Today we’d like to introduce you to Cosette Lunsford.
Hi Cosette, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have always loved singing and writing poems but my artist journey truly began when I fell in love for the first time. That’s when I understood what all the songs were talking about. They collected CD’s so anytime they picked me up we would listen to a complete album. That album would be our soundtrack for those couple weeks or months until the season changed and so did our soundtrack. They taught me how to compare my life to the world the artist created in their project. We assigned different albums for different stages in our relationship, happy music, sad music, dark music. Music and my life became one, they reflected each other. They pointed out all the small little ear candy production elements that you would only know from listening to the record over and over. I grew an ear for production through this and a hunger to be respected as much as they respected these producers. So, when I arrived at Berklee College of Music my freshman year, I majored in Electronic Production and Sound Design.
My goal was to be able to build a sonic world around my voice and create a universe for listeners to step into when they listen to my music. I worked in Logic, Ableton and Pro Tools and wrote and recorded songs in the dorms. My sophomore year when the pandemic hit, I went back home to Nashville. Once I arrived home and had nothing to do but make and release music, I realized I wanted to stay in Nashville and pursue music full time and drop out of school. Since the world has started to open back up I have been playing live shows and collaborating and am finishing up an EP that can engulf you like those CDs did for me.
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?
It has been one giant learning experience. I have always loved to sing but writing songs used to scare me. This was because If I covered a song and you didn’t like it, I could rationalize it that you just didn’t like the song, but if I wrote it then you don’t like my personal work. I have since grown out of that insecurity and learned to love the vulnerability it takes to write about your own personal experiences. Leaving my hometown for college also helped me write about my past because no one in Boston knew who I was talking about. It was also a struggle to learn production fore sure! I had to make a lot of bad music and had to spend a lot of hours on YouTube struggling to learn how to use the programs. It has also been a struggle to be comfortable with self promotion. It was kind of hard to transition my Instagram from a personal profile to a business card for my music. Sometimes it just feels like you’re constantly asking people to listen, click this, pre-save, add me to your playlist, share with your friends, repost, etc, that used to be really hard for me. At some point I just got over it after doing it enough times and realizing that a lot of times people actually want to do that, it’s not always a burden or a favor. Since I have had my amazing manager Claudia Rodriguez join my team, I have felt unstoppable. She believes in me to the point where giving up is not an option, I am forever thankful for her.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I write, produce, and record all my songs as well as creative direct and edit the promotional shots and music videos. I am involved in every part of my release down to every mixing and mastering session. As far as my personal sound, I specialize in vocal stacks. Since I sang in choir throughout my adolescence, I love vocal arranging my songs to have big, thick harmonies. It’s also the part of my process I enjoy the most, just singing on top of myself over and over until I can’t possibly reach a note any higher or lower. I love experimenting with the production to blend genres together and really feel like I have created my own personal music thumbprint. I push my experimentation to just the right point where you weren’t expecting it, but it’s still palatable. My lyrics are usually me analyzing my experiences trying to understand why I did what I did or why they did or why things had to turn out that way. It usually boils down to a lesson I had to learn the hard way.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I could not shut up. I was just talking talking talking all the time just telling stories or making them up. It got to the point where my family’s favorite catch phrase for me was “write it down” and eventually I did. I always loved performing, I danced and sang in front of my family every holiday gathering and put on shows for them. I took dance lessons through elementary and middle school and participated in every play and musical that I could. I took guitar lessons in 5th grade and would play for my mom while we waiting for the school bus in the morning.
In my teenage years, I definitely wanted to experience as much life as possible which definitely got me in a little bit of trouble but I wanted my life to be like a movie I couldn’t help myself! Growing up my mother was very spiritual, so my mind was very open to fortune-telling, astrology, manifestation and synchronicities from a very early age. I have continued to follow those interests and am extremely spiritual still which absolutely influences my music. I always follow my intuition when making music rather than try to follow a recipe.
Contact Info:
- Email: cosette.lunsford.music@gmail.com
- Website: https://cosettelunsford.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosettelunsford/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosettelunsfordmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cosettelunsford
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPEC5DM-fE-AhVC51pL6tRQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/cosettelunsford
- Other: linktr.ee/cosettelunsford
Image Credits
Claudia Rodriguez
Oscar Villanueva
Emma Petty
Sean Kearney
Jason Miller
