We recently had the chance to connect with Natalie Del Carmen and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Natalie, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I’m a mile wide and an inch deep when it comes to most things because I bounce around new interests a lot. I like to teach myself things. I used to leave a mess around the house growing up because my threshold of boredom and the need to keep moving was raging. It still is. There are always things that will keep the time flying: songwriting, cross stitching, crocheting, finding a new artist’s discography that I’m really new to, and wanting to dive in. At least in my twenties, though, it’s been super in-depth conversations with good friends. Usually about life, or society, or art. Honoring the part of myself that can’t mentally sit still for very long usually brings me back to myself pretty alright.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a young country and Americana songwriter and artist from the Los Angeles Valley. Coming into the genre has felt lifelong because I didn’t quite grow up on it. I understood and embraced pop music for a very long time, until I came around to myself and realized I wrote very conversationally. I felt pop didn’t let me do that, and while my respect for the genre continues, I’ve parted ways because I felt confined to the math that comes with writing a pop hit. I’ve always written in a conversational way. It feels like the best way to say what you actually mean, and I like songs that don’t take too much decoding. I have an album called Pastures coming out in early January 2026 that feels like the first time I’ve embraced all of this. It’s about that weird transition in post-grad life, your early twenties, and trying to find footing.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I feel like the idea that life is really finite has come up a lot over the past few years, even if that sounds a little broad. I have felt lucky over and over because it hasn’t been shown in super catastrophic ways, but in small things I pick up on day-to-day. I wrote “El Cortez” about some version of this… watching my parents getting older and realizing I was too, and relating to them in more mature ways than I ever could have as a kid. I was born in the earlier clan of Gen Z, so I recognize that life is fragile, but still full. It’s about learning and finding things you enjoy in life to pay attention to while you still can. I look forward to continuing to work hard professionally and equally recognizing what’s of value in my life. I don’t know if it’s ever been one moment.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Maybe that it’s okay to have more outward confidence. I suppose I have a pretty deep fear around selling myself. I never want to be the person in a professional setting telling you how it is, as if I know how it is, if that makes sense. I’ve never wanted to be the loudest person in the room. I don’t believe my story holds more weight than anyone else’s, and I never want to paint it that way. But, I think it’s also important to get people to believe in you and learn how to play to your strengths. “Be more confident in the things you’ve worked hard to earn, and don’t play it off like you didn’t.” That’s probably what I would tell my younger self, some version of that.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
It’s always been writing enough music to get someone to understand or rethink a part of their life that they’ve been trying to make sense of. That’s the lifelong goal for me. I hope to keep doing that as an artist through my own songs, but I think I’d find a way to do it even if it wasn’t through music. I can’t tell you how many times a new moral gate opened in my life through music. I just want to be a part of that. I think people who can do it, and do it well, are so cool, and are pillars of society we should look up to more. There’s a specific way to do it that feels so far from preachy or like you’re just trying to say stuff– Izaak Opatz, The Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, all my favorites, they do it right, and quite well. I feel committed to keep writing songs about life, family, friendship, and grief. I can’t promise it’ll always be that because I struggle with doing the same thing for too long. But that’s the heart of it.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: When do you feel most at peace?
Peace comes from the small, but big, pillars in my life that I keep private. It’s ironic to write music and put out projects that spell out plainly what I’m going through in my life mentally, while also feeling like an oddly private person. I believe the minute you put something online, or on social media, or air it out, it’s no longer yours. I enjoy being online and sharing. I enjoy writing music that actually speaks to my life because I want it to be genuine, of course. But there are some things in life that make you feel calm because you don’t feel the need to defend or justify them to anyone. I’m a huge proponent of keeping the best parts of your life quiet.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nataliedelcarmen.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliedelcarmenn/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Natalbugs/videos
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0TMQOD1S7h7Dr86QQWHdiG?si=J5mnf2GZRUW2MGX6pASEZw&nd=1&dlsi=fa01679ba17d4ad6
