From Dreams to Hits: Seph Hz Reveals His Inspiring Musical Journey and Ambitious Future!
By. Alicia Zamora
A Conversation with Seph Hz
In an exclusive interview conducted by Alicia's Studio, I had the privilege of talking with the incredibly talented artist Seph Hz. As Seph delved into creating his own music, the positive feedback he received from friends and peers further fueled his passion and determination. Encouraged by the affirmations of his close circle, he continued to refine his sound and push the boundaries of his creativity.
This evolution in his musical pursuits showcases his versatility as an artist and underscores the resilience and adaptability many individuals have demonstrated during the challenging times brought about by the pandemic.
Seph Hz's story serves as a testament to the transformative power of passion and perseverance. His willingness to embrace change and explore new artistic avenues exemplifies the spirit of innovation that resonates within the music industry. As he continues to carve out his unique path, it is evident that Seph Hz's musical journey is defined by authenticity, growth, and an unwavering commitment to his craft.
Diving In
Alicia: Welcome back to Alicia’s Studio! We have our fourteenth special guest.
Seph: Hi so I’m Seph Hz and I make songs if you want to check them out, they’re on all platforms!
Alicia: Okay and diving into the first question… Was there a specific moment or event that made you pursue music professionally?
Seph: I don’t think there was a specific moment, but it was gradual. So I really got into making songs during the pandemic because I had a lot of time. I stayed inside a lot and started making beats for other artists. I made a lot of trap and drill beats, but then slowly, I was like, “you know what.. Why not sing myself and make songs myself?”, so that’s the transition I made. Slowly, people and a lot of my friends were like, “oh, they sound good,” and I was like, “okay” and just kept on going.
Alicia: Okay, so singing was not something you had in mind or took classes for?
Seph: Yeah, no I didn’t really take classes or anything. I just slowly did it.
Alicia: Oo okay cool ! Can you walk us through your songwriting or composing process? Do you start with lyrics, melody, or another element?
Seph: I start everything from scratch, so I don’t like. Well, for now at least, because I’m using the guitar a lot. So I just start with some chords, and then I use Logic. I’d record the chords down on Logic, and then I hum a melody to it. That would usually be the hook or the chorus. But then sometimes I do it, and then it just sounds really bad, so I start over again.
Seph: Yeah, but if it sounds good, if the initial idea sounds good, then I start like building off of it. So I’ll add more layers to the chords, different instruments, and drums, and then yeah, it slowly builds off of that.
Alicia: How long does it usually take you to write a song?
Seph: It depends, honestly! Like, somehow, with the newest song I released, I wrote it in June, but then I just sat on it for months and months because I didn’t like it. But then I played it to one of my friends, and they were like, “This chorus is really nice. You should finish it”. So I was like, okay, and in August, I finished it. So, honestly, it varies so much. For example, with 20 hours, the other song took two weeks, so it depends.
Alicia: Going into your most recent release, “Late Summer,” what's the story or inspiration behind that single?
Seph: I don’t know, honestly, because I’m going to college now. My school is on the quarter system, so all my friends are taking classes already, and I’m still on break. So I’m like, you know, I’m alone, and it’s a really late summer for me even though it's not really summer anymore because all my friends are gone. Yeah, that’s why I wrote it. Well, that is part of the reason why I wrote it.
Alicia: Quarter systems are crazy. I could never, and I’m on a semester system.
Seph: Yeah, the quarter system is really weird
Alicia: Yeah, I feel like it would throw me off track
Seph: Yeah, we ended classes in June, like the 20th
Alicia: What?? I ended classes on May 10th
Seph: Exactly. All my friends are on break, and I’m at home looking at my stories, and everyone’s having fun.
Alicia: Yeah, that’s crazy because you guys also start really late, right?
Seph: Yeah, we don’t start until September twenty-something
Alicia: Oh wow. I’m already in school. I started August 18th
Seph: Wow, so it’s been a while
Alicia: Yeah, but our break is also earlier. I think the semester ends for me on December 10th
Seph: Oh, okay, that’s nice. Yeah, well, it’s really weird, honestly.
Seph: That’s also the meaning behind “20 hours” too. I was just alone during the break, and everyone was on holiday. I was in my room and was like, what should I do? So I made the whole idea in a day, so I called it that.
Alicia: Oo, interesting!
Seph: Yeah, maybe the quarter system’s blessing me with these ideas.
Alicia: Okay, and how do you overcome writer's block or other creative blocks when creating music?
Seph: I just leave it. It happens every single time I work on an idea. There’s always something stopping me from finishing the whole song. So I just leave it and work on something else, like another idea. But then I’ll get sick of the other idea because I’m working on it so much, and I’ll be like, okay, I want to work on this one again. So, I have three songs that I’m working on at the same time.
Alicia: Okay, so you just move on to like different projects, but then you go back to the first one
Seph: Yeah, so I return to it once I’m tired.
Alicia: Oo, okay, that makes sense.
Alicia: Do you follow any particular rituals or routines when working on new music?
Seph: Sometimes I’m scared to work on music because I wonder if it sounds really bad. So, I’m always kind of praying that it sounds good. So what I do is just kind of put myself in the mindset. For example, if I’m making a specific song, I’ll listen to songs that are similar to that one. I have so many different Spotify playlists that are similar to that song’s vibe that I would listen to, and that would sort of help me make the song, too, because I can get inspiration from that playlist.
Alicia: Who would you say inspires you the most when working on something? Like any specific group or artist?
Seph: This summer, I listened to a lot of Dominic Fike, Remy Wolf, and Clairo. Her new album was really good. Do you know Bakar?
Alicia: I do!!
Seph: Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Mk.gee. Do you know Mk.gee?
Alicia: I don’t
Seph: You should really listen to him! I think if you like the artist I’ve mentioned, then you’ll definitely like Mk.gee. Yeah, these are the artists that I have on repeat lately. They’ve inspired me a lot!
Alicia: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about yourself through your music career? You started in 202, right?
Seph: Like late 2020, 21. It’s been like three years
Alicia: That’s not that long though
Seph: Yeah, it's not too long
Alicia: Yeah, it’s a good start
Seph: Yeah, it is, but obviously, I want to keep on growing. We’ll mention those later on. But back to the question… I honestly learned a lot, especially persevering. I think there are so many points along this journey that I’ve just wanted to give up really badly. I’m like, “What’s the point?”. For example, I put out a song, and no one listens to it, even though my friends do. But obviously, I want people outside of my friends to listen to it. Yeah, a lot of the time, it’s really frustrating because I’m doing everything myself, so I’m making the instrumental, I’m singing on it, I’m writing the lyrics, I’m putting it out myself, and then I have to do the marketing, make the album covers, design everything. So it’s really tiring.
Alicia: So that’s all you?
Seph: Yeah, it’s all me. I’m doing everything.
Alicia: That’s actually crazy.
Seph: Yeah, and I’m also balancing school now. I’m in college, so there’s so many points in this journey where I just wanted to give up, like just fully give up. But yeah, I’m slowly finding people to help me out and slowly building a team and people to help me out. Yeah, so I think I definitely persevere because I could have given up in 2022 or 2023 and could’ve just not kept on going.
Alicia: I’m glad you continued because I found you on Instagram. I was just scrolling through my Instagram, and I was like, this sounds so good! Then I went to your profile, and I was like, okay. I’m scared of reaching out to artists. I feel like that’s the worst thing for me, and I was like fuck because you had no email, and I was like, “oh my god.”
Seph: I don’t have an email. I swear I have one.
Alicia: Well, not on Instagram. But yeah, I was like fuck what do I do? I was debating it because I hate to send a DM because I feel like that’s awkward for me, but then I was like fuck it.
Seph: Honestly, it’s good you did because I never check my email *laughs*
Seph: Yeah, that’s really good, though, because that reel popped off a little bit, and I got some attraction.
Alicia: Yeah, it was for 20 hours!
Seph: That’s really interesting, though, because many people who followed me from that reel had Wave to Earth in their bio.
Alicia: Really?
Seph: Yeah, for some random reason, it attracted all the Wave to Earth fans
Alicia: That’s crazy
Alicia: Diving back into the questions, Can you discuss a time when you had to make a difficult decision regarding your career or artistic direction?
Seph: Hmm, every decision is difficult.
Alicia: That’s so real
Seph: I’m overthinking every little thing I do.
Alicia: I felt that
Seph: Yeah, exactly. Fuck that. Sometimes, you just have to go for it.
Alicia: Honestly, you do!!
Seph: Sometimes, when you stress too much over the little details, you just don’t do it.
Alicia: Exactly! I’ve done that so many times, but you got it.
Seph: I don’t got that *laughs*
Alicia: I can’t even give advice because I’m literally like you *laughs*. I’m trying to find out what to say but I’m like… yeah.
Seph: Honestly, I don’t got that either. Every time I post something, I’m like is the font okay? *laughs*
Alicia: That’s me, like. I delete things a lot, and then I’ll repost, and I’m like fuck because I need to post.
Seph: *laughs* I’ll be looking at the post, and I’m like, “Should I delete this post?”
Alicia: Me too!! I overthink a lot, so I’ll text my friend, “Is this okay?” and she’ll say yes, but I’ll say no, it’s not.
Seph: Exactly, but it’s fine because no one cares
Alicia: Exactly, but it’s like they don’t get it.
Seph: No, I still deal with that every single time. But your format looks really good though.
Alicia: I struggled a lot with finding a style for it because at first, I was just doing whatever I felt was right, but then I was like, "Eww, it just didn’t look good."
Seph: It looks really good now, like your profile pictures match your website.
Alicia: Ahh, thank you! I’ve been doing a lot to improve it.
Seph: I can tell you put a lot of effort into it.
Alicia: I do! School is just a lot, but I still make it happen.
Seph: Yeah, sometimes you just have to believe that it will work out
Alicia: Exactly!
Seph: Like I’ve sacrificed so much just to pursue this
Alicia: Exactly! I feel like if you really believe in yourself, then the things you’re doing right now don’t matter. Obviously, it’s going to show in the future, but I feel like the stuff I’m risking, it’ll be fine as long as everything works out, you know?
Seph: Yeah, you just have to lock in. I think there are so many little things I’ve missed, even just hanging out with friends. That bothers you, and you’re like, what am I doing? What am I missing all this just to do something that you don’t know if it’ll work out? But the thing is, you enjoy doing this, though, and it’s fun, so I guess that’s all that matters.
Alicia: Yeah, and I’m lucky because my friends actually do it with me. I kind of just dragged them along, though. I was like, hey, I have an idea and they came with me.
Seph: That's good though. It’s really nice to have your friends support you because most of my friends don’t do music either, so I just tell them that I’m doing this and doing that. They’re having lunch together right now, and I’m missing out. It gave me FOMO. It's like they’re having fun *laughs*. But I really enjoy talking about music and stuff.
Alicia: Me too. That’s why I chose music in particular. I feel like getting to know the artists why they make music and how they do it is just so interesting.
Seph: Yeah, because every person has a different way of making music. It’s so specific, and like you said, rituals… well, rituals feel kind of extreme, but they kind of are a ritual. A lot of people have really specific things that they do.
Seph: I was looking at this one on TikTok, and it's about Zayn from One Direction. He has this one specific drink that he has to drink before he sings, and it’s like what?
Alicia: That’s why it’s interesting to see, and there’s just so much behind the music scene.
Seph: Honestly, there’s so much that goes behind it. I didn’t know what I was going into. As I went on, I was like, there are so many things that go into even just putting out a song on Spotify.
Alicia: Yeah, it’s a lot… well, from what I hear. It’s a big process, so props to you for even putting stuff out.
Seph: I’m so tired. I really want someone to help me. Please… If anyone’s listening, please reach out. Please, I’m desperate… Please.
Seph: *laughs* okay next question
Alicia: What themes or messages do you aim to convey through your music? What’s the vibe? What are you going for?
Seph: I want to build an aesthetic and a universe behind the songs. Right now, there’s a character that I play in a lot of the songs. If you listen to the lyrics, I feel like one leads into the next one, and there are motifs throughout the songs, so I planned it that way. So, if you listen to the lyrics, specific topics in each song will be linked. So, I really want people to delve into whatever world I’m creating because I also used to do a lot of photography and filmmaking. So I also want to make a really cool music video and things like that.
Seph: But yeah, I didn’t have people to help me out before, so I didn’t know what to do. But I recently contacted someone to help me, so I will hopefully make a few videos in October. So that’s exciting. But yeah, I really want to make a world behind the song because, you know artists these days, especially with albums… like, I’m really interested in seeing how Tyler The Creator creates such interesting worlds behind his albums.
Alicia: His stuff is crazy
Seph: It’s really good. I always listen to his interviews, and I’m like, “Wow.” I learned so much from them. But yeah, that’s one thing I really want to portray with my music, which is creating a world behind it. As you discover it, well, you’ll see.
Seph: It’s like you have a map, and you go through each song and each song leads you somewhere else, and you find more about whatever the artist is trying to say and I don’t really want just to lay out what each song means because I want people to listen to it and have their interpretation of what the song means. Like with the suit in many of the next few songs and with ‘Late Summer’ it’s all about me in a black suit.
Alicia: Yeah, I saw that.
Seph: Yeah, so it’s me in a black suit with the guitar. One of the reasons why I was wearing the suit is because ‘late summer’ when you use the word late, it’s sort of like you know the late prince, the late Michael Jackson; they’ve already died. Summer is like a person that’s already passed away. So I’m like attending their funeral and wearing the black suit, so everything is building onto this world that I’m creating. With the VHS camera that I’m using, it’s sort of like you’re looking back, and everything’s nostalgic.
Alicia: Okay, like old-school vibes.
Seph: But a lot of people these days just use digital cameras. I want to put a meaning behind it too. Honestly, no one cares that I’m doing all this.
Alicia: That’s not true, guys! That is not true.
Seph: I have two people who would really notice it. : *laughs*. So what am I doing? Like, I’m doing all this, and then there’s a person who asks why you are wearing a suit?
Alicia: No, but it will work out trust me ! It’s your own idea so you know it best you know
Seph: Yeah do you know The Dare? Like have you heard of The Dare?
Alicia: No
Seph: Okay but he wears a suit a lot and he’s like are you the dare ?
Seph: Like, no, no, no I’m not… I’m Seph… please *laughs*
Seph: But yeah as I go on and hopefully if my career does get better I really want to have bigger ideas, bigger visions and really bring the stuff that I’m thinking about into reality because currently doing it all myself takes way too long.
Alicia: It’s overwhelming, right?
Seph: Yeah, really overwhelming. Sometimes your ideas are bigger than what you can do, which is frustrating.
Alicia: Yes, exactly! I felt that way because when I first started, it was just me. Estephanie would come to help me set up interviews and everything. But then I was the one editing, formatting everything, then reaching out, and it just got to the point where I was like, I can’t do this shit anymore.
Seph: Yeah, it’s really overwhelming
Alicia: I reached a point where I had just reached a really bad burnout.
Seph: Yeah, you get to a point where you’re just like, I don’t want to do this anymore
Alicia: Exactly, but then you just kind of see yourself going downhill and that’s when it’s like, oh let me get back on it. But yeah, it’s a lot if you're doing it alone. But you got that! From what I’ve learned, at least making connections is so important and it’s kind of hard, but you got that!
Seph: Especially in this industry, I feel like it’s all about connections like you can make the best song and you know if you have no connections then you know
Alicia: That is so true because everyone I’ve interviewed I’ve literally met through the artist before
Seph: So I’m the first Instagram reel person
Alicia: That's so good, though, because I take music very seriously, and I take it to heart, you know.
Seph: That’s good because you're authentic. That makes this interview about you because it’s your vision, right? It’s your studio; obviously, you’ll bring artists you like.
Alicia: No, PR teams hit me up and ask for reviews, so I need to let the music sink in to process my thoughts.
Seph: I feel so honored management teams are reaching out, and I’m just one person *laughs*
Alicia: No, but you’re good. I’m telling you, your music is so good! It just takes time like time is a big factor in all this.
Seph: Yeah, it all takes time!
Alicia: Yeah, I’ve interviewed some people who didn’t hit it off until about five years later, so it just takes time.
Seph: Wow, five years is a long time
Alicia: But it helps because you get the experience, and you get to see how everything is and then your just like fuck okay
Seph: Yeah, I think I’m still entering it like I’m at the start
Alicia: Yeah, that what I’m saying because you started in the middle of 2021. That’s not bad.
Seph: 2021 was a while ago. Time is flying.
Alicia: Too fast
Seph: Too fast
Alicia: *laughs* okay, back to the question
Alicia: What do you consider to be the greatest achievement in your musical career so far?
Seph: I’d say it’s only happened recently. It’s just people reaching out in my DMs and saying that they really like it, and it’s complete strangers, so I’m like, wow, people really like it, and that really made me want to keep on going. Before, it was just me in my room posting songs all the time, and no one would interact with them or reach out, which didn’t confirm whether this song was good. That made me doubt myself a lot, but I feel like now that I’m starting to get a little bit more reach and people are reaching out… and they are not bots because I’m looking at the account, and it’s like wow, this is a real person, and they’re saying that they like my music. Every single message makes my day that they like it and it’s always heartfelt.
Seph: Like you can tell that they really liked it. It’s not like an automated message like they really put stuff like, “oh, I listened to this during the summer and had a really good summer and had good memories with this song.” But yeah, that made me feel really good. I’d say that’s probably the biggest achievement.
Alicia: That’s sweet. I feel like that gives you a lot of motivation, right?
Seph: Yeah, when I crashed out in the middle of the summer and was burnt out it felt nice.
Alicia: Yeah I feel like that gives you a lot of strength.
Alicia: If you could change one thing about the music industry or how music is created, what would it be and why?
Seph: That’s a really difficult question, but I think about it a lot. Even though I can’t change anything, I still think about what I could change. Right now, with this… I’m talking like I’m a professional *laughs*, but I really don’t know shit. I feel that the industry is so saturated now, especially for a smaller artist like me trying to promote something. You get drowned out by so many artists that it's so hard to put music out and so hard to get discovered.
Seph: It could be the best artist that wants to put music out, and it’s so hard to get discovered, but at the same time, before social media… I don’t know. Maybe before, like in 2020, when TikTok really blew off, you’d have to connect with labels or managers to get into the scene. But now you can do it yourself and discover yourself. I feel like that really was the thing in 2020 when TikTok first blew off, but then now the marketing teams, the management, the labels are on TikTok too, so now if you’re someone like me who is like what a minimal following and not a lot of reaches you’re competing with big labels and big management teams who optimize the algorithm. They have so many marketing people working behind the scenes and pushing content out, and you’re competing with those people, so it’s just hard to really get recognized. I think that’s something I’d really want to change, maybe bring back soundcloud vibes where you could honestly discover a lot of people.
Seph: I wish I could merge short-form content like TikTok with SoundCloud to create a specific platform just for discovering artists. That would be really interesting.
Alicia: That would be so cool, actually
Seph: Yeah, right now, on Spotify, you also have shorts. If you go on Spotify, you can scroll through songs now.
Alicia: Ahh, I use Apple Music so I never know what goes on with Spotify
Seph: Like, look I can scroll through songs on Spotify
Alicia: Wait, that’s actually crazy. Are they like ads? Do they pay for that?
Seph: I honestly don’t know, but it’s really interesting like you can just add the music into your playlist.
Alicia: That’s kind of smart though.
Seph: Yeah, I feel like we're in such a transitioning period in music, so I want to change how artists get discovered and give everyone an equal chance. That’s really important because I want to be discovered, too, so I want an equal chance.
Alicia: Even for a smaller artist, everything comes back to your connections. I feel like that's such an important thing, at least from what I’ve learned while doing this for the past few months. If you don’t have connections, it’s so hard, but you got that! I truly believe that!
Seph: I hope so. Since LA is such a good location, there’s no better place to really make connections. So I really want to optimize my time here, attend more events, and meet more people. I’m not really a sociable person, but this whole industry forces you to be sociable. So it really drains you.
Alicia: It really does.
Seph: I’d put myself out there more, but every time I do, I’m so drained.
Alicia: Yeah, it takes a lot of energy out of you, especially if you’re not social because for me, at least my friend has to force me to be out there, and I want to, but it’s just awkward for me because what if I get rejected or what if they’re like no… because even that is draining its like fuck because it just puts you all the way back down.
Seph: It makes you doubt yourself because you’re like, is something wrong with me?
Alicia: Yeah, or like my work, it makes me question everything I’m doing, basically
Seph: But you shouldn’t because it’s good, and the interviews are good, so there’s no point
Alicia: Ahh, thank you!! Have you tried to reach out to artists from LA or locals?
Seph: Yeah, I only really tried to start recently, but before that, I was like a hermit. I feel like now I’m really trying to put myself out there, promote myself more, and have that confidence in myself because my friends are telling me to just stop worrying about everything.
Alicia: Yeah, you should, honestly.
Seph: Yeah fuck it, I’m going to do that. I’ll do that. So yeah, I’m going to an event on Tuesday. So it’s an event where they gather artists in LA, show their music to each other, and have producers from the industry who are leading the event and reviewing the artist's music.
Alicia: Ahh, that’s so cool. Good luck with that!
Seph: Hopefully, they like my songs
Alicia: You got that !!
Seph: But yeah, what I’m trying to do more is just go to more of these events
Alicia: Yeah, I feel like that helps a lot, going to events or even reaching out to artists through DMs. Even if they don’t follow you, it’ll probably take some time, but eventually, they’ll reach out.
Seph: I keep on saying it does matter, but realistically it probably doesn’t
Alicia: I don’t know. From what I’ve learned, reaching out doesn't matter because all the artists I’ve interviewed have more followers than me, and I had nothing when I reached out, either. I was freshly starting out, so I probably had two or three interviews out.
Seph: Yeah, but now I feel like it would be easier for you because you have more interviews under your belt and now they can see what you’ve done before, so it’ll keep on getting easier and easier as you grow.
Alicia: Yeah, hopefully!
Seph: It probably will.
Alicia: What are your goals or aspirations for the future, both personally and professionally?
Seph: Honestly, personally… hopefully, I won’t burn out anytime soon. I overthink too much about everything, and now that classes are starting, I’m a bit worried about balancing everything. That’s why I want to build a team: so I can allocate everything and focus on making the music as best as possible. I think that’s my job and everything else. I should have people who know more about things like marketing, making music videos, and doing art like album covers.
Seph: Yeah, I’d want to delegate those jobs better to others to focus on improving the music. Long term, I don’t know… obviously I want to dream big and do more things, like I really want to do shoes and perform more. I did one performance in June, and that was the first performance I’d ever done. It was like I could’ve done better when I finished, but it also left me wanting to do more performances. So I really wanted to perform more, especially since all my friends were there and they all knew the songs, so they sang along, and I was like, yeah, this is really nice. So yeah, hopefully, do more shows.
Alicia: What musical idea or concept have you always wanted to explore but haven’t had the chance to yet?
Seph: I’d say doing a really cool concept album, like having real-life stuff that lets them interact with my songs. I’m going to mention Tyler’s music again. During the Igor phase, he wore his whole outfit to every performance, and each performance had something different about them, which all links back to the Igor album. So it’s like, wow, everything is so planned out, so I really want to do something that interacts with reality, like Travis Scott’s Astroworld. He had his face the one with his mouth open like those inflatable things, but they were everywhere, and you could really interact with them, so I want to do something like that.
Seph: Obviously, I don’t have the resources to do that yet, but hopefully, I could do that one day. Yeah, or even go on a treasure hunt.
Alicia: A treasure hunt?
Seph: Yeah, I was thinking of having different things around the city. Let’s say just LA, and people would go and find snippets. I’d send out a bunch of coordinates, and people would go on a treasure hunt and find it.
Alicia: Wait, that’s actually super cool.
Seph: Yeah, so it would be a snippet of a song. Another thing I was thinking… these are all just shower ideas I’m sharing.
Seph: Have you ever read those build-your-own-adventure books?
Alicia: Yeah, I have.
Seph: Okay, so I was thinking of making an album where you start song one and you’re like, what should I do at the end of the song? Maybe I’ll go to song seven or song five or something like that.
Alicia: Oo, that’s pretty cool.
Seph: These are old things that I just thought about, but I don’t have the ability to do that yet.
Alicia: Right, the keyword is yet!
Seph: Yeah, I really want to use a lot of these ideas.
Seph: Another one is like a Groundhog Day album.
Alicia: Groundhog Day?
Seph: You know those movies where you die and return to the morning again. The whole album is just you dying and going back to the first song, going back to the first song, and then you finally break free, and then you get a secret ending or something like that.
Alicia: Okay, I see the vision.
Seph: I don't know, these are outlandish ideas that I don't know if I could ever do. But they're all cool concepts.
Alicia: Yeah, they are cool concepts.
Seph: I'm just saying this because if anyone steals those ideas, know I said it first. I have evidence on September 21st.
Alicia: Exactly. Seph said it first!
Alicia: How do you use music to express emotions or experiences that are difficult to put into words?
Seph: words paired with melody and instrumental make everything so much more emotional. I don't know. It makes it so that you could be saying the most simple sentence, but if you put it in the song, it just sounds different. That's just something that music can do that you can't do with, you know, storytelling or anything else. That's why it's such a cool medium to portray your emotions. Yeah. It just adds such a deeper layer to it.
Alicia: Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next few years? Let's say three or four years.
Seph: I don't even know what I will do next week. *laughs* I don't even know. I want to do bigger things, like bring everything I'm thinking about to life. I want to do that because I have so many things I want to do, but I can't do them. I'm really frustrated right now because I'm so restricted. I don't have anybody to help me. And I'm like, I can't do the things I want to do. Hopefully, that’s where I want to be. I want to be in a place where I can, you know, just bring everything I’m thinking about to life.
Alicia: Since you say you feel restricted, how long have you been in school? Are you almost graduating, or did you just start?
Seph: No, I’m going into like sophomore year right now.
Alicia: Sophomore? Damn yeah, you still have some time *laughs*
Seph: Yeah, I have two or three more years left
Alicia: Being in school stops you from doing a lot of things. At least for me, like I’ve lost a lot of opportunities because of school, and it’s like, fuck. But I’m almost graduating.
Seph: When are you graduating?
Alicia: Next semester
Seph: Oh wow
Alicia: Yeah. I did it in three years because I was like, ' fuck this.' I can't stay in school longer than that.
Seph: I want to graduate in three years, too, but I probably can't.
Alicia: It’s a lot of work. Right now, I’m taking twenty credits, and I took summer classes.
Seph: You’re crazy *laughs*
Alicia: I am *laughs*. I don’t get any sleep, but I feel like it’s worth it.
Seph: It is worth it. You’re balancing so many things and working too, like, wow.
Alicia: No, guys, I'm reaching burnout. I swear.
Seph: I feel like if you're having fun doing it, then you know, that's, that's all that matters
Alicia: It's fun, but it's expensive. I mean, it's worth it. You just have to invest in yourself, truly.
Seph: You just have to tell yourself it’ll pay off one day. That's the hard part, though. That's such a hard thing because you get a little imposter syndrome. What am I doing? Like everyone else is like, you know?
Alicia: Exactly! Especially when people are questioning what you’re doing, it’s like, “okay, I don’t know what to tell you”.
Seph: You’ve already interviewed so many people; it will only improve. You're going to talk to bigger and bigger artists from here. And I think that, like, once you, it's like a snowball effect. Like, the initial start is the hardest part. And, like when you keep going, it gets easier and easier.
Alicia: Hopefully, I still have a lot to work on, though. I'm really awkward. I just can't. I can't talk to people.
Seph: I don’t think we were awkward during this interview.
Alicia: No, yeah, I’ve been improving. This is one of the interviews where I surprised myself and spoke a lot *laughs*.
Alicia: As an artist, what would you like people to think when they hear your name?
Seph: I want them to have good memories of my music. I don't know. Yeah. Or, they could relate to one of these songs with a period of their life. That's what I want them to remember. I make music for, like, not just myself but for the listeners. I really want them to like and gravitate towards it because I made a couple of songs when I graduated high school. And a lot of my high school friends were, like, re-listening to the songs that I put out then. And it really reminded them of high school.
Seph: And they're, like, you know, every time I miss, you know, my high school, they'll be, like, every time they miss their high school friends, they'd listen to the songs that I put out during then. That's such a powerful thing to be able to do, which is for people to associate different memories or times with your songs.
Alicia: Before I end the interview, thank you so much for letting me interview you! Is there anything you’d like to say to the people watching?
Seph: Thank you so much for even listening to my music. Like, it means a lot, honestly. Because I put a lot of effort into every single song and do everything from scratch, everything is thought out. Like, I really put my heart into it. So, I really appreciate you listening and supporting me. That, like, means everything to me, honestly.
