Daily Inspiration: Meet Mykyl

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mykyl.

Hi Mykyl, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Music has always been in my soul. In Kindergarten, Ms. Jackie asked everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up; I said I wanted to be a rockstar. My mom taught me piano lessons since I was a kid, and I picked up guitar in my teenage years and never stopped writing songs. I made a *terrible* album with my friend when we were in high school, and we tried selling CDs to our classmates (with no luck). But the dream stayed alive, and I kept grinding away at it. I progressed slower than anyone I know, but I had a passion for it and kept trying despite the plethora of criticism I received. My professional career started to take off in 2019, though, when I got an opportunity to intern for Imagine Dragons and The Killers. There, I learned the ins and outs of the industry and applied those to my artist project. I rebranded and started releasing songs in April 2020, and since then, I’ve put out just under 50 tracks, garnering millions of streams and over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Besides my music, I’ve written and produced for hundreds of other artists, and I’m always striving to improve–there’s just so much to learn.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It took a long time to get to a solid place in my career where I could pay the bills and finally get ahead financially. As I mentioned before, my progress has been slower than anyone I know–maybe I’m not as naturally gifted as some of my peers, but I’ve put in the work, and it’s finally paying off.

When I was 16, I started taking voice lessons, and my teacher quit on me. She said I was the first student she’d ever had who had yet to progress and that I was wasting her time and money. I auditioned for almost every competition: American Idol, The Voice (3 times), AGT, you name it. We need to get past the first round. Even my family, though loving and generally excellent, discouraged me from pursuing music as a career.

I’m probably not doing a great job at selling myself here. But this was my journey. I’ve been underestimated and turned down at every opportunity my whole life. It wasn’t until I met my wife, Jaycee, that things started to turn around. She had faith in me I’d never seen before. She believed in me before I believed in myself and encouraged me to keep trying.

5 years later, I’m making a comfortable living doing what I love daily. Ironically, I’m doing better than some of my peers who got the opportunities I was turned down from. My artist project has more monthly listeners than some friends who made it onto TV competition shows. The rejected song I submitted to a particular song contest has more streams as an independent release than the one accepted in its place. I learned through the years that I would never be handed a golden ticket, and having to learn how to do everything independently has turned out to be a huge blessing in the long run.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I wear a lot of different hats in the music industry. I’m an artist; the Mykyl project will always be the priority. But I’m also a songwriter, producer, and mix engineer. I’ve written and produced songs for hundreds of other artists, and I love being able to craft different sounds that fit each of their unique styles. Although I’ve released just under 50 songs as an artist, I’ve primarily focused on singles and have just released a large-scale project. I’m finishing up production on my debut album, “Exposition,” a 17-track full-length experience that tells my story and hopefully inspires others to follow their dreams. It’s my best songwriting and production work up to this point, and I’m so excited to get it out there in the world.

I’ve got an album dropping on June 28th.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
This won’t have anything to do with music, but I had a fantastic childhood and am grateful. I’ve always been pretty nerdy, and something I remember doing a lot as a kid is dressing up as Link from the Legend of Zelda and having sword fights with my friends in the backyard. We’d always pretend we were in some medieval knight’s academy and act like we were saving the kingdom. It’s no surprise that my friends and I didn’t ever get girls in school, but we had a lot of fun. I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsmykyl
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsmykyl
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mykylmusic
• soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/itsmykyl
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@heyitsmykyl

Image Credits
James Isaac, Jones Alyssa, Flake Turner