Meet Addy Baddy | Artist / musician

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

Hi Addy Baddy, how do you think about risk?
I think being an artist is about going out on a limb and expressing yourself. That’s always a risk. It puts you at risk of being judged by others, but that comes with the territory. People will always have some opinion about what you do so I try not to make music for anyone but me. I try to simply express myself as truly and openly as possible and let go of the fear of judgement because you shouldn’t stress about what you can’t control.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’d say I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve put quite a lot of music out there and it’s all 100% original and comes from the heart. My goal with my original music is to process complicated emotions and experiences. I try to sing about real things that actually happened to me. I write a lot about relationships, love, heartache, death, financial turmoil, feelings of uncertainty, inadequacy, and soldiering on in the face of it all.

As far as lessons I’ve learned, the best way for me to learn anything has always been to jump in the deep end and try things I have no idea how to do. For instance I recorded, mixed and mastered my first album myself and through that process I learned how to do it. Listening back to it sometimes I think I should’ve just had somebody else do it, but it wouldn’t have turned out the same, and the lessons I learned along the way were invaluable. Even though it may sound amateur it is endearing and people really seem to enjoy it the way it is.

I’m always going to encourage artists to do it themselves even if they don’t know how. That’s not to say I haven’t had tons of help from amazing musicians, engineers, producers over the years. I certainly have and I can’t thank those people enough. Eddie Taylor, Sam Haiman, Phil Levine, Curtis Kelley, Devin Runco, Claire Goh, Rick Beato, Tyler Last, Sal Pineda, Eli Cohen, Francisco Ojeda, Myles Sweeney, Justin Fisher, Meredith Moore to name just a few.

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.
I live in Long Beach and we have tons of incredible coffee shops in town as well as incredible restaurants. The list is a mile long but a few winners would be caffe Luxxe, Recreational coffee, and rose park. Then for food we’d have to stop at Ellie’s – it’s a homemade pasta place tucked right in the neighborhood. They also do ann insane brunch. Can’t forget my new favorite Zuzu’s petals on 3rd street – great food AND coffee. It’s an absolute gem. Then for dinner we have so many incredible spots – a few unsung holes in the wall would be Flamin Curry, and 123 pho. Or if we’re feeling pizza it’s gotta be either little coyote or speak cheezy.

Other places to stop : if you love thrift shopping like me you gotta hit the Salvation Army on Alamitos and Anaheim, Saint Vincent de Paul, and don’t spread the word too much on this; the Long Beach antique mall, and urban Americana has the heat.

For fun I love doing childish activities- going to trampoline parks, arcades, mini golf, go karts, laser tag, I’m not kidding. One of my favorite places is called boomers – they have them all over but I like the one in Irvine.
Also my wife and I went to an indoor skydiving place at universal Hollywood recently. It’s called iFly That was epic. 10/10 would recommend.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents are a big part of why I’m a musician. My dad grew up in North Carolina playing bluegrass banjo backing up his dad in the family band. He went on to become an instrument collector and always had instruments around the house for me to mess around with. My mom grew up singing in church and went on to encourage me to perform and compete as a singer all through my childhood and early teens. Driving me to every lesson, rehearsal, performance, band practice, and talent show. She’s probably the main reason I’m such a ham. My mom is actually the one that gave me the nickname addy baddy.

Instagram: @Addybaddymusic

Other: Spotify : Addy Baddy

Image Credits
Kaya Blaze, Meredith Moore