Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Reid.
Hi Thomas, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started making music back in 2017 writing folk songs in my bedroom. I posted my first demo on youtube in December of 2017 and some Youtube curators were kind enough to share it with their audience. From there things started to grow a small little following of fellow sad individuals who appreciate the sound. I’m super thankful for them. A couple years into releasing music I ended up getting sampled by Lo-fi Hip-Hop producers and ended up shifting more into that genre. Those songs ended up being that ones that really took off for me. From there, I ended up overtime accruing over 200 million streams on spotify and got to hear from people all around the world who appreciated my sad lil tunes. These days I make a variety of sounds, but have settled more back into my roots in folk music. I feel like you can hear how I’ve grown up in my music. I’m really happy with the sound I’ve settled into. It’s been a long ride and I’m probably getting too old to be doing what I’m doing lol but I enjoy it,
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Pursuing music is never a smooth road, honestly. I love music, but I’m not a huge fan of the music industry itself the more I’ve been exposed to it. It’s unfortunately all revolving around money and power, and that’s at odds with the art itself a lot of the time. I’ve been lucky enough to make music my full-time job for a number of years now, but I don’t intend to stay in the industry long-term. It’s much too volatile and cut-throat for a melancholic indie fellow such as myself lol. I’ll always make music, but where art and commerce intersect often creates a lot of complications.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a independent musician from Knoxville, Tennessee. I make sad tunes and post them on the internet, often wearing a full suit while pressing the “post” button. I’m probably most well-known for the song I worked on “Are You Okay?” with Rxseboy and Powfu, or the song “i want you to help me live” I wrote with bonjr. Super proud of both of those tracks, and thankful to have been apart of them. I’m also really proud of my new album “Winter”, which I just released back in March. It’s a project that took a lot of emotional lift to get out for me. I definitely put a lot of myself into it and I’m really proud of the outcome.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
The old idea of “finding your voice” is so true, in my opinion. It’s natural for an artist just starting out to try and force their voice into sounding similar to artists they admire, but what makes you stand out is what is unique to you. I don’t personally think I have a “traditionally” very good singing voice, I tried taking vocal lessons back when I first started music and I don’t think I did particularly well lol. But I like where my voice has ended up. I sound like what comes natural to myself and I’m fond of it. I would encourage anyone who is just starting out on music to create what comes most from their heart. Create for yourself, not for anyone else. If you love it, there will be someone else out there that loves it too.
Also, don’t get too bogged down with social media. It’s a necessary but rather unhealthy place for artists these days. Use it to the best of your ability to promote yourself, showing up for yourself in that process. But don’t get too focused on numbers or obsessing on how people perceive you. In my opinion, it’s important to focus on your art first and what makes you the happiest in music. Everything else like social media should be secondary.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thomasreidmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomasreidmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThomasReidMusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0dcxj82ddksd6tDDcJgbqo?si=2teaSMyURlm7QB1PkPIjBg
