Meet Olivia Knox | Artist, songwriter and singer

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

Hi Olivia, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
I think as an artist it is most valuable to know who you are before you present yourself to the world. I believe if you know your value and worth as a person first, then anyone or anything that tries to degrade your creativity or work won’t effect you personally. This is something my Mom taught me when I was very young. When I first started getting into music I was constantly worried about what everyone else thought of me. I was worried I would disappoint someone, I was looking for other peoples validation of my own work. But, my mom told me that it doesn’t matter who likes or doesn’t like what I do, as long as I love what I do, and love myself too. I was giving other people permission to decide how I felt about my own art. Learning that lesson was the most valuable lesson I have ever learned, because it gave me the curiosity to want to understand myself more. Not just as an artist but as a person. It made me learn that I deserve respect, love, and happiness from myself. It made me understand that before I can love my art, I have to love myself first.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve known I was going to be a songwriter since I was 8 years old. I have always had this curiosity with melodies and lyrics and how they fit together to create a story. When I was 14 my parents got me a ukulele for my birthday and that’s when I truly started writing songs. I wrote every day. Hours and hours, one song after another and I absolutely loved it. I started posting my music on social media and even got a band together in my home town and played lots of shows at different venues. I wasn’t sure how my story was going to start, but I knew songwriting and performing is what I was good at, and it made me feel something special, so I just kept writing. During my junior year of high school the pandemic hit, and I got sucked into downloading TikTok with all of my new free time and boredom. I saw there was something called duet videos where songwriters and artists can add a verse over someone else’s track. I of course jumped right into this and duetted a TikTok Charlie Puth did asking people to write a verse over his track “Stress Me Out”. I posted my verse one day and didn’t think much of it because I had about 100 followers at the time. And overnight my video got over 1 Million views, Charlie Puth commented on the video himself and I gained 50K followers. This is the video that took my music career to the next level. I started doing more duet verse videos which eventually got me on the Today Show with Andy Grammer from a verse I added to one of his duets. I then started working with producers and songwriters in LA. I then moved to Los Angeles and attended a private Christian University studying Commercial Music while traveling to the city 3-4 times a week to create music and write with some of the top musicians in the industry. for the next 8 months I wrote over 70 songs and started to make a name for myself as a songwriter. I started posting my unreleased music on TikTok and on New year’s Day had one of my own songs blow up which was GORGEOUS. This song is about self love and the first verse is filled with positive affirmations. I posted a video lip sinking these affirmations to myself and the video took off. people started calling the song the “2022 self love anthem”. It started a trend where you say these affirmations to yourself in the morning to practice self love for the day. This song has now 1.9 Million streams on Spotify, and has been placed on hundreds of self love playlists all around the world. This song got me recognized by many top publishers and labels in the industry and now has given me the opportunity to sign my first publishing deal with Jaime Zeluck Hindlin. I am so lucky to be working with the Nonstop team that’s lead by such a strong, kind and hardworking woman. I also was able to do a short college tour and opened for Bryce Vine and Social House. I am sitting here writing this story in my packed up dorm room ready to move out into the city and become a musician full time. I am so thankful for the people who have given me opportunities in this industry just based off of some duet videos. I can’t believe how quickly my story started and I can’t wait to see what happens next. This is just the beginning.

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?
For the past 9 months I have been traveling by myself around the city of Los Angeles. I take Uber, metro, busses and rides from friends just to get to and from a writing session weekly. Because of the amount of time it takes to get from my college campus to the city I haven’t had much time to explore the city. I am in so many different places throughout the week, but i find myself mostly just in the studio in every new place. Although I haven’t had much time to explore, I did have a chance to see Highland Park. I was transferring from metro to bus one day at the highland park station and found out my bus wasn’t going to that stop that day. Being forced to Uber I had extra time to check out where I was. It was the first time I was able to explore the city and it was wonderful. If I could take a friend anywhere I would take them there and see all the cute little shops.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A hundred percent my parents. They are the ones that have always believed me and supported me. My dad is a music professor and taught me the important characteristics of musicianship from a young age. He showed me how valuable music is, and what a gift it is to do music as a profession. And my mom has been my #1 supporter. She is at every show, every photo shoot, every meeting and has had my back since day one. They both keep me grounded and will always be the reason I’m able to do what I do today.

Website: https://linktr.ee/oliviaknoxofficial

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com › oliviak…︎ OLIVIA KℕOX ︎ (@oliviaknoxmusic) • Instagram …

Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC44UqyYPoZBa0g0RuvDe5-A/featured

Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdq7wVVs/

Image Credits
Joshua Mannila