Meet Paris Petitjean of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paris Petitjean

Hi Paris, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Paris Petitjean and I am a musician, and model. Growing up I would write songs and play guitar or piano every day that I could, always in hopes of making it into a full time career. I eventually attended songwriting school in London and started getting into writing sessions with other upcoming musicians. It really built up my confidence and experience as a songwriter. When Instagram started blowing up I would upload fashion photos and singing videos, I slowly grew a following and fan base that allowed me to play shows and sell small amounts of merch to earn money. I later got into modelling via Instagram and managed to land some massive roles in fashion and beauty campaigns as leading ‘talent’ roles for some well respected names like Nike, Jagermeister, Neutrogena and many more. I would work ridiculously long days, writing music, planning shoots and making content. I’ve been doing that for the last 10 years. I really have put my 10,000 hours in. I managed to get myself to LA after flying back and forth for 6 years and making connections with so many amazing creatives. I was finally able to move here full time 2 years ago and build a career for myself. I’m now very grateful to have a community of fans who stream my music, it’s growing everyday and it’s only up from here.

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?
My journey has definitely been anything but easy. The life of a struggling musician is a hard career choice to keep up with, add in all the hardship life throws at us within our personal lives, being a musician is an incredibly demanding and sometimes depressing career.

Making music is like therapy and you really do have to wear your heart on your sleeve to be a good songwriter. It can be sole crushing to put so much hard work into such a personal piece of art that you then share with the world and nobody even bothers to listen to it. It’s a graft and hustle of consistency and resilience. You’ll be told ‘no’ over and over again but have to keep getting back up and moving forward.

Being an artist in 2024 means you are your own manager, label, content creator, photographer, booking agent, stylist and marketing agency. It’s difficult enough to just make the music, never mind everything else being an artist now comes with. I find juggling everything at once still incredibly difficult and have to have incredibly good time management to also have any kind of social life.

There has been numerous times I have almost given up, so many times I’ve sat down and thought about getting an ‘normal’ job, but something deep inside of me is so resilient I always get back up and keep going.

One of my biggest struggles has been embracing the new wave of tiktok and reels and finding where I fit within social media as it ever changes to newer trends. I think the key is to step out of your comfort zone and push to be better every time something seems scary or overwhelming. You’ll only get stronger.

My dad died last year and it’s been a massive change within my home life, grieving has been a heartbreaking process but my music has allowed me to embrace my emotions and turn my pain into something beautiful. After he passed away I had an urge to rebrand my whole aesthetic, delete all my old music and start again as the new person i felt like i now was through my grief. My new project is a set of work that really expresses my stages of grief and heartbreak.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m mostly known for my music via Instagram. Ive been fortunate enough to play some big shows, work with some phunominal musicians and collaborate with some inspiring brands. Music has been my whole life for 10 years and I’m so greatful for the fans that are still streaming and standing by me waiting for the next load of music to drop. I’ve definitely done an array of genres of the years and slowly moved to a sound that I feel is 100% me. I started with folk/acoustic music but soon moved over to pop; later in life I went onto alternative and indie and in the last year I’ve full circle back to folk/acoustic again. I’m most proud of this new set of work and i’m so excited to release it. although my older songs did well and resonated with people, it never felt 100% me, this new era of music is exactly what I want, with no one else giving there input or options on how it should or shouldn’t sound. The music industry can be a very toxic environment for young girls and I’m pleased I’ve finally found a place I feel comfortable being myself with no manager, producers or labels pushing their visions onto me.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In the next 5-10 years I hope to be playing my songs on bigger stages and touring with an album that connects to a larger audience. I hope to be sharing my projects with fans across the globe. My intention has always been to use music to connect, help others and build a community that is spread across all countries, religions and cultures. I believe human connection is the greatest gift this earth has given us. Being able to connect with other like minded people via music is what makes me live for music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/72tgvDZCJayys27ylPTM6K?si=rXEjScjlQLmoewltrK7Smg
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parispetitjean/profilecard/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==