Today we’d like to introduce you to Bella Lam.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Nashville, into an extremely musical family. My grandfather was a Chinese immigrant who wanted all of his descendants to be extremely well-rounded, so we were all raised playing instruments. Some of my earliest memories are my dad blasting the Grateful Dead while my sister and I played in the pool, or my mom humming along to the classic country station on the car radio. We even had a grand piano in our dining room. I was always surrounded by music, and singing was all I ever wanted to do. I was always singing something around the house. I swear I drive my parents crazy to this day.
I began releasing my own music professionally in 2021, and I’ve been building my career as a country artist ever since. Now I perform more than 100 shows a year throughout the Southeast and have built a community of more than 93K followers across my social media platforms. I’ve released three singles in the past two years and have had so many incredible opportunities I’d dreamed of.
This year, I got to perform at CMA Fest and released my latest single, “Bootfirst,” which has become such a fun part of my live show. There’s been so much happening in my career lately, and I’m really excited for what’s still to come.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
For sure! Unfortunately, I was born prematurely with a tension pneumothorax, which led to a severe speech impediment and tremors that I dealt with throughout elementary and middle school. Because of those challenges, music felt like an impossible dream for me. Singing and performing were things I wanted more than anything, but they didn’t come easily.
Through a lot of hard work, speech therapy, and occupational therapy, I was able to overcome those challenges and pursue music. I always love to say that if you dream it, you can do it even if it seems impossible!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Playing some good country music!
Like I said, I play over 100 shows a year, and every single one, my goal is to put on the best show I can. I want everyone in the audience to leave with a better day and a smile on their face. I want people to dance, sing along, have a drink, and forget about whatever they had going on before they walked through the door.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m a big reader! I own over 400 books, and it actually helps my songwriting a lot.
My sophomore year of college, Ruben Studdard was teaching a Commercial Music Performance class. I, of course, had to take it. One day, he had Terry Lewis Zoom in so we could ask him questions and learn from him.
I remember asking him how he improved his lyricism, and his answer was simply “reading romance novels” for the flowery language they use.
I definitely took that as an excuse to further my reading obsession. Now I’m constantly reading, and I think it’s actually helped me a lot as a songwriter. There’s something about reading other people’s words and stories that makes you think differently about your own.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bellalammusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsbellalam/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bellalammusic/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/therealbellalam
