Meet Natalie Nicole Gilbert | Writer, Songwriter, Producer & Vocalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Natalie Nicole Gilbert and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Natalie Nicole, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Learn the rules, then break them. It’s not just an idea or concept, and it’s frankly not comfortable to do. You will always face backlash and whiplash for not going the same direction as everyone else. But as much as everyone likes to follow and lean into trends, you’ll never set the trends if you wait to step into them when they’ve already begun. To be the trendsetter and break free from the mold, you have to dare to try things before others and before you feel fully ready.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
There are plenty of challenges to create hurdles for you, but none are bigger than the monsters we create for ourselves with our hesitations, our over analyzing, our belief that something must be 10% better before we finalize it and release it. There will always be a reason to wait, but you have to get out of your own way. No one is better at being our stiffest arch nemesis part from ourselves. Even our worst external critics only carry the power we assign them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Larchmont Boulevard is a treasure to explore. It’s not a wasteland of franchises, it’s a bouquet of little eclectic wonders and eateries perfect for a disjointed but pleasure filled progressive lunch or dinner. Before or after, you can stroll through the side avenues full of greenery and flower bushes maintained with love. Whether the weather is fine or fair, cold or hot, there’s always some shade under the trees or a little pop-up or farmer’s market to explore to suit any taste.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I don’t often really get to mention my older sister Denise. We didn’t get to spend our childhood together, so we tried to make up for it as teens. Seven years my senior, she was the first between us to try her wings in vocal training, ice skating, visual arts – I think the only thing she may not have beat me to the punch in is writing. But in all the best ways she was the trailblazer who gave me an introduction to creative writing by taking me along to her college classes. I remember being fascinated by the analytic discussion of classic short stories they discussed that I ought to have been too young to even understand, but no one in the class seemed to regard me as the 10 year old in the back really – they just gave me the handouts and let me listen in as if I was auditing. While on the one hand I recognize my coming along was practical/logistical, I personally really bloomed from being invited into those adult spaces by my mother and my sister. Frankly, with all the adult trials and tribulations I had to handle from a young age, it was a relief to be able to enjoy some of the fruits of adulthood alongside those tribulations.

The flipside of that – whatever your own childhood journey may have been – is to never let go of your childhood wonder and ability to take a leap of faith, especially in yourself. We all get frustrated by other people underestimating or misunderstanding us, but too often we fall into the same traps in our view of ourselves. We have to remain willing to learn new things, or it all grows stale – especially what we create.
Website: NatalieNicoleGilbert.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nngmusic/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalienicole/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatalieNicole

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NatalieNicoleGilbert

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/NatalieNicoleGilbert

Image Credits
Headshot: Kim Hardy (London) Easy On Me (Duet Cover): Natalie (Kasee Shambora, Los Angeles), Chris (Ivy Green, Seattle) Times Square: Maya Barkai (New York)