

Today we’d like to introduce you to Portrait XO.
Portrait, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my journey in music with classical piano at age 4. I quit piano lessons at age 15 to discover my own sound, moved to London for a while, and came back to LA with new perspectives on sound. Living in London for 9 years was the boldest and best thing I’ve ever done. UK living introduced me to a whole new world of electronic music, sounds, and innovative music technology. Aside from songwriting and producing, I’m obsessed with art, science, technology, and humanity.
After discovering what synaesthesia was, it’s opened up interesting new ways of expressing myself creatively. I love the science of sound and am excited about creating more synaesthetic experiences for people. I would’ve never imagined making sound installations about my synaesthesia and giving people synaesthetic dining experiences where I get to perform musical translations of how I hear sounds from flavors.
I’ll always continue to perform as an electronic music artist, but I love pushing boundaries in creativity as far as I can beyond music so I’ll continue pushing in a lot of different ways.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been far from smooth. Being an independent music artist is challenging because it’s not only hard to survive financially (if you want to make it your career), but there are extreme highs and lows, and the journey it takes to understand what your own truth is can sometimes be long and frustrating.
I’ve also been bullied in the music industry enough times to push me to learn how to produce my own music. Now I thank these struggles for making me stronger as an artist. There’s a lot of other frustrations too like goals don’t usually happen the way I envision them and plans constantly change. The bigger I dream, the bigger I fear. Meditation saves me.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I love connecting dots between art, science, music, technology, and humanity. As a music artist and creative director, I see visuals as a way to communicate ideas and music to communicate emotions. Give me an idea or a problem and I can give you 360-degree multimedia ideas with all the resources to make them happen, with the bonus of an emotional impact through musical storytelling. Whether it’s creating immersive sound installations, dance shows, musical dining experiences, a live musical performance, or helping other artists bring their ideas to life, I love making things happen.
To really make any kind of big emotional impact, you need the right sound to go with your content – the right vibe, song, lyrics, and style. I’m a great dot connector and my biggest asset is being able to communicate effectively with a diverse set of resources and inspiration. The more you diversify yourself, the more you innovate. I’m grateful for the amazing pool of creatives I’ve been graced to have as friends, they fuel my mind and spirit.
As a brand, I’m proud of being able to create a new space of creativity as a music artist without limits in how I express myself. I’m grateful for the ongoing support I get from fans and co-creators. It’s been exciting collaborating with neurologists, technologists in AI and AR, all the artists I’ve helped write songs and produce, and being a co-founder of a regular electronic music night in LA with other incredible artists – ‘SAMPLEnHOLD’.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Taking the first step towards my dreams when I took my big leap in 2015, despite my fears and anxieties. Winning the grand prize for top AR at USC’s Creating Reality hackathon recently was pretty epic. Writing music for a feature-length film was also great. Getting booked to speak and perform at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this summer is crazy, I haven’t wrapped my head around it yet.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.portraitxomusic.com
- Email: info@portraitxomusic.com
- Instagram: portraitxo
- Facebook: portraitxo
- Twitter: portraitxo
Image Credit:
SoFar Sounds, Michael Klutch
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