Meet Kendra Celise | Singer/Songwriter & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kendra Celise and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kendra, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
My favorite quote is from Livingston Taylor, a music mentor I had a while back while attending a summer songwriting intensive through Berklee when I was just starting out in songwriting. He gave us a book of quotes, my favorite of which was “they will not accept your passion until they are held by your discipline”. I really love this quote because it reminds me as I continue to write music that songwriting is more than just an emotional release, it’s also a craft and a discipline.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Getting to where I am today is honestly due to my inability to stop writing music. I say it all the time, but songwriting for me is therapy. I write all of my songs for myself first and foremost. All of my songs are either about obtaining closure, processing difficult emotions, or creating a mantra that I need to hear. The success I’ve had so far is, I think, because of this. I find that my listeners respond well to my music because it’s genuine and from my heart. I think that the best songs are always the ones that come from the heart. When a song of mine doesn’t do well, I like at least knowing that it gave me something that I needed. The advice I give other songwriters constantly is that the best thing they can do is to write something they want to listen to. No matter what, that’s a win. Writing something that you think others might want to listen to is opening yourself up to a higher level of disappointment if the song isn’t well liked, because you don’t even like it to begin with, and ultimately, the listener can feel that. I think when challenges come my way–when streaming numbers drop off, when single releases take longer than I’d like them to, etc.–what gets me through is knowing that I am being authentic and making the music I enjoy making. This is probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I moved to Los Angeles in December of this past year. I’ve been working quite a bit, so I haven’t been able to explore as much as I’d like, but most of my favorite spots that I’ve visited so far are in Highland Park. I really enjoy the city because it’s home to so much music and culture. There are some cool record stores on York and a lot of really fun bars on Figueroa. The night life is really exciting and it’s definitely a scene. I’ve been to a lot of shows at the ETA on Figueroa with my guitarist, and the past three times we went, somebody famous showed up to hear the music. It’s really affirming to me in moments like that how close you can be to the music industry here in LA before you’re actually in it. There’s are moments it feels close enough to touch and you feel like you’re right where you need to be. At least I do. It’s a good feeling.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I credit my success as a recording artist to the professors I studied with when I attended audio engineering school at Citrus College. Songwriting was something I taught myself by listening to records by great songwriters and studying their successes, but I would say the most valuable information that I’ve learned along the way on my artistic journey as a whole was how to record my work. Having ownership of your own work as an artist is often very difficult, so attending audio engineering school was a conscious choice I made to take back that ownership and provide myself with a pathway towards releasing music independently. It’s saved me a lot of money as well as provided me with the freedom to make my own decisions when it comes to my work. Attending the audio program was a big challenge for me. It was a side of music that I had never experienced before; the technical, scientific side. I felt like a fish out of water at first, but that feeling is what drove me to learn as much as possible and soak up as much information as I could while attending the program. I also met my band while attending this program. They were part of the college’s performance program and were often the test subjects for our program to record. I remember thinking, “When I get out of here and am officially an audio engineer, I’m gonna make an album and this will be my band”. Three years later, I’m an audio engineer with an album and they are my band. It’s crazy how life works out. A lot of my success is due to their involvement as well! My debut EP, Dreamer, was arranged by the core 4 of us in the band. I wrote the songs and the chords and they came in and brought their arranging ears to it. I’m really grateful for all of the life they breathed into it.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kendracelise

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kendracelise

Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/kendracelise

Other: TikTok: kendracelise

Image Credits
Horizontal photo by Jelly Marie Productions 4 photos by Carlos Morales @humanpoptart