September 24, 2025 • 39 mins
Alina loves the studio. Loves the writing. Loves the moment when melody and emotion click. But when it comes time to share the final product? She hesitates and questions everything.
We talked about why the creative process flows easily—until the pressure to be “professional” kicks in. This conversation is for anyone who’s ever over-polished their passion or sat on finished work for too long because they didn’t feel “ready.”
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
how do I release a song like
(00:01):
should I have like some sort of yeah
strategy and I mean all of that jazz
I was just like making a song and putting it out
and yeah
I loved being in the studio and I
I think yeah
I have to remind myself like that
that was the part like
being in the studio for hours
and just writing and creating something that's like
my own with people too
yeah
it's just like
created this like new outlet that I was like oh
(00:23):
I know how to put my thoughts and feelings into
into something instead of like keeping them inside
yeah it's a way you can express yourself
yeah right
it's so funny how you know
you recorded like
wrote and recorded a song in one day
and you released it and now
you're struggling to release the songs that are like
quote unquote more thought out
(00:43):
more professional more whatever right
it's funny how when we're putting pressure on ourselves
we like
stop ourselves from actually like releasing the stuff
right but how are we gonna know how awesome you are
if we can't hear your stuff right yeah
(01:07):
hey Vox Star and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the 3 fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(01:28):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready
let's get started we are back in New York City
this time with a wonderful newish artist
welcome Alina Victoria hi
hi thank you so much for having me
(01:48):
of course thank you for being here
we were just talking and I didn't quite realize how
you only started this whole music journey
like two years ago right
yeah yeah
I I mean
I spent my whole life singing
like in chorus and kind of taking some singing lessons
but not pursuing it super seriously
(02:08):
I think um
when I graduated college
and had some time to kind of just do whatever
I was trying to search for something that yeah
I was really passionate about
and I wanted to do just for me
yeah and yeah
that was about two years ago
I started actually writing my own music and wow
um recording it and kind of just
(02:29):
and related to it yeah exactly exactly
well that is so cool
cause it's always so inspiring for me to see how
like you you only started this two years ago
but then you you decided to uh
go to Tulum that's how actually we met at Simone's um
vocal production retreat
which was amazing
and it was so cool to hear your song there
(02:51):
and I was like oh
oh this is actually really good hahaha
and obviously your voice sounded fantastic too
so uh that's how we met and that was super cool
and now here it's like we're not even a month later uh
back here in New York and and working together
so the reason why I'm actually here in New York
is because you asked me to come
help you record a song in the studio
(03:11):
I'm so excited yes
that's where we're gonna go here
like right after we're done with this
so I'm super excited to do that but I was like hey
if we're already here and we're already doing this
we might as well you know
talk about your journey and you know
why you decided to go um
like a little bit more
get a little bit more seriously with your music
and all of that stuff too
(03:33):
and then um everybody who's listening who likes Elena
cause everybody likes Elena
I love Elena hahaha um
you can then check out the
another episode
where we'll show the behind the scenes of actually
recording your song
which is what we're gonna do right after this
but before we get into all of this
you mentioned that uh two years ago is where like
(03:54):
after graduating college is kind of like
where it's like okay
I have more time I wanna like get more into music
you had voice lessons before
you said yeah
yeah in high school
I always did voice lessons
um I kind of
I guess I copied my sister when I was in high school
like she was doing it and I was like
I wanna be like her
so then started taking voice lessons
(04:16):
and yeah it's funny now that I think about it
I think
both my sisters really influenced me to pursue music
in different ways um
um and they're not really pursuing it in the same way
but it's just cool to see like yeah
I've drawn inspiration from them and like
just so happened on this path because of them yeah
oh that's so wonderful
how long did you take voice lessons
(04:36):
would you say um
I would say a couple of years
maybe like two years OK
yeah cool cool
do you feel like they helped you at all with your voice
definitely yeah
um
yeah I think it definitely helped me in like
being more confident
I think that's something I kind of like
struggle with in terms of just like
feeling confident and comfortable in my own voice and
(04:57):
like trying to figure out what even my
my voice is what it sounds like
um
so definitely I think has helped me grow as an artist
but I've still been taking
voice lessons since I moved to the city
um OK
every so often so yeah
um that has helped a lot
really like the past two years
um as I've been recording and OK
(05:18):
yeah OK
so fast forward to you went to Cornell right
yeah yes
but you didn't study music
no I didn't
I actually so funny thing is I
I always pursued music like did chorus and stuff
but um
I don't know
I think that confidence was always like a running theme
like um
freshman year of college
(05:39):
Cornell is kind of known for like the acapella groups
um OK cool
cause I think I think Pitch Perfect was based um
off of Cornell oh
um and so freshman year
I was really excited like
tried out for a couple of acapella groups
and then didn't get in and then like
was kind of discouraged yes
and I feel like I don't know
it was that the culture of even like
clubs or acapella groups was like
(06:01):
pretty intense and then yeah
didn't end up doing that and kind of like
let music behind for a little bit
yeah you know
it's crazy how one moment in our musical journey can be
like okay
I'm not doing it again ever again
yeah but for you wasn't ever again
but it was not again for a long time
(06:23):
just because of a couple people saying no
yeah right
but like that's all just like their opinion
and had you auditioned for maybe somebody else
it would have been a yes right
like it's it's so
uh art is so subjective
yeah right
and a lot of times we get so caught up on the negatives
(06:44):
like the negative feedback that we get that
that we're like oh
if they say that this wasn't good enough or whatever
we somehow for some stupid reason believe them
but we can have a 50 people telling us wow
I love your voice this is wonderful
this is really great I love what you're doing
and we're like yeah
but you know like I just
it's really not that good
like yeah
(07:04):
why do we choose to believe that one person that's like
no versus the 50 people that are like
oh my god I love this
it's so weird how the human brain works like that
sometimes yeah
no it's so crazy
I mean I think even now
I think as I've gotten older past
fast forward a few years graduating college
um
have been able to pursue things more and kind of just
like jump right into it
(07:25):
yeah but I don't know
I still experience that I feel like the
the same thing happening in a different form
I think I love
like
all the songs that I've recorded the past few years
but I don't know like as you practice more
you get better and then you kind of hear that stuff
and even though like I have like
my boyfriend and my parents telling me they like
love those songs yeah
part of me
I like relisten to them a bunch of times and like
(07:48):
I don't like how I said this phrase too fast or like
I know we worked on this and recorded it 20 times
but I still feel like something's off about it
and yeah um
yeah I think I still kind of struggle with that
and like in terms of like
I don't know
like feeling confident in what I share with on
like online or on yeah
it's hard to find the balance for sure
(08:09):
cause obviously
you wanna share something that you're proud of
and that you love but it doesn't have to be perfect
yeah right
but if it's like it's kind of like your baby right
like no
like I need it to be perfect
and I don't wanna share it if it's not perfect
but also I think especially in today's world
people crave real things
(08:31):
like rawness and real human connection
and uh
they it it's not so much about like
everything sounding perfect anymore
it's more like I just wanna be a part of your journey
and so just honor yourself where you are at right now
and share that obviously only if you're like yeah
I like I love this 90% sure
(08:53):
it could be like 10% whatever
this phrase and that phrase and what not
but you know if you're like
no like this is actually technically really good
I'm just being way too nitpicky then you know
share it and allow yourself to grow as you
as you keep going
and look back at those songs that you released
a year ago or two years ago
and you're like yeah
(09:13):
it's better now but
but yeah that's
that's you hopefully yeah
how it goes right
like you you improve
you get better as you continue working on your skills
yeah yeah totally
I think I'm garnering the strength to maybe
while I'm still recording these few songs
like start putting out the stuff that
I spent so much time on the past year
(09:34):
yeah um
and probably also money right
like and you're recording it like yes
if you're not doing money yes
if you're not doing it yourself
then you're spending
quite a bit of money to get these songs
recorded and produced and all of that stuff
so it's like might as well yeah
hahaha share it with us
right
and so I wanna go back real quick to post graduation
(09:54):
where you know
you were like okay
I wanna do music more
more seriously maybe is the right word here yeah
what made you want to do that
do you know yeah
I don't think
it was a specific moment or choice that I made
I think something you said earlier
um about how it's crazy
how like
one moment can really change things
(10:15):
or your path or direction
um I graduated college a little bit early
and I think doing music has always been in the back of
my mind like
I don't know
when you're like super passionate about something
I feel like I mean
like it's like
it's all you're doing
something else in the back of your mind is like
and you see other people doing that
yeah thing um
and you kind of have that craving to also do that thing
(10:37):
and yes um
share whatever it is that
that you're passionate about
um but I was home and my sister writes poetry
um she's been writing poetry forever
like all of law school and um
she's incredible at it
and she was trying to figure out what to do with her
with her poetry
and she happened to run into a high school friend from
(10:59):
like 10 years ago while she was at work
I think and they ended up connecting
reconnecting
and he was kind of helping her figure out how to
maybe put some background music
as she did some like
spoken word poetry wow
she was trying to write music
she was just kind of exploring creatively
like what to do with her words
(11:19):
yeah um
and I just so happen to be there
and he brought all his recording stuff
and we were kind of um
like in her kitchen just like figuring out what to do
and then I don't know
I was there so I was like
oh I'll try this yeah
um
so then I started randomly writing stuff on top of like
instrumentals um
(11:40):
or beats on YouTube love it
yeah top lining is what that's called right
like if you're doing melody and lyrics
but you're not necessarily doing the core progressions
or whatever that's called top lining
yeah I love top lining
yeah I think I love that more than songwriting honestly
if I'm being honest but yeah
that's so cool
so you just picked random tracks off of YouTube
yeah so yeah
I wrote this one song that I also didn't release
(12:01):
but my family Alina hahaha
literally will never let me forget about it
it's like their favorite song
I wrote it about a book and yeah
started kind of working with my sister's friend
like just while he was around
and he was
he really like kind of gave me the rundown of like
how to like record vocals and like how
(12:22):
I don't know just like how to
how to make a song a song
and like um
I think it kind of came like pretty naturally
like I've always I wrote creatively
but not in a music format okay
but I mean I guess I'm learning now that like
I know I wrote poetry or like just like free
free handwriting like it yeah
it kind of is the same thing
(12:42):
um so anyways
like
how to take those words and like make them into a song
and he like kind of took me under his wing
we went to um
a studio in South Florida
um and my first song that I released
he had created the beat beforehand
and I toplined on that and I wrote it in the studio
(13:03):
I had a few words that I like
I like to collect words from different parts of my life
like if I hear something that resonates with me or
like a phrase or just a word
um and yeah we
we wrote it there and I recorded it that day
we did it all in that one day and then I released it
wow um
that's amazing
but I wasn't really thinking so much about like
(13:25):
how do I release a song like
should I have like some sort of yeah
strategy and I mean
all that jazz
I was just like making a song and putting it out
and yeah
um yeah
I mean that was so fun I
I loved being in the studio
and I I think yeah
I have to remind myself like that
that was the part like
being in the studio for hours
and just writing and creating something that's like
(13:46):
my own with people too
yeah um
was it's just like
created this like new outlet that I was like oh
I know how to put my thoughts and feelings into
into something instead of like keeping them inside
yeah it's a way you can express yourself
yeah right
it's so funny how you know
you recorded like
wrote and recorded a song in one day
(14:07):
and you released it and now you're struggling
to release the songs that are like
quote unquote more thought out
more professional more whatever right
um and it's uh
it's funny how when we're putting pressure on ourselves
we like
stop ourselves from actually like releasing the stuff
right but how are we gonna know how awesome you are
(14:29):
if we can't hear your stuff right
yeah
it's funny cause um
when I put out that first song I'm
I sing in high school
so like my close friends from high school
um kind of knew about like that side of my life
but like I didn't share any of my music or like that
I even sing with like all my college friends
so like when my college friend came to visit me
(14:52):
when I was putting out that song
it was like a huge like
I don't know one 80 cause everyone was like
wait you say yes
and then um um
it was really awesome
that whole experience just because like
I don't know I was like so afraid
um of like I
I didn't I didn't stop myself
cause I didn't think it was something I could do
but once I released the song
like luckily
(15:13):
like everyone in my life was just so supportive
and yeah has always been so supportive of just like
what I wanna do like what makes me happy
um and yeah
my family and my friends are like so great
so definitely wouldn't that's great
I love that we love a support system
yes but I find that very inspiring that
(15:33):
you know
even though you didn't study music in school and
you know you didn't like set out to become a singer
musician or whatever
like it's just a passion that you found right
like it kind of like dropped in your lap a little bit
or you know
you got inspired by your sisters too
so it's like you know
it's a
it's inspiring for me to see that you felt the passion
(15:57):
and you went towards it rather than like
music's not a real thing like whatever
like I'll write a song at home and then
you know do nothing with it
but you're actually doing something with it
and you are releasing it and yes
yes I will be releasing this
there you go we're holding you accountable now
(16:17):
and you know
you you are
you are just doing it
and I think most people don't ever even get that far
right they're like yeah
I love singing and then they sing in the shower
in the car and maybe at karaoke
and that's that's it right
and it's kind of like almost like a suppressed passion
and you are letting it come out
and I love that I think that's wonderful
thank you yeah
(16:38):
I think what motivates me most
I don't know there's
I feel like there's certain songs that like
you always come back to
like I'm trying to think of like
like a song that I listen to a lot in high school
that I still have on repeat like um
naked by LMA or like yeah
I think um
like certain words
like really resonate with me and like
I carry them with me and like
(16:59):
I don't know like
I wanna make a song that someone could listen to you
and like
feel like it it understands them and like really like
I don't know
captures their emotions and like thoughts and oh
I love that yeah
it's funny when I was writing my record many years ago
uh I did a similar thing
like collecting words but I did it as a song titles
(17:23):
like I wanted to collect song titles
yeah cause
you know like if you're
if you're just on Spotify and what not and you know
like you you look
you're looking through all these different songs
you somehow have to like grab people's attention
and I wanted to create like cool song
song titles to just have like
an extra little tiny bit of advantage
(17:45):
be like oh
that sounds interesting
haha yeah
um that's awesome
I don't know if that like
actually like really matters or not
but what what I did and it was
it was kind of fun to then like
create songs around the song titles that I created
yeah huh
that's really cool just a different approach
it's cool to like
hear how everyone draws inspiration and like
(18:07):
I don't know like yeah
everyone kind of approaches it differently
so yeah
yeah for one of my songs
um it ended up being called just letters
but initially it was burning letters
um and I was
I was in the I was living in Nashville at the time
and the apartment building that I was in had
(18:28):
like a pool and so I was in the pool
and then the letters from the building were like
really shiny and the sun was setting
and then the
the letters literally look like they were on fire
yeah so it was like something
something with that and it ended up
we ended up shortening it just to letters in the course
it wasn't like burning letters
yeah or letters on fire
(18:49):
it was I
I burned all your letters okay
so you know
it's like if we'll just shorten it to just letters yeah
so that that one didn't end up being like crazy
like weird title and what not
um I love what you said about
drawing inspiration from a book that you read
and you returned that into a song right
yeah yeah
that was the first song I wrote
I was um
(19:10):
really into do you know the Acotar books
they're like guitar books Acotar
they're like um
like fantasy romance books
they're really popular on like
the book talk world right now
yeah um
and yeah my best friend reads them
a million times and she loves them
(19:30):
so she had me read them
she literally gave me her Kindle and she was like
you are gonna love this too oh
I love that um so yeah
I wrote that about um
that the first book a court of thorns and roses and um
yeah it's it's cool to like
I don't know like me
like certain things that I might not relate to or like
(19:50):
I don't know just to kind of interweave
like
my background and like my experiences with also like
feelings that I like felt through others
I don't know yeah no
100% it's
it's funny that you said that
because I was reading a book in school
and I'm not a bookworm at all
like if I don't have to read a book
(20:11):
I will not I really struggle with reading
I like I just get so tired fall asleep after 5 pages
but we read this book um
and I don't even remember if it was called lungs
or what I think it was
and the entire time I was like
why is this book called lungs
and then I realized that you know
you have like two lung wings and you kind of
(20:32):
you don't have to have both to function
but life is a lot easier when you have two functioning
lung wings and it was about relationships
and how
about how these two people need it to be together
and they don't function well
if they're separate yeah
and that's why it was called lungs
and I was like this is so beautiful
and then I created a song called lungs
and it had that same that same kind of concept
(20:53):
so I got you know
inspired by by that book
I love that aww
that's so sweet I
I haven't heard that um
I'll have to look up the book after that
I could not tell you who it's written by
and like I do believe it is called lungs um
but it might also be something else
but I think it was just lungs
(21:14):
but anyway so yeah
you can draw inspiration from anywhere and
you know even as a songwriter and like
you know
it doesn't need to be your stories that you're telling
it can be an inspiration from a book
it can be something that you read in the newspapers
it can be a story that your friend told you
it can be pretty much you can make it up
like completely make it up right
it's yeah whatever
(21:34):
so um
you've written a couple songs now
yeah I've honestly written so many songs the past year
cool um
so alongside the singing lessons
I've also been doing piano lessons
cool um
and that has been really awesome
because it's kind of like
let me expand beyond like writing on top of a beat that
um someone else has created or yeah
(21:56):
um I think there are like some limitations with that
like you can't always
find the sound that you're looking for
oh yeah yeah
it's a very different a very different thing yeah
um I've Learned so much like from piano lessons
from just like take
finding chords that I like and like
making it more and making it my own or um
like even keeping the chords like adding sevenths
(22:18):
ninths um whatever
oh that's already fancy
yeah I love it
um so yeah
that taking piano lessons has honestly
I think made me such a better songwriter and like yeah
my piano teacher is great and like
um Learned so much from him and like
also from what he's Learned from going to music school
yeah um
so yeah that
(22:39):
that's been really um helpful
you know it
I love seeing how with pretty much everyone that
that we're interviewing
there's a theme and it's all like
yeah I wanted to do this thing and I couldn't do it yet
so I got help and I Learned it yeah
and it's not like I was born like this
and I could just play piano and write amazing songs
(23:01):
and sing like Beyonce
like it's just not really how that works
so I love how you're like
hey I wanna do this and I wanna get better at it
and what else can I do so yeah
let me do some piano lessons and see if that
you know evolves your
your songwriting style which it has
which is so so
so cool yeah
the songs that you're writing
would you say they're mostly like
(23:23):
about you and your life
or more inspiration from outside
um I think they definitely start with like
an idea about me or a feeling that I'm having yeah
um yeah
this song that we're working on
I wrote the chorus of it without any music and like
just like the words um
and so it's called Waiting room and um yeah
(23:44):
I just I
I had the word waiting
the words waiting room in my notes
on my phone for a while and I was like
I wanna write a song called Waiting Room
like I kind of have this like
feeling that I wanna write about
I don't know like how it's gonna like to
what it's gonna turn into yeah
um but
but yeah so I
I started there and then
no I love it if like the songs that you're writing
(24:06):
if they're mostly like
your stories or outside inspiration yeah
yeah I think this one song that I
that we're working on is definitely like
very personal and like um
kind of not about one specific situation
but um
kind of just like
about like different relationships I've
in my life and like
(24:26):
um yeah
it's something I feel like I've been trying to express
um for a while so um
I think that's also what makes me even like
more excited about it cause I'm like
I finally found how to say what I'm feeling
yes it's kind of hard sometimes
oh it totally is
my gosh
if I look at the first couple songs that I wrote
I'm like who hurt you
(24:47):
like what what is
what is happening here and also like
I barely spoke English at that time too
so I had a lot of like
my dad's help to get these lyrics out
and it was just like so cheesy
I just like oh my god
this is awful but that's so impressive
like that you wrote
and English wasn't your first language
and you wrote songs in English
like I can't even I have never written a song in German
(25:09):
which is my mother tongue
never never done that
no no
have zero desire to do so like no
it's it's weird
it's different I don't uh
it's not for me yeah
it's not for me but yeah
you know you
you learn it as you figure it out as you go
and for me like my songwriting style is very much like
I feel so much more comfortable creating melodies
(25:30):
yeah than lyrics
uh like I like when I write songs
I like to have I mean
if I'm just doing it for myself
that's different but if I'm like trying to like
get like the best product possible
I will always try and work with a co writer
who is more lyrically savvy than I am
for me it's like really the
(25:50):
the melodies
because that's what I always grew up hearing yeah
because I was listening to music in English
and I didn't speak English
so I didn't understand what they were saying
for me it was just important like how did it sound
the melodies and like the
the words with the melodies right
how did that phonetically sound
and so yeah
(26:10):
I think I've always just been more drawn towards that
and expressing myself through that than through lyrics
but I mean I've Learned a lot
you know through
through the years and I can write decent lyrics
you know but if I want
want them to be super super
super good I'll have somebody's help
so actually talking about that
do you ever collaborate when it comes to songwriting
(26:32):
or do you do everything yourself
yeah that's something
I'm trying to figure out a little bit more
I think so far
I mostly have been kind of writing in my room
by myself like yeah
um
and
and later on have been like working with people to like
kind of like edit like with um
I like with the producer I was working with um
(26:53):
for the last song um
his girlfriend and I were like
kind of like workshopping yeah
um the lyrics
but I always had like a pretty good idea um
before before I started working with people and um yeah
I definitely wanna collaborate more
I just I feel like right now
it's easier for me to completely say what I'm feeling
(27:15):
like without any like
I don't know
any expectation or anyone around me or like
any sort of reaction
but I think collaborating could be like
I don't know so beneficial to kind of like level up
yeah um
my words and like melodies and stuff yeah
yeah and just
you know in general
like the the entire thing at the end will
will change a little bit um
(27:37):
but
you know you
you have to find what works for you
and with collaboration it's
important that you find the right people to work with
cause you're not gonna vibe with everybody
yeah right
so having a couple people that you really
enjoy working with but I like how
you know now you're at a place where like
I can finally say what I'm feeling
yeah and what I'm thinking only took me 24 years
(27:58):
yeah yeah right
oh my god
so you know
now like stick with that for a little bit
now you found you found
you know this comfortable spot for you
and then once you're like
okay cool
like now I wanna branch out
yeah that's when you
that's when you can do that
I think at the end of the day
just do what feels right to you
yeah I have to say I like so um
my boyfriend and I have been together almost
(28:19):
like 5 years now yeah
and like I don't know
also starting to show him my music and like
collaborate with him has been interesting
um cause he is amazing at piano
like he's played piano his whole life so um
yeah
he like kind of also started like teaching me things
um but I
it was it was kind of weird and like
(28:40):
I don't know hard for me to like share ideas that like
weren't fully flushed out
but for this past song um
like I wrote it on top of some chords
and then I was like
hanging out with him and we kind of
he kind of like changed the chords a little
and I think even just like doing that with him and like
we were learning how to like
add drums and stuff onto the beat and
(29:01):
like different sounds with the MIDI
I for
for the song and like
I think like that me like
I don't know just like added something to it that yeah
makes it even more special
so that's collaboration there too
and I feel like uh
sharing your unfinished work
with people closest to you is so scary
(29:22):
yeah oh
I always struggled with that
like I would not show my husband any of the songs
until I was like nope
these are like like they're demos
but they're like they are what they are
yeah you know
it's like I don't like no
this is like uh vulnerable
you know
so I I applaud you very much for
you know working with your boyfriend and you know
(29:43):
collaborating cause that's essentially what you're
what you're doing and being open to sharing something
that's not finished yet that takes a lot of guts
isn't it so weird like I feel like I don't know
we met at the retreat in Tulum and like
it's so much easier to like
share something with people you just met
but then like oh yeah
showing someone like
I've been dating my boyfriend five years
or like my best friends that yeah
(30:05):
I've been I've been living with for like four years
um like
I don't know it's so much harder and like
they're the most supportive people
so no 100%
I think it's because like with the with the strangers
quote unquote strangers right
it's like well
if this doesn't work like I'll never see them again
it's fine but with people that are close to you
it's like
I am gonna have to see them again and again and again
(30:26):
yeah
I don't wanna mess this up yeah
I hate it and also like
I think you just maybe care a little bit more yeah
because you like really want to do a good job with them
and their opinion matters a lot
not that strangers opinions don't matter um
cause you know
as much as we like to say like
I don't care what this person thinks of me
(30:48):
I don't know them whatever
it's easier said than done
yeah right
but it it's still different
when a stranger says something to you
versus
when a person really close says something to you it
it does hit differently yeah
I think that's where that comes from totally yeah
definitely working on that
and like
being able to accept feedback from like
like if my boyfriend's like oh
like I think you should not hold out this note
(31:11):
I'm like you hate my voice
yeah which is like
totally not where it's coming from at all
nope nope
not even a little bit not even a little bit
it's so hard to like
make it be separate from you
like not feel like
not take it as a personal attack
yeah right
so it's hard it's
especially with the voice because your body
like your voice is a part of your body
your instrument is a part of your body
(31:32):
and so it's very hard to not take it personally
yeah you know
but um
and going back to the collaboration thing
too'cause you're working with a producer
yes right
so tell me a little bit more about
when that producer comes into the picture
when you have a song yeah
so I think it could be very different depending on like
(31:55):
where the song is at so um
I just started working with a new producer
um her name is Mia Hope
and she is great we've
we've only had one session so far
yeah um
but this is the first woman producer I'm working with
which I'm really excited about
um and uh
this particular song Waiting Room I
I kind of had a pretty developed idea for like
(32:17):
I wrote most I wrote the whole song
and we like swapped out a couple words um
and changed some things but yeah
I wrote the whole song and when we were in Tulum
I worked on the background vocals
as I was kind of learning more about vocal production
yeah um
and yeah so for this specific scenario
um
(32:38):
we got to spend a lot more time in the first session on
like developing the beat more
and like um
she did this cool thing with like some of my oohs and
like added a bunch of reverb and like yeah
I don't know I think um
it really like leveled up the production
um so it's been incredible working with her
um I think like there
(32:59):
you can also come to your producer with like
just a voice memo and like
something I wrote on the piano or no music at all
I think yeah
um it'll be really interesting
in the future to kind of explore um
working with her
like coming with like less developed ideas
um
yeah so like
some of the past songs I came to a producer with was
(33:22):
like I wrote a whole song on like a loop from like
sounds on splice yeah
um and then we
like
brought in musicians to kind of like develop that more
or um
like I just had a melody and no music like yeah
I feel like they're
depending on who you're working with
I feel like there aren't really limits and like
(33:42):
what you what you come with and like how far it goes
but um
this has been a really unique experience
to have the song more developed
because I think like
now we could spend more time focusing on like
like the production or like
finding like sounds in the background
of songs that I really like to try to like mimic
um yeah
yeah yeah
(34:03):
very cool yeah
I totally agree
like depending on who you're working with
depending on what you're bringing in
it can be so different yeah
uh with my record that I did
I didn't even like I had song titles
yeah that's all I had
yeah and then it was the producer
a co writer and me
and we just made the songs from scratch in the studio
and recorded the demo and yeah
(34:23):
like that was that was the song
but then we all got songwriter credit right
even the producer did
and because he made like the music
the chord progression and all of that
and the co writer and I did melodies and lyrics
and uh
with you I would assume in your case
the producer doesn't get songwriting credit
because they didn't like
actually write the song yeah
yeah I guess it depends on like
(34:45):
um like for these past songs that I worked on like
um like I had like the first bridge in the core
or sorry the first verse and the chorus written
and so then like there was more collaboration
like throughout that process
so in that case like
I think they would like get some songwriting credit
yeah play more role in that um
(35:06):
but yeah
I'm honestly kind of like still like figuring like
like that side of it out yeah
I haven't like worked with a couple producers now
but um
still kind of like figuring out like how that like yeah
how songwriting credit works or like how
like when to bring people in and yeah yeah
very cool
I was so excited to go into the studio with you here
(35:28):
I'm so excited yes
um what are you
so we're gonna obviously be recording vocals
cause you have you have
you said you're still tweaking some of the
the music part of it yeah too
you're still working on that as well
but um
and then we you worked on it with Melanie
somebody else who was at the Tulum retreat
(35:50):
shout out to Melanie hahaha
we miss you and uh
so you worked on it on the song there
like vocal production stuff there
yeah so what do you wanna do today in the studio
yeah I think probably will focus on the lead vocal
uh huh um
and like making that stronger yeah
um yeah
cause we recorded like a lot of the harmonies which
(36:12):
which I think um
even like the ones that we recorded outside like of the
the hotel we're staying at yeah
in Tulum like sound cool
like you could hear some birds in the background oh
which I think we're gonna keep a few in
like in the record just for fun yeah
um but
but yeah today
I think
focusing on just getting a really strong lead vocal
(36:32):
very cool I think yeah
that's something again um
from the songs like that I've recorded in the past
that I'm like I don't know
not always like fully confident in like certain parts
so I just wanna like get what
like I get a take that I'm like wow
like I I really like how I sound here and like
I don't know just like yeah
it's strong very cool
I'm very excited to to uh
(36:54):
get working on that uh
here with we have a three hour block
so maybe we can definitely
get a good lead vocal during that time yeah
for sure so this is gonna be great
and we're gonna take you along on that journey
and we'll see how we can set up the cameras and
and all of that
but we'll figure it out in the studio see how it goes
(37:14):
but we'll take you along on the journey
so you can see what does
it even look like to be in a studio recording vocals
cause it can be a little bit intimidating of yeah
were you ever intimidated
like the first time you did it
or were you like I love this
this is so fun yeah
I think the first time I did it
I was like I don't know
I wasn't even like I didn't know enough
even about what I was doing to be intimidated
(37:35):
OK that makes sense
like I just like kind of jumped into it and I was like
there's literally no pressure here
yeah like no one's waiting for the song
like yeah
yeah yeah
um I think it's weirdly enough
like as I've Learned more
I've like put more yes
no but that is so
so so normal
like it's like
when you're first learning something new about a topic
(37:57):
you're like oh my God
like I know so much now and then the more you learn
the more you're like I know nothing
yeah hahaha
and so it's it's a similar situation here
it's like you're getting more serious about it
so you're putting more pressure on yourself
and so it's getting scarier
even though you're have you have more experience now
it's it's so weird how that works
yeah but it's all mental
(38:18):
it's so mental
so I'm excited to be there and support you through that
uh today and
you know
just kind of like help you get out of your head
and just really focus on telling the story
cause you know what you're doing right now
let's just figure out what is waiting room all about
and how can we get that that story across
so that's what we're gonna be doing in the studio
(38:38):
I'm so excited yeah
um for
for now can you tell us so that everybody can
you know follow along with your journey
where can we check out your music
yes okay
so you can find me on socials
um x 0
Elena Victoria and then um
you can also just find me on Spotify or Apple Music
Elena Victoria Perfect
(39:00):
um yeah
all the links are there yes
I will definitely link to everything as well
so that everybody
listening and watching can go find your stuff
and then we can hear Waiting Room
do you have like you're gonna release that song right
yes 100% okay
do you have a timeline for it yet
um not really honestly
I think before before the fall
(39:22):
like sometimes OK cool perfect
so definitely in 2025 yes
for sure like in the next few months perfect
definitely perfect
so definitely check back in for that
and um yeah
check in for the recording session as well
the episode on the recording session
so I can't wait to do that
but we gotta get going
we gotta get to the recording studio
let's do it thank you for being here
(39:44):
thank you this is awesome
yeah for inviting me to come to the studio and
and coaching you there so I'm super excited
let's do it Alrighty
we'll catch you in the next one
thanks for listening bye
how do I release a song like
(00:01):
should I have like some sort of yeah
strategy and I mean all of that jazz
I was just like making a song and putting it out
and yeah
I loved being in the studio and I
I think yeah
I have to remind myself like that
that was the part like
being in the studio for hours
and just writing and creating something that's like
my own with people too
yeah
it's just like
created this like new outlet that I was like oh
(00:23):
I know how to put my thoughts and feelings into
into something instead of like keeping them inside
yeah it's a way you can express yourself
yeah right
it's so funny how you know
you recorded like
wrote and recorded a song in one day
and you released it and now
you're struggling to release the songs that are like
quote unquote more thought out
(00:43):
more professional more whatever right
it's funny how when we're putting pressure on ourselves
we like
stop ourselves from actually like releasing the stuff
right but how are we gonna know how awesome you are
if we can't hear your stuff right yeah
(01:07):
hey Vox Star and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the 3 fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(01:28):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready
let's get started we are back in New York City
this time with a wonderful newish artist
welcome Alina Victoria hi
hi thank you so much for having me
(01:48):
of course thank you for being here
we were just talking and I didn't quite realize how
you only started this whole music journey
like two years ago right
yeah yeah
I I mean
I spent my whole life singing
like in chorus and kind of taking some singing lessons
but not pursuing it super seriously
(02:08):
I think um
when I graduated college
and had some time to kind of just do whatever
I was trying to search for something that yeah
I was really passionate about
and I wanted to do just for me
yeah and yeah
that was about two years ago
I started actually writing my own music and wow
um recording it and kind of just
(02:29):
and related to it yeah exactly exactly
well that is so cool
cause it's always so inspiring for me to see how
like you you only started this two years ago
but then you you decided to uh
go to Tulum that's how actually we met at Simone's um
vocal production retreat
which was amazing
and it was so cool to hear your song there
(02:51):
and I was like oh
oh this is actually really good hahaha
and obviously your voice sounded fantastic too
so uh that's how we met and that was super cool
and now here it's like we're not even a month later uh
back here in New York and and working together
so the reason why I'm actually here in New York
is because you asked me to come
help you record a song in the studio
(03:11):
I'm so excited yes
that's where we're gonna go here
like right after we're done with this
so I'm super excited to do that but I was like hey
if we're already here and we're already doing this
we might as well you know
talk about your journey and you know
why you decided to go um
like a little bit more
get a little bit more seriously with your music
and all of that stuff too
(03:33):
and then um everybody who's listening who likes Elena
cause everybody likes Elena
I love Elena hahaha um
you can then check out the
another episode
where we'll show the behind the scenes of actually
recording your song
which is what we're gonna do right after this
but before we get into all of this
you mentioned that uh two years ago is where like
(03:54):
after graduating college is kind of like
where it's like okay
I have more time I wanna like get more into music
you had voice lessons before
you said yeah
yeah in high school
I always did voice lessons
um I kind of
I guess I copied my sister when I was in high school
like she was doing it and I was like
I wanna be like her
so then started taking voice lessons
(04:16):
and yeah it's funny now that I think about it
I think
both my sisters really influenced me to pursue music
in different ways um
um and they're not really pursuing it in the same way
but it's just cool to see like yeah
I've drawn inspiration from them and like
just so happened on this path because of them yeah
oh that's so wonderful
how long did you take voice lessons
(04:36):
would you say um
I would say a couple of years
maybe like two years OK
yeah cool cool
do you feel like they helped you at all with your voice
definitely yeah
um
yeah I think it definitely helped me in like
being more confident
I think that's something I kind of like
struggle with in terms of just like
feeling confident and comfortable in my own voice and
(04:57):
like trying to figure out what even my
my voice is what it sounds like
um
so definitely I think has helped me grow as an artist
but I've still been taking
voice lessons since I moved to the city
um OK
every so often so yeah
um that has helped a lot
really like the past two years
um as I've been recording and OK
(05:18):
yeah OK
so fast forward to you went to Cornell right
yeah yes
but you didn't study music
no I didn't
I actually so funny thing is I
I always pursued music like did chorus and stuff
but um
I don't know
I think that confidence was always like a running theme
like um
freshman year of college
(05:39):
Cornell is kind of known for like the acapella groups
um OK cool
cause I think I think Pitch Perfect was based um
off of Cornell oh
um and so freshman year
I was really excited like
tried out for a couple of acapella groups
and then didn't get in and then like
was kind of discouraged yes
and I feel like I don't know
it was that the culture of even like
clubs or acapella groups was like
(06:01):
pretty intense and then yeah
didn't end up doing that and kind of like
let music behind for a little bit
yeah you know
it's crazy how one moment in our musical journey can be
like okay
I'm not doing it again ever again
yeah but for you wasn't ever again
but it was not again for a long time
(06:23):
just because of a couple people saying no
yeah right
but like that's all just like their opinion
and had you auditioned for maybe somebody else
it would have been a yes right
like it's it's so
uh art is so subjective
yeah right
and a lot of times we get so caught up on the negatives
(06:44):
like the negative feedback that we get that
that we're like oh
if they say that this wasn't good enough or whatever
we somehow for some stupid reason believe them
but we can have a 50 people telling us wow
I love your voice this is wonderful
this is really great I love what you're doing
and we're like yeah
but you know like I just
it's really not that good
like yeah
(07:04):
why do we choose to believe that one person that's like
no versus the 50 people that are like
oh my god I love this
it's so weird how the human brain works like that
sometimes yeah
no it's so crazy
I mean I think even now
I think as I've gotten older past
fast forward a few years graduating college
um
have been able to pursue things more and kind of just
like jump right into it
(07:25):
yeah but I don't know
I still experience that I feel like the
the same thing happening in a different form
I think I love
like
all the songs that I've recorded the past few years
but I don't know like as you practice more
you get better and then you kind of hear that stuff
and even though like I have like
my boyfriend and my parents telling me they like
love those songs yeah
part of me
I like relisten to them a bunch of times and like
(07:48):
I don't like how I said this phrase too fast or like
I know we worked on this and recorded it 20 times
but I still feel like something's off about it
and yeah um
yeah I think I still kind of struggle with that
and like in terms of like
I don't know
like feeling confident in what I share with on
like online or on yeah
it's hard to find the balance for sure
(08:09):
cause obviously
you wanna share something that you're proud of
and that you love but it doesn't have to be perfect
yeah right
but if it's like it's kind of like your baby right
like no
like I need it to be perfect
and I don't wanna share it if it's not perfect
but also I think especially in today's world
people crave real things
(08:31):
like rawness and real human connection
and uh
they it it's not so much about like
everything sounding perfect anymore
it's more like I just wanna be a part of your journey
and so just honor yourself where you are at right now
and share that obviously only if you're like yeah
I like I love this 90% sure
(08:53):
it could be like 10% whatever
this phrase and that phrase and what not
but you know if you're like
no like this is actually technically really good
I'm just being way too nitpicky then you know
share it and allow yourself to grow as you
as you keep going
and look back at those songs that you released
a year ago or two years ago
and you're like yeah
(09:13):
it's better now but
but yeah that's
that's you hopefully yeah
how it goes right
like you you improve
you get better as you continue working on your skills
yeah yeah totally
I think I'm garnering the strength to maybe
while I'm still recording these few songs
like start putting out the stuff that
I spent so much time on the past year
(09:34):
yeah um
and probably also money right
like and you're recording it like yes
if you're not doing money yes
if you're not doing it yourself
then you're spending
quite a bit of money to get these songs
recorded and produced and all of that stuff
so it's like might as well yeah
hahaha share it with us
right
and so I wanna go back real quick to post graduation
(09:54):
where you know
you were like okay
I wanna do music more
more seriously maybe is the right word here yeah
what made you want to do that
do you know yeah
I don't think
it was a specific moment or choice that I made
I think something you said earlier
um about how it's crazy
how like
one moment can really change things
(10:15):
or your path or direction
um I graduated college a little bit early
and I think doing music has always been in the back of
my mind like
I don't know
when you're like super passionate about something
I feel like I mean
like it's like
it's all you're doing
something else in the back of your mind is like
and you see other people doing that
yeah thing um
and you kind of have that craving to also do that thing
(10:37):
and yes um
share whatever it is that
that you're passionate about
um but I was home and my sister writes poetry
um she's been writing poetry forever
like all of law school and um
she's incredible at it
and she was trying to figure out what to do with her
with her poetry
and she happened to run into a high school friend from
(10:59):
like 10 years ago while she was at work
I think and they ended up connecting
reconnecting
and he was kind of helping her figure out how to
maybe put some background music
as she did some like
spoken word poetry wow
she was trying to write music
she was just kind of exploring creatively
like what to do with her words
(11:19):
yeah um
and I just so happen to be there
and he brought all his recording stuff
and we were kind of um
like in her kitchen just like figuring out what to do
and then I don't know
I was there so I was like
oh I'll try this yeah
um
so then I started randomly writing stuff on top of like
instrumentals um
(11:40):
or beats on YouTube love it
yeah top lining is what that's called right
like if you're doing melody and lyrics
but you're not necessarily doing the core progressions
or whatever that's called top lining
yeah I love top lining
yeah I think I love that more than songwriting honestly
if I'm being honest but yeah
that's so cool
so you just picked random tracks off of YouTube
yeah so yeah
I wrote this one song that I also didn't release
(12:01):
but my family Alina hahaha
literally will never let me forget about it
it's like their favorite song
I wrote it about a book and yeah
started kind of working with my sister's friend
like just while he was around
and he was
he really like kind of gave me the rundown of like
how to like record vocals and like how
(12:22):
I don't know just like how to
how to make a song a song
and like um
I think it kind of came like pretty naturally
like I've always I wrote creatively
but not in a music format okay
but I mean I guess I'm learning now that like
I know I wrote poetry or like just like free
free handwriting like it yeah
it kind of is the same thing
(12:42):
um so anyways
like
how to take those words and like make them into a song
and he like kind of took me under his wing
we went to um
a studio in South Florida
um and my first song that I released
he had created the beat beforehand
and I toplined on that and I wrote it in the studio
(13:03):
I had a few words that I like
I like to collect words from different parts of my life
like if I hear something that resonates with me or
like a phrase or just a word
um and yeah we
we wrote it there and I recorded it that day
we did it all in that one day and then I released it
wow um
that's amazing
but I wasn't really thinking so much about like
(13:25):
how do I release a song like
should I have like some sort of yeah
strategy and I mean
all that jazz
I was just like making a song and putting it out
and yeah
um yeah
I mean that was so fun I
I loved being in the studio
and I I think yeah
I have to remind myself like that
that was the part like
being in the studio for hours
and just writing and creating something that's like
(13:46):
my own with people too
yeah um
was it's just like
created this like new outlet that I was like oh
I know how to put my thoughts and feelings into
into something instead of like keeping them inside
yeah it's a way you can express yourself
yeah right
it's so funny how you know
you recorded like
wrote and recorded a song in one day
(14:07):
and you released it and now you're struggling
to release the songs that are like
quote unquote more thought out
more professional more whatever right
um and it's uh
it's funny how when we're putting pressure on ourselves
we like
stop ourselves from actually like releasing the stuff
right but how are we gonna know how awesome you are
(14:29):
if we can't hear your stuff right
yeah
it's funny cause um
when I put out that first song I'm
I sing in high school
so like my close friends from high school
um kind of knew about like that side of my life
but like I didn't share any of my music or like that
I even sing with like all my college friends
so like when my college friend came to visit me
(14:52):
when I was putting out that song
it was like a huge like
I don't know one 80 cause everyone was like
wait you say yes
and then um um
it was really awesome
that whole experience just because like
I don't know I was like so afraid
um of like I
I didn't I didn't stop myself
cause I didn't think it was something I could do
but once I released the song
like luckily
(15:13):
like everyone in my life was just so supportive
and yeah has always been so supportive of just like
what I wanna do like what makes me happy
um and yeah
my family and my friends are like so great
so definitely wouldn't that's great
I love that we love a support system
yes but I find that very inspiring that
(15:33):
you know
even though you didn't study music in school and
you know you didn't like set out to become a singer
musician or whatever
like it's just a passion that you found right
like it kind of like dropped in your lap a little bit
or you know
you got inspired by your sisters too
so it's like you know
it's a
it's inspiring for me to see that you felt the passion
(15:57):
and you went towards it rather than like
music's not a real thing like whatever
like I'll write a song at home and then
you know do nothing with it
but you're actually doing something with it
and you are releasing it and yes
yes I will be releasing this
there you go we're holding you accountable now
(16:17):
and you know
you you are
you are just doing it
and I think most people don't ever even get that far
right they're like yeah
I love singing and then they sing in the shower
in the car and maybe at karaoke
and that's that's it right
and it's kind of like almost like a suppressed passion
and you are letting it come out
and I love that I think that's wonderful
thank you yeah
(16:38):
I think what motivates me most
I don't know there's
I feel like there's certain songs that like
you always come back to
like I'm trying to think of like
like a song that I listen to a lot in high school
that I still have on repeat like um
naked by LMA or like yeah
I think um
like certain words
like really resonate with me and like
I carry them with me and like
(16:59):
I don't know like
I wanna make a song that someone could listen to you
and like
feel like it it understands them and like really like
I don't know
captures their emotions and like thoughts and oh
I love that yeah
it's funny when I was writing my record many years ago
uh I did a similar thing
like collecting words but I did it as a song titles
(17:23):
like I wanted to collect song titles
yeah cause
you know like if you're
if you're just on Spotify and what not and you know
like you you look
you're looking through all these different songs
you somehow have to like grab people's attention
and I wanted to create like cool song
song titles to just have like
an extra little tiny bit of advantage
(17:45):
be like oh
that sounds interesting
haha yeah
um that's awesome
I don't know if that like
actually like really matters or not
but what what I did and it was
it was kind of fun to then like
create songs around the song titles that I created
yeah huh
that's really cool just a different approach
it's cool to like
hear how everyone draws inspiration and like
(18:07):
I don't know like yeah
everyone kind of approaches it differently
so yeah
yeah for one of my songs
um it ended up being called just letters
but initially it was burning letters
um and I was
I was in the I was living in Nashville at the time
and the apartment building that I was in had
(18:28):
like a pool and so I was in the pool
and then the letters from the building were like
really shiny and the sun was setting
and then the
the letters literally look like they were on fire
yeah so it was like something
something with that and it ended up
we ended up shortening it just to letters in the course
it wasn't like burning letters
yeah or letters on fire
(18:49):
it was I
I burned all your letters okay
so you know
it's like if we'll just shorten it to just letters yeah
so that that one didn't end up being like crazy
like weird title and what not
um I love what you said about
drawing inspiration from a book that you read
and you returned that into a song right
yeah yeah
that was the first song I wrote
I was um
(19:10):
really into do you know the Acotar books
they're like guitar books Acotar
they're like um
like fantasy romance books
they're really popular on like
the book talk world right now
yeah um
and yeah my best friend reads them
a million times and she loves them
(19:30):
so she had me read them
she literally gave me her Kindle and she was like
you are gonna love this too oh
I love that um so yeah
I wrote that about um
that the first book a court of thorns and roses and um
yeah it's it's cool to like
I don't know like me
like certain things that I might not relate to or like
(19:50):
I don't know just to kind of interweave
like
my background and like my experiences with also like
feelings that I like felt through others
I don't know yeah no
100% it's
it's funny that you said that
because I was reading a book in school
and I'm not a bookworm at all
like if I don't have to read a book
(20:11):
I will not I really struggle with reading
I like I just get so tired fall asleep after 5 pages
but we read this book um
and I don't even remember if it was called lungs
or what I think it was
and the entire time I was like
why is this book called lungs
and then I realized that you know
you have like two lung wings and you kind of
(20:32):
you don't have to have both to function
but life is a lot easier when you have two functioning
lung wings and it was about relationships
and how
about how these two people need it to be together
and they don't function well
if they're separate yeah
and that's why it was called lungs
and I was like this is so beautiful
and then I created a song called lungs
and it had that same that same kind of concept
(20:53):
so I got you know
inspired by by that book
I love that aww
that's so sweet I
I haven't heard that um
I'll have to look up the book after that
I could not tell you who it's written by
and like I do believe it is called lungs um
but it might also be something else
but I think it was just lungs
(21:14):
but anyway so yeah
you can draw inspiration from anywhere and
you know even as a songwriter and like
you know
it doesn't need to be your stories that you're telling
it can be an inspiration from a book
it can be something that you read in the newspapers
it can be a story that your friend told you
it can be pretty much you can make it up
like completely make it up right
it's yeah whatever
(21:34):
so um
you've written a couple songs now
yeah I've honestly written so many songs the past year
cool um
so alongside the singing lessons
I've also been doing piano lessons
cool um
and that has been really awesome
because it's kind of like
let me expand beyond like writing on top of a beat that
um someone else has created or yeah
(21:56):
um I think there are like some limitations with that
like you can't always
find the sound that you're looking for
oh yeah yeah
it's a very different a very different thing yeah
um I've Learned so much like from piano lessons
from just like take
finding chords that I like and like
making it more and making it my own or um
like even keeping the chords like adding sevenths
(22:18):
ninths um whatever
oh that's already fancy
yeah I love it
um so yeah
that taking piano lessons has honestly
I think made me such a better songwriter and like yeah
my piano teacher is great and like
um Learned so much from him and like
also from what he's Learned from going to music school
yeah um
so yeah that
(22:39):
that's been really um helpful
you know it
I love seeing how with pretty much everyone that
that we're interviewing
there's a theme and it's all like
yeah I wanted to do this thing and I couldn't do it yet
so I got help and I Learned it yeah
and it's not like I was born like this
and I could just play piano and write amazing songs
(23:01):
and sing like Beyonce
like it's just not really how that works
so I love how you're like
hey I wanna do this and I wanna get better at it
and what else can I do so yeah
let me do some piano lessons and see if that
you know evolves your
your songwriting style which it has
which is so so
so cool yeah
the songs that you're writing
would you say they're mostly like
(23:23):
about you and your life
or more inspiration from outside
um I think they definitely start with like
an idea about me or a feeling that I'm having yeah
um yeah
this song that we're working on
I wrote the chorus of it without any music and like
just like the words um
and so it's called Waiting room and um yeah
(23:44):
I just I
I had the word waiting
the words waiting room in my notes
on my phone for a while and I was like
I wanna write a song called Waiting Room
like I kind of have this like
feeling that I wanna write about
I don't know like how it's gonna like to
what it's gonna turn into yeah
um but
but yeah so I
I started there and then
no I love it if like the songs that you're writing
(24:06):
if they're mostly like
your stories or outside inspiration yeah
yeah I think this one song that I
that we're working on is definitely like
very personal and like um
kind of not about one specific situation
but um
kind of just like
about like different relationships I've
in my life and like
(24:26):
um yeah
it's something I feel like I've been trying to express
um for a while so um
I think that's also what makes me even like
more excited about it cause I'm like
I finally found how to say what I'm feeling
yes it's kind of hard sometimes
oh it totally is
my gosh
if I look at the first couple songs that I wrote
I'm like who hurt you
(24:47):
like what what is
what is happening here and also like
I barely spoke English at that time too
so I had a lot of like
my dad's help to get these lyrics out
and it was just like so cheesy
I just like oh my god
this is awful but that's so impressive
like that you wrote
and English wasn't your first language
and you wrote songs in English
like I can't even I have never written a song in German
(25:09):
which is my mother tongue
never never done that
no no
have zero desire to do so like no
it's it's weird
it's different I don't uh
it's not for me yeah
it's not for me but yeah
you know you
you learn it as you figure it out as you go
and for me like my songwriting style is very much like
I feel so much more comfortable creating melodies
(25:30):
yeah than lyrics
uh like I like when I write songs
I like to have I mean
if I'm just doing it for myself
that's different but if I'm like trying to like
get like the best product possible
I will always try and work with a co writer
who is more lyrically savvy than I am
for me it's like really the
(25:50):
the melodies
because that's what I always grew up hearing yeah
because I was listening to music in English
and I didn't speak English
so I didn't understand what they were saying
for me it was just important like how did it sound
the melodies and like the
the words with the melodies right
how did that phonetically sound
and so yeah
(26:10):
I think I've always just been more drawn towards that
and expressing myself through that than through lyrics
but I mean I've Learned a lot
you know through
through the years and I can write decent lyrics
you know but if I want
want them to be super super
super good I'll have somebody's help
so actually talking about that
do you ever collaborate when it comes to songwriting
(26:32):
or do you do everything yourself
yeah that's something
I'm trying to figure out a little bit more
I think so far
I mostly have been kind of writing in my room
by myself like yeah
um
and
and later on have been like working with people to like
kind of like edit like with um
I like with the producer I was working with um
(26:53):
for the last song um
his girlfriend and I were like
kind of like workshopping yeah
um the lyrics
but I always had like a pretty good idea um
before before I started working with people and um yeah
I definitely wanna collaborate more
I just I feel like right now
it's easier for me to completely say what I'm feeling
(27:15):
like without any like
I don't know
any expectation or anyone around me or like
any sort of reaction
but I think collaborating could be like
I don't know so beneficial to kind of like level up
yeah um
my words and like melodies and stuff yeah
yeah and just
you know in general
like the the entire thing at the end will
will change a little bit um
(27:37):
but
you know you
you have to find what works for you
and with collaboration it's
important that you find the right people to work with
cause you're not gonna vibe with everybody
yeah right
so having a couple people that you really
enjoy working with but I like how
you know now you're at a place where like
I can finally say what I'm feeling
yeah and what I'm thinking only took me 24 years
(27:58):
yeah yeah right
oh my god
so you know
now like stick with that for a little bit
now you found you found
you know this comfortable spot for you
and then once you're like
okay cool
like now I wanna branch out
yeah that's when you
that's when you can do that
I think at the end of the day
just do what feels right to you
yeah I have to say I like so um
my boyfriend and I have been together almost
(28:19):
like 5 years now yeah
and like I don't know
also starting to show him my music and like
collaborate with him has been interesting
um cause he is amazing at piano
like he's played piano his whole life so um
yeah
he like kind of also started like teaching me things
um but I
it was it was kind of weird and like
(28:40):
I don't know hard for me to like share ideas that like
weren't fully flushed out
but for this past song um
like I wrote it on top of some chords
and then I was like
hanging out with him and we kind of
he kind of like changed the chords a little
and I think even just like doing that with him and like
we were learning how to like
add drums and stuff onto the beat and
(29:01):
like different sounds with the MIDI
I for
for the song and like
I think like that me like
I don't know just like added something to it that yeah
makes it even more special
so that's collaboration there too
and I feel like uh
sharing your unfinished work
with people closest to you is so scary
(29:22):
yeah oh
I always struggled with that
like I would not show my husband any of the songs
until I was like nope
these are like like they're demos
but they're like they are what they are
yeah you know
it's like I don't like no
this is like uh vulnerable
you know
so I I applaud you very much for
you know working with your boyfriend and you know
(29:43):
collaborating cause that's essentially what you're
what you're doing and being open to sharing something
that's not finished yet that takes a lot of guts
isn't it so weird like I feel like I don't know
we met at the retreat in Tulum and like
it's so much easier to like
share something with people you just met
but then like oh yeah
showing someone like
I've been dating my boyfriend five years
or like my best friends that yeah
(30:05):
I've been I've been living with for like four years
um like
I don't know it's so much harder and like
they're the most supportive people
so no 100%
I think it's because like with the with the strangers
quote unquote strangers right
it's like well
if this doesn't work like I'll never see them again
it's fine but with people that are close to you
it's like
I am gonna have to see them again and again and again
(30:26):
yeah
I don't wanna mess this up yeah
I hate it and also like
I think you just maybe care a little bit more yeah
because you like really want to do a good job with them
and their opinion matters a lot
not that strangers opinions don't matter um
cause you know
as much as we like to say like
I don't care what this person thinks of me
(30:48):
I don't know them whatever
it's easier said than done
yeah right
but it it's still different
when a stranger says something to you
versus
when a person really close says something to you it
it does hit differently yeah
I think that's where that comes from totally yeah
definitely working on that
and like
being able to accept feedback from like
like if my boyfriend's like oh
like I think you should not hold out this note
(31:11):
I'm like you hate my voice
yeah which is like
totally not where it's coming from at all
nope nope
not even a little bit not even a little bit
it's so hard to like
make it be separate from you
like not feel like
not take it as a personal attack
yeah right
so it's hard it's
especially with the voice because your body
like your voice is a part of your body
your instrument is a part of your body
(31:32):
and so it's very hard to not take it personally
yeah you know
but um
and going back to the collaboration thing
too'cause you're working with a producer
yes right
so tell me a little bit more about
when that producer comes into the picture
when you have a song yeah
so I think it could be very different depending on like
(31:55):
where the song is at so um
I just started working with a new producer
um her name is Mia Hope
and she is great we've
we've only had one session so far
yeah um
but this is the first woman producer I'm working with
which I'm really excited about
um and uh
this particular song Waiting Room I
I kind of had a pretty developed idea for like
(32:17):
I wrote most I wrote the whole song
and we like swapped out a couple words um
and changed some things but yeah
I wrote the whole song and when we were in Tulum
I worked on the background vocals
as I was kind of learning more about vocal production
yeah um
and yeah so for this specific scenario
um
(32:38):
we got to spend a lot more time in the first session on
like developing the beat more
and like um
she did this cool thing with like some of my oohs and
like added a bunch of reverb and like yeah
I don't know I think um
it really like leveled up the production
um so it's been incredible working with her
um I think like there
(32:59):
you can also come to your producer with like
just a voice memo and like
something I wrote on the piano or no music at all
I think yeah
um it'll be really interesting
in the future to kind of explore um
working with her
like coming with like less developed ideas
um
yeah so like
some of the past songs I came to a producer with was
(33:22):
like I wrote a whole song on like a loop from like
sounds on splice yeah
um and then we
like
brought in musicians to kind of like develop that more
or um
like I just had a melody and no music like yeah
I feel like they're
depending on who you're working with
I feel like there aren't really limits and like
(33:42):
what you what you come with and like how far it goes
but um
this has been a really unique experience
to have the song more developed
because I think like
now we could spend more time focusing on like
like the production or like
finding like sounds in the background
of songs that I really like to try to like mimic
um yeah
yeah yeah
(34:03):
very cool yeah
I totally agree
like depending on who you're working with
depending on what you're bringing in
it can be so different yeah
uh with my record that I did
I didn't even like I had song titles
yeah that's all I had
yeah and then it was the producer
a co writer and me
and we just made the songs from scratch in the studio
and recorded the demo and yeah
(34:23):
like that was that was the song
but then we all got songwriter credit right
even the producer did
and because he made like the music
the chord progression and all of that
and the co writer and I did melodies and lyrics
and uh
with you I would assume in your case
the producer doesn't get songwriting credit
because they didn't like
actually write the song yeah
yeah I guess it depends on like
(34:45):
um like for these past songs that I worked on like
um like I had like the first bridge in the core
or sorry the first verse and the chorus written
and so then like there was more collaboration
like throughout that process
so in that case like
I think they would like get some songwriting credit
yeah play more role in that um
(35:06):
but yeah
I'm honestly kind of like still like figuring like
like that side of it out yeah
I haven't like worked with a couple producers now
but um
still kind of like figuring out like how that like yeah
how songwriting credit works or like how
like when to bring people in and yeah yeah
very cool
I was so excited to go into the studio with you here
(35:28):
I'm so excited yes
um what are you
so we're gonna obviously be recording vocals
cause you have you have
you said you're still tweaking some of the
the music part of it yeah too
you're still working on that as well
but um
and then we you worked on it with Melanie
somebody else who was at the Tulum retreat
(35:50):
shout out to Melanie hahaha
we miss you and uh
so you worked on it on the song there
like vocal production stuff there
yeah so what do you wanna do today in the studio
yeah I think probably will focus on the lead vocal
uh huh um
and like making that stronger yeah
um yeah
cause we recorded like a lot of the harmonies which
(36:12):
which I think um
even like the ones that we recorded outside like of the
the hotel we're staying at yeah
in Tulum like sound cool
like you could hear some birds in the background oh
which I think we're gonna keep a few in
like in the record just for fun yeah
um but
but yeah today
I think
focusing on just getting a really strong lead vocal
(36:32):
very cool I think yeah
that's something again um
from the songs like that I've recorded in the past
that I'm like I don't know
not always like fully confident in like certain parts
so I just wanna like get what
like I get a take that I'm like wow
like I I really like how I sound here and like
I don't know just like yeah
it's strong very cool
I'm very excited to to uh
(36:54):
get working on that uh
here with we have a three hour block
so maybe we can definitely
get a good lead vocal during that time yeah
for sure so this is gonna be great
and we're gonna take you along on that journey
and we'll see how we can set up the cameras and
and all of that
but we'll figure it out in the studio see how it goes
(37:14):
but we'll take you along on the journey
so you can see what does
it even look like to be in a studio recording vocals
cause it can be a little bit intimidating of yeah
were you ever intimidated
like the first time you did it
or were you like I love this
this is so fun yeah
I think the first time I did it
I was like I don't know
I wasn't even like I didn't know enough
even about what I was doing to be intimidated
(37:35):
OK that makes sense
like I just like kind of jumped into it and I was like
there's literally no pressure here
yeah like no one's waiting for the song
like yeah
yeah yeah
um I think it's weirdly enough
like as I've Learned more
I've like put more yes
no but that is so
so so normal
like it's like
when you're first learning something new about a topic
(37:57):
you're like oh my God
like I know so much now and then the more you learn
the more you're like I know nothing
yeah hahaha
and so it's it's a similar situation here
it's like you're getting more serious about it
so you're putting more pressure on yourself
and so it's getting scarier
even though you're have you have more experience now
it's it's so weird how that works
yeah but it's all mental
(38:18):
it's so mental
so I'm excited to be there and support you through that
uh today and
you know
just kind of like help you get out of your head
and just really focus on telling the story
cause you know what you're doing right now
let's just figure out what is waiting room all about
and how can we get that that story across
so that's what we're gonna be doing in the studio
(38:38):
I'm so excited yeah
um for
for now can you tell us so that everybody can
you know follow along with your journey
where can we check out your music
yes okay
so you can find me on socials
um x 0
Elena Victoria and then um
you can also just find me on Spotify or Apple Music
Elena Victoria Perfect
(39:00):
um yeah
all the links are there yes
I will definitely link to everything as well
so that everybody
listening and watching can go find your stuff
and then we can hear Waiting Room
do you have like you're gonna release that song right
yes 100% okay
do you have a timeline for it yet
um not really honestly
I think before before the fall
(39:22):
like sometimes OK cool perfect
so definitely in 2025 yes
for sure like in the next few months perfect
definitely perfect
so definitely check back in for that
and um yeah
check in for the recording session as well
the episode on the recording session
so I can't wait to do that
but we gotta get going
we gotta get to the recording studio
let's do it thank you for being here
(39:44):
thank you this is awesome
yeah for inviting me to come to the studio and
and coaching you there so I'm super excited
let's do it Alrighty
we'll catch you in the next one
thanks for listening bye
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