Life & Work with MISY

Today we’d like to introduce you to MISY.

Hi MISY, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Hi! The name is MISY. Like Missy, but with one S. I am a pop singer/songwriter based out of Nashville, TN but originally from Mission Viejo, California.

As a child, I was always super into performing and entertainment. I started dancing as soon as I could walk, and started musical theatre as soon as I could sing and dance. That eventually led to me picking up a guitar at the age of 13 and my songwriting took off. I knew that’s what I wanted to do in my life. I remember my guitar teacher telling me that if I wanted to write songs for a living, then I need to move to Nashville.

“That’s the songwriting capital of the world” I remember him saying. So when I got older, Nashville was the goal. I moved here in 2017 from southern California and it’s been a whirlwind ever since. At the ripe age of 22, I was out and about in the city quite a bit, playing wherever I could and writing with anyone who would want to.

I got my first songwriting cut a few years later when my friend Spencer Jordan told me he was releasing a song we wrote called “Maroon Five” and it is currently sitting at over 700,00 streams on Spotify!

During the pandemic of 2020, I ended up releasing an EP which I co-produced with my production partner, Bradley Carter. It’s called “Life, Solace, and Divinity” and it explored the deeper concepts of love, spirituality, the world, and growing up. I’ve also released 17 singles in the 5 years that I’ve been in Nashville. I’ve gotten to work with some incredible producers and writers here, and I really feel as though my journey has still just begun.

As I’ve been finding my voice and my style, you can hear all the different influences in my music. I grew up listening to a lot of pop and singer/songwriter music with my sister, a lot of country/folk with my mom, and with my dad, well, he either had jazz or hip-hop on… And all of those genres influence my music today. With that being said, I am working on my first ever full-length album.

It is a big project but I am beyond stoked for it to be done. I’m moving on to the recording stage soon, after months and months of writing and creating a symbiotic story of the music that represents me. I could not be more excited for the future and what is to come!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road.

Overall, I’ve been in and out of the music industry since I was in high school. I have struggled with body image, stage fright, overthinking, depression, and awful anxiety. Before moving to Nashville, I felt really lost in my career. Then I moved here and found a great community and felt unstoppable. But then the pandemic happened.

Being an artist during the pandemic was honestly, quite depressing, I held on hope for a long time but after about 6 or 7 months, that hope started to dwindle. I think I became more of a home-body during the lockdowns, so I did record a lot of music, but I also started to get some really bad social anxiety.

Outside of music, I serve and bartend, so when I got back into that last year, that helped with the social anxiety a little more. But it definitely affected me heavily for a while. 2020 was actually a huge year of pain for me, but 2021 became a year of healing. I did not release much music in 2021 because I did go through a lot of personal growth in private.

I stopped posting so much on my social. My spirituality became a priority. Now I meditate and do yoga on the regular. Before the pandemic, I never did those things! I actually came off of antidepressants and kind of became a recluse for a while when I was dealing with that.

Meditation honestly changed my life and saved me from a dark road of depression and anxiety. I still deal with these things today, but not nearly as bad as I have in the past. I truly feel myself becoming a stronger person and that is definitely going to come out in the music I release in the future.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a pop singer/songwriter who also produces. I play guitar, piano, and a little bass and ukulele. Songwriting is my main love. I always tell people that I could live without performing but I couldn’t live without songwriting. It’s a type of therapy for me, and for others, too.

I believe my writing is a huge strength of mine, and my ability to tell stories from the heart. I believe my voice is unique and stands out from others simply because I don’t sound like anybody else. I get all sorts of names thrown at me but nobody can ever pinpoint one person.

I’m not a cookie-cutter type artist, I’m the type of artist that will push boundaries and blend genres to create something new and unique, which is something I’m very proud of. I’m not afraid to try something new and sound stupid. That’s how we grow!

My open mind and ability to learn new things quickly have helped me excel in this career, and I believe will continue to help me excel.

What does success mean to you?
“Success without fulfillment is failure” is a quote by Tony Robbins that I’ve come across recently. I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot because I could not agree more. I think success is finding inner peace. When you have true inner peace with yourself and your life, that is a success.

Now, finding inner peace truly differs for everyone, which is why success is different for everyone. Success, to me, comes from how much you love, how much you serve others, and how much you help create a better world. That’s really all I want to do.

Love, serve others and create a better world. I just happen to be trying to do all that through music, where success becomes a huge word called fame. But I do not believe that is a success. Fame is a terrifying illusion, which breaks many people. That’s not what I’m looking for.

I’m looking for a life where I can play music but also have a family and hopefully write songs for other artists. And help others along the way through those songs. That’s my personal ideal form of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thenameismisy.com
• Instagram: @thenameismisy
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thenameismisy
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thenameisMISY
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCMbbfCO710sER6K9Q4PeFQ
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/thenameismisy

Image Credits
Raena Skyy @raenaskyy, Jeremy Aguirre @itsjeremyryan, and Austin Dellamano @photos_by_jad