha but I wasn’t completely discouraged from the task. I decided to strip the instrumental portion away and focus solely on collecting my thoughts and figuring out different rhyme patterns and painting different pictures. It was a hobby I found solace in when I was at a crossroad in my life. I had decided recently I was going to move from Virginia to Maryland and in order to acclimate myself to being alone, I sat down and started writing poetry.
After a year or so in Maryland, I found myself at a studio session helping a friend of mine with his songs. He invited me on a song after I went for a few sessions. We did a couple of songs together, and I did a few on my own before I stopped writing for a brief period. Once that period stopped, I found myself back in the studio frequently for a few months before deciding to take the craft seriously. After two mixtapes, I decided to move to California with a friend of mine, who was already living here, in order to build a media production company and further pursue my musical endeavors.
Aside from music and poetry, I also write film and television scripts. Our short film Blue was recently a finalist and semifinalist in three different film festivals.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Ehhhhh, honestly the biggest factor in any of this has been myself. Dealing with personal feelings of doubt and fear makes the journey sooo much more difficult than it needs to be but I embrace it. COVID ruined my plans for 2020. Originally, I wanted to start performing in and around Los Angeles to build a bit of a buzz for a project I was putting together, Off the Porch…, but the entire world shut down. I ended up releasing it anyway in 2020 and retroactively promoting it. Finding different engineers who understand my style and my sound has been pretty tough as well. COVID also pushed our film shoot back about six months causing us to miss the festival run we initially had in mind. Through it all, it’s just a matter of staying focused and getting to the desired destination. I’m pretty persistent so I just make sure I stay to course through it all.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Music is pretty subjective and that’s something that I have to keep in mind while creating. I can’t make something aiming to fit someone else’s standard because I’m my biggest critic. If I don’t believe in what I’m creating then what’s the point? The goal is to make something that connects with people who share similarities with myself. I’m not trying to be anyone else when I’m creating so I have to be as authentic as possible. I love exploring my mental and emotional spaces because I believe art to be a journey of self. I’m constantly looking at the world and my own personal experiences and trying to make sense of it all. I’m also not scared to experiment.
Since I hang my hat on writing, I’m constantly trying different avenues from poetry, music, scripts and recently, I started writing a digital comic book.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Collaborating has been pretty tough. I’m very much an introvert so I tend to stay to myself and I don’t venture too far from my immediate circle. In order for a collaboration to work, we have to have an organic connection for me to truly be inspired. A bag works too though don’t get me wrong. As far as support goes, listening to my music, pulling up to my shows or sharing my songs with people out of the emotions it brings them is the best support anyone could offer.
Contact Info:
- Email: seanb.music93@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.1strangr.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanb_chillin/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCPiPvJo7JvNHaJf7eOOyeZA
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/seanb_chillin
- Other: https://linktr.ee/seanb_chillin
Image Credits
@gsr_photo @onlevibez
