Today we’d like to introduce you to Space Nat.
Hi Space, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started playing piano when I was five. My dad is a well-studied/trained musician; I used to sit at the piano, press down on random keys, turn around and ask if I found a chord. He put me into piano lessons pretty quickly once that became a regular occurrence.
My family is very musical so growing up learning an instrument and singing was a normal part of daily routine. I wrote my first song, just piano when I was ten as an extra credit project for my 5th-grade history class, nerdy I know. I wrote my first song piano + lyrics when I was 12 on the anniversary my grandfather’s passing, and songwriting has been my therapy ever since.
I continued to write music all throughout middle and high school, played in school talent shows, recorded a little bit, attended summer music programs, sang in choir and vocal jazz ensembles, just knowing music was what I wanted to do. That brought me to audition for and attend UCLA’s Ethnomusicology program. I actually learned to sing in Portuguese and went to school with the intention to study Brazilian jazz, that jazz combo in high school really impacted me I’ll always be grateful for that experience, even if I was late to the early classes 4/5 times. (Oops)
It was in college that I really leaned into the singer/songwriter thing in a more serious way. By serious, I mean I was writing a lot, really trying to be more intentional, learning, all that stuff you’re supposed to do when you go to a university. It was great, but also really scary. I wasn’t totally set on or to be honestly confident enough about my music. I actually ended up graduating with a major in English and a minor in Musicology/Music Industry after three years of Ethnomusicology…. some might call me indecisive, and they would be correct! Regardless, the people I met at UCLA are truly some of the most motivating, incredible musicians I know and that experience really shaped my trajectory.
In fact, one of my best friends from the UCLA music program and my college a cappella group convinced me to do something really crazy – move to Nashville, TN after college. She was quite persuasive. About a month after graduating, I packed my car and drove from LA to Nashville with three internships and an apartment with a random roommate lined up, and not a ton else planned.
It was amazing. I landed a job at a bluegrass label called Rounder Records (a Concord Music subsidiary) and immersed myself in Nashville’s music community. I had literally never listened to bluegrass before, did not know anything about country music, and felt again that I was at the beginning of my singer/songwriter journey from a craftsmanship perspective. Nashville is a cool freaking town, man. I absolutely adore that place and my experiences there were truly transformative. I live in LA now and I really feel like I’m still a hybrid, “big city heart and small town soul,” if you will. I love being a combination of different styles, experiences and communities.
When it comes to the actual songs, I’ve never really been focused on “pop” music. I’ve always leaned towards jazz a lot more, and I think my exposure to folk and bluegrass weirdly played into my initial inclinations. People ask what my genre is all the time and I think I’m a lot better at listing my influences. I just love really, really good songs honestly. Nashville taught me how to appreciate songs in a new way. The songwriting scene there is the real freaking deal. There is so much crazy talent and it’s really cool to watch people come up and get cuts, pub deals, industry jobs, the whole thing. A lot of my friends from Nashville are accomplishing crazy shit right now and I love watching/listening to it all go down.
I moved back to LA last summer and not gonna lie it’s been really super tough moving back, especially in the middle of this damn pandemic, which makes trying to absorb and understand a new scene a littttttle bit harder. Still, I gotta say it’s all pretty damn cool. There are so many amazing players here to learn from. I’ve met some truly a m a z i n g people and learned so much in a year. It’s intimidating, but I think being scared is just something that I’ve decided to get over and get comfy with because life is scary and my music is pretty vulnerable which I guess can be a little nerve-wracking when it comes to “putting it out.” But I’m really lucky and I figure if this is the stuff that keeps me up at night, I’m doing okay, you know?
Anyways, to backtrack, I recorded my first EP titled “When This Is Over, Tell Me I’m Pretty” in Nashville with my producer Ben Kling. The project took us like, two years lol. I really didn’t know what I was doing when we started. Again, I learned so much. And I’m still learning now. Ben and I are working on my second EP, which is slowly becoming an album (sorry Ben) since I add a new song like, every week. My first project really pays tribute to Nashville, college, and being a young writer. I love that project, but I’m so excited for the new music to come out. My producer and one of my closest friends/collaborators told me it feels like I just “don’t give a fuck in the best way” when it comes to music and lyrics now and I honestly love that.
I’m a really anxious person, I have this thing about how time is the most important thing we have and as a result, I’m terrified to waste any of it. Ironically, I think I spent a lot of time freaking out and thinking about music instead of saying fuck it – I’m doing what I want. Having more of that freedom and awareness now has been really important to lean into, and I really encourage artists everywhere to just make the music they want to listen to, have fun, do what feels right.
So anyways, that is a play by play of my story. My moniker is Space Nat. I don’t go by my birth name. I love having an alter ego. I feel like in my moniker, I can be just completely creatively free and expressive. The “space” part of my name is about having and creating space; a safe place to be free and creative and weird/cool/fun/crazy, whatever. I think I created that space for myself with a name and again, I think it’s so important for us all no matter who we are or what we do to make that little corner of the world that’s ours and sacred and forgiving. That place for me is now and always has been the Space Nat project, as I mentioned before, music started as and for me always will be, therapy.
That’s me so far!!
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?
No. lol. Honestly, I think being a young woman in music is so fucking hard. Not to go that way, but I’ve had my fair share of shit and horror stories and I kind of feel like even if I don’t go into detail, it’s important to put that out there and keep that relevant. Things were especially bumpy when I was really young, like 19-23, because I didn’t know how to stand up for myself or be confident in my voice. It’s just a hard business, period.
I’ve struggled so much with my own self-doubt and insecurities. Comparison being the thief of joy. Being caught oscillating between working in the industry, being a writer, working at a bar, having a more corporate, traditional, full-time career and trying to also do music full time as well. Money is… a struggle, you know? We all have to survive but also dedicate ourselves to art somehow and it’s just a really hard thing to balance. For me at least that’s always been a really hard thing.
But yeah, I think a lot of my “bumps” have probably been self-inflicted. Again, just dealing with doubt, anxiety, a fun pattern I’ve found myself in too is focusing on relationships more than myself and finding it easier to bury myself in someone else’s life, goals, problems. I’ve actually been working on breaking myself out of that now that we’re in pandemic and I have a lot more time to focus on my relationship with me, an important relationship!! So yeah that’s been healing.
Being 20 something kind of… sucks… dare I say it? Because nothing like… makes sense? It’s a pretty… confusing time?
Again, I’m really lucky in so many ways and I am so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had. But yeah, I mean, I think inherently this path is difficult to navigate. The financial struggles are real, the toll on mental health is very, very real, and it’s just tough. Again, finding/creating space is so important! I think I struggled the most when I wasn’t doing that at all. Growing!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So I am primarily a pianist, singer/songwriter, storyteller of sorts, writer in general. I specialize in songwriting in a pretty traditional way. I create songs, I’m learning now how to produce/record on my own. But at the end of the day I identify as a craftswoman and my craft is songwriting. The lyrics, melodies, the stuff that happens before we create the “project” if that makes sense.
I think that’s what I’m most known for as well. The people who have known me the longest know me are the most invested in the songs and know me as the writer. I’m working on the branding, the recording, production all that is coming because at the end of the day, I make songs as my bread and butter.
I think the project I’m working on now is what I’m the most proud of so far. Again, I think I’m coming into myself as more of a self-aware person and as less of a kid going through a breakup or moving or going to college or whatever it was. I think the new stuff I’m doing is really honest and doesn’t paint me as a victim or as “right” or even as a protagonist – it’s just me as me, as a human, kind of explaining what happened. So I’m proud of where I’ve come in my craft and I’m sooooo so excited to get these new tracks out. Also, I would be remiss to not note here that I am extremely proud of the way my producer and I have put these tracks together. I think Space Nat will finally have a genre. We did something really intentional and made something that we love and think is cool and rocks. It’s a lot “younger?” and more.
“hip” thats my previous project, it’s honest and fun and sad and … funny?! dare I say it, at points. So yeah, I’m really jazzed about this new EP and can’t wait to put it out.
I think my honesty as a writer and in my voice is what sets me apart. I think people like my music for the stories and rawness of them. I’m just here wearing my heart of my sleeves, creating my little world and sharing it with those who care to listen. The focus is on the lyrics. The voice. Like I said, I’m a songwriter in a pretty classic, traditional way. I want people to come to a Space Nat show or listen to a Space Nat song when they need some catharsis, or a good laugh, or to feel less alone. My songs are me reaching out and being like, “Hey, it’s cool to be human dude. I promise it’s not just you!!” So yeah I think that’s what people like, I try to be relatable.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Oof…. that’s the kind of the question, isn’t it? Specifically for this crazy world we live in.
So for writers and artists, I think this is a super important time, we’re going through a major shift. For one, the emphasis on the home studio/bedroom pop thing was already massive, and now it’s just necessary. People can’t physically be in the studio like they could pre covid. But also, artists and writers don’t need studio time, labels, etc. the way they used to. Not to say that stuff doesn’t help btw, there are just more resources now. Anything from owning a MacBook to having access to a YouTube series. It’s all the 21st-century stuff, the information era effect, that makes it easier to be a rock star in your bedroom. We can do a lot at home now, and get good at what we do on our own, too! Also, that obviously puts the emphasis more on online platforms, discovery, that whole thing. Spotify, TikTok… we live in a world where we want immediate gratification and we only want it to last for like …. 15 seconds, lol.
There are definitely pros and cons to all this…. like how does someone stick out if literally everyone owns a laptop and can make a beat and put it on SoundCloud? There’s almost too much going on it’s easy to feel totally lost in the madness, again, not amazingggg for the mental health. But, I do think the fact that artists have this freedom now is truly amazing. There’s this sense that anyone can do it, the tools and platforms to get noticed are a lot easier to find. Less gatekeepers perhaps? And I think we’re already in it and have been for a long time. How many apps have there been where someone has been discovered? Justin Bieber on YouTube, Shawn Mendez on Vine, how many kids have gotten famous on TikTok this year…?! In a lot of ways, what’s happening now has been happening since Napster, maybe before, it’s that whole story you know. And maybe we’re just paying attention to it more now because we’re all like, kind of bored and probably spend too much time online in quarantine. But yeah, the music industry is online and if you have a laptop and want to make a track. Get on garage band and do it!!
Honestly, I don’t know what’s going to happen to live music. It’s scary and sad to think about. I am honestly just hoping it can all come back in the not so far out future. Touring is so. Freaking. Important. For artists to make a living and I know a lot of people are hurting without the opportunity to play out this year. I don’t think, however, that the want/need for live music will ever go away because that need is like, part of our DNA or something? So when this shitstorm is over… I have to believe and feel confident/positive that live music will come back hopefully, eventually, back to what it was before 2020. But, this is truly a hard time for touring artists.
So industry-wise…. right now, agencies are hurting without touring, etc. Online platforms are blowing up/potentially more necessary than ever. Labels/publishers, I think are relatively stable. Moving forward, labels/publishers will always be there doing their thing. The online wave is what I kind of talked about before, and yeah I just hope the live music piece comes back. 2020 is wild man, my head is spinning just typing this. Let’s just keep chugging along!!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mespacenat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spacenatsounds
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/29ssECksMNj07Z0m657txB?si=r3NNbMqmRt2-aqCLqfc1Gw
Image Credits:
Abby Mahler (pool photo, live show b&w photo) Susan Berry (bathtub photo) Allison Hammond (eye roll close up album art photo, pink cosmos suit photo… also took red sweater photo from before) Logen Christopher (checkered pants in space, took original photo) Handle of Iron (designed checkered pants in space graphic photo) Libby Danforth (green background photo, and city scape denim jacket photo)
