Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Walters.
Hi Jacob, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started off right as I entered the world, listening to 70’s, 80’s and 90’s music with my parents. With my mom, it was R&B and Soul music, the greats like MJ, Prince, and Stevie Wonder. My dad showed me classic rock, like Queen, ACDC and Zeppelin. I’m so grateful to have had that huge array of music around me because it got me interested in immersing myself as much as I could in music.
I started piano lessons at eight and then eventually added voice lessons onto that shortly thereafter. Later, I joined a local musical theatre company of kids and fell madly in love with the adrenaline and escape of being onstage. I continued doing that for some time, along with other musical theatre adventures. Once I got to high school, which was a teeny tiny charter school, there was no MT program, so I decided to try joining the mixed choir. This is where I started to experience classical music, and from there, I went to the University of Arizona to pursue a Bachelor of Music in Voice, though still intimately tied to the more contemporary genres that I grew up with. I am now graduating from CSUN with a Master of Music in Voice, and am incredibly eager to spread my musical wings as wide as I can possibly make them!
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?
Like all things in life, there have been ups, and there have been downs. I tend to be a pretty gnarly perfectionist and expect a LOT of myself and of others, which I think is both a blessing and a curse. The imposter syndrome is definitely real, especially for the fact that I am still relatively new in classical music. Beyond music, though, as one ages, life’s challenges become harder and harder. I’m in a long-distance relationship, which is incredibly hard, but it is beautiful to know that, even from miles away, there are people looking out for me here in LA.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have dipped my feet in many of music’s ponds. I tend to identify myself, first and foremost, as a songwriter. It is what I come home to, how I start my day, what I am constantly pondering. I sing and play piano of course, but I believe I found those mediums as simply a way to tell the stories inside of me. Having grown up around such a wide array of music, I think that my eclectic sensibilities set me apart. I never want to just stay comfortable… I am always trying to push some boundary or mix two things that aren’t usually mixed. Like, currently, I am working on a project where I am trying to blend the organic sounds of traditional folk music with distorted and aggressive sounds of industrial and electronic music. I have an album called Broken Brain where I tried to blend classical tropes of symphonies and arias with hard-hitting, sweaty club beats. For me, it’s just fun to see how weird I can get, while also still trying to stay accessible and enjoyable!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Coffee, food, wine, friendship. Coffee because it is the elixir of life. Life is too short for bad food and bad coffee. Wine because, I mean, come on. Friendship because life is so hard – why do it alone?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jakewaltersmusic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/khakijake
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/jakewaltersmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCudKc64BaYWLveVddfK_LTA
Image Credits
David Pujol John Gordon
