Growing up as a theatre kid, I sang a lot of hit songs from musicals and operettas with the help of my voice teachers. However, for the past few years it's been a huge desire of mine to sing pop songs from my favorite artists: JoJo, Demi Lovato, and Tori Kelly. Every time I tried to tell my vocal coaches & peers that I wanted to sing these songs, I was met with doubt and criticism. I was told, "you can't do that" "you can't sing that high" or "that's cute, but your voice isn't this style." Pretty soon, I internalized all of it and truly believed that I would never be able to belt like Demi, that I was not good enough to riff like JoJo and that I was just not a good singer. My insecurities began to affect my subconscious mind; I started having nightmares that I was singing on stage and my voice would crack in front of a live audience. I was ready to give up....
In 2020, I met a vocal coach named Kyle that changed my life. The first day I met her she said, "I love that you're challenging yourself. This is how you become a better singer. I'm proud of you for trying this. Good for you dude!" After every voice lesson, she'd say, "you're doing great. Seriously you have so much potential."
Fast forward to today and I am successfully singing JoJo songs, I am learning to belt like Demi and my vocal range is much higher. Not only am I singing songs I love, I am writing my own songs! I never thought I was capable of doing any of this before meeting Kyle. It wasn't magic or radical methods (but if you haven't tried her 'straw' method you're missing out dude!) that she was teaching me, it was simply that she believed in me more than anyone had before. Sometimes, seeing someone's potential is all they need to grow. As someone who has had over a dozen voice teachers since adolescence, Kyle is the best teacher and musical mentor I've ever had. read more