Meet Nabyl Söhle | Singer-Songwriter

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

Hi Nabyl, why did you pursue a creative career?
Growing up I always loved the feeling my favorite artists caused in me, it was almost like they were magicians but of music, in my mind. The way they could transport an audience and make them have a variety of emotions with so much intensity made me realized I wanted to be part of creating something so magical. That was the surface layer of wanting to pursue a creative career, until my teen years, that was a very crucial moment in which I realized how difficult it was for my friends and my family to express themselves, to be vulnerable. I’ve always considered myself someone that’s very in touch with their emotions and I find great meaning in letting them be a part of me and at the same time it made me see that music was almost like that multidimensional portal that let anyone, regardless of the genre of music they heard, be free into their joy, sadness, anger, love and all the other emotions that make us human, I knew then how music was the speaker of our hearts and I wanted to create music too so that somehow I could also contribute in some way as well as experiencing life and finding myself through music.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Music in the professional world hasn’t been easy at all for me. I grew up an hour away from Mexico City and so when I started to pursue a career in music more aggressively it was a bit difficult cause most of the events were held at night in the city so being a teenager and on top of that a female musician, my parents were always really concerned about my safety and by default I would miss events or wouldn’t be able to stay and network. My mom started coming with me to the events so that I could spend more time either hanging out with musicians or attending the songwriting sessions held by the people I started meeting.

At the time I was looking to get comfortable in recording studios cause they felt so intimidating, while finishing high school. On my last year of high school I really wanted to come to the US to really dive into the business side of it and started auditioning to several schools in Boston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles which is where I ended. The school was AMDA and I entered it’s Musical Theater conservatory, I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about the musical theater world!!! I mean I started hearing my classmates sing songs of musicals I’ve never heard before and got so blown away by lyricists and composers like Jason Robert Brown, Stephen Schwartz , Stephen Sondheim! all incredibly brilliant! and even Elton John wrote a musical called Aida! OMG!!! I’m really REALLY glad I enter the musical theater program, I learned SO MUCH musically and on the performative side of things, which led to future me becoming more interested in finding performative moments in my songs either though dance or ways to connect with an audience as if I was in theater. Anyways! back to it! lol! 🙂 After the 2 year training I went back to Mexico and decided to start pursuing more songwriting collaborations which led to my first Ep called ”Un Mundo Al Revés” which with this album I really learned all about copyrights, publishing, credits, etc. and somehow started opening concerts for other people, being in music festivals all around Mexico, building momentum for myself, until a record label got interested in me. This is how I learned the biggest lessons of my career about the music industry, I mean I was so inexperience in looking at contracts, doing negotiations, the importance of knowing or having a good entertainment lawyer among other things but thankfully on the songwriting side of it all I was already very well aware of the importance of owning my masters and registering my work etc. As you can imagine, my story became one of the many. I fell for the trap in putting all my hopes and dreams into the record label, gave them all the creative control, they also asked me for money, which I gave them, meant to continue with the tours and promotions. For a brief moment in time all seem good, my song was on the radio! (which is were I learned about the famous payola) but when it came to promote it all started to reveal. They handle really rudely all deals on my behalf, stealing funds and redirecting those funds unto their personal agenda, among others things, until I realized that they had committed fraud with me and other artists too. I did file for a lawsuit, but it did not go well. I had gone during that period trusting all the managers I had, directors, stylists and many others always thinking that they were looking out for my best interest since they were the experts of their own thing and was so crushed with the lack of values within the people surrounding me and felt lost.

I came back to LA to redefine what is that I wanted creatively and more so I needed to remind myself the original reason why I wanted to create music, so I picked up a new instrument, which was the guitar, and started writing again focusing solely on the music and story telling, and when I felt ready to venture into new projects with people I asked myself what kind of creatives I wanted in my life, what kind of collaborations. But I knew I needed to trust myself, and my creative ideas, show up for my own work so that it served as inspiration for others to wanna jump in with me and take those ideas even further and it worked! The mentors I have now are so committed to my growth, even my best friend saw all that I was trying to do and jumped on board. We have made 4 music videos together, with various types of budgets and in those projects I have been so blessed to attract like minded creatives that see worth in working in this projects in which they have contributed in so many ways, but now, without sacrificing my own vision or ideas, instead them listening so that they can enhance those ideas and visions through their talents and expertise. I started producing my own music, ‘’Porque Podiamos’’ was the first one, I was learning new ways of telling a story, the music video being this battle within ourselves about how sometimes the voices of the world or our own insecurities tell us we are not doing enough or being enough and we self sabotage but I’ve also have learned that all the little things that I do and the times I show up for others and for me out of love, even through my fears, have build confidence and resilience to those noises and how the best part of ourselves want us to thrive, the book ‘’Big Magic’’ by Elizabeth Gilbert said it on a chapter ‘’when courage dies, creativity goes with it’’ and so this last single called ‘’Filemamania’’ as an independent artist was a big project for me, a song I finally decided to write in both English and Spanish that helped me leaned into the production side even more so that I could create my own take on fun and sensuality as I am my most confident, the biggest music video I’ve taken control over with dancers and make up and so many outfit changes, more crew members and logistics with the budget challenges, work that made me shed so many happy and sad tears from the overwhelming feeling of having to wear so many hats, but the end result and the satisfaction it gave me with the people that helped this come to reality is invaluable, the reaction of people who have seen it and heard it makes me feel so much joy, but I ultimately seek validation from within so that I can to continue down the vulnerable path of being an artist in my most authentic self.

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?
So much to do! California is so beautiful. If we had time I would plan a camping trip in nature to either the Sequoias National Forest or Yosemite National Park, I love the forest so I would want us to hike and be away from the city lights so that later we can sing an tell stories under the night sky, maybe eye catch some shooting stars! But if its only a day would probably take her on a short day hike, grab brunch at Manuela’s in downtown LA cause they have the best beignets and corn bread! Take her to LACMA and catch the sunset with a picnic on Griffith Observatory to finish the night at Black Rabbit Rose or Hotel Cafe to enjoy some incredible local artists.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Big Shoutout to my parents Erika and Victor. They have taught me to live my dreams with courage and have supported me unconditionally. To my music mentors of piano guitar and voice whom have let me asked infinity of questions and even when they haven’t had the answers at the time they have amazed me in their own creativity of looking for the answers, teaching me sometimes out of the conventional forms. To my friends Sam Nallar, Laura Alvares and Abraham Gomez that were the first ones to believe in my songwriting skills and mentored me through the business side of it all and helped me build tools to continue in the creative path of storytelling. The love of my life, who has showered me in love and creates a safe environment for my creativity to take form. And really all the creatives out there, it takes courage, bravery and determination to pursue our passions and not let the pressures of the world discourage us. The book ”Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert really touched me in many ways and put things in perspective about how much pressure we put in our creativity, one being the financial pressure when we must protect our creativity’s freedom from the pressures of the world so that we can create in our most authentic selfs. I was guilty of putting financial pressure in my music which started to create emotional conflict within something I knew I loved doing so much but wasn’t fulfilling my economic expectations and after reading this book it reminded me that thou it would be nice, that was not why I started making music in the first place so I still have my day job! so that I can continue to let my creativity play without stress.

Website: https://www.sohlemusic.com

Instagram: @sohlemusic

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwD4U63MMZxYF9TdnsDe7BQ

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1IzjtUSdD8rh3raWQax51w?si=o8fvzaTfSV6XDqHlnw3mAw

Image Credits
Raz Azraai