Steven Curtis is a singer-songwriter, performer, producer, guitarist, and looper. A one-man band on stage with styles similar to John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Ed Sheeran, he has accumulated a following of over 20,000 fans without an album release. He’s now completing songs to release in 2021. We caught up with him to talk about his latest track, titled ‘Overwhelmed’, and future projects.
How did you get into the music industry?
I started playing music about 12 years ago. I always had a deep appreciation and passion for music ever since I was born. My father is a Singer and that inspired me to want to get into music. It wasn’t until my Sophomore year in HighSchool where I started practicing singing and guitar. I got my first ever performance opening up for Art Alexis from Everclear at the Hard Rock Cafe at 17 years old. I spent the rest of my teen years going to college and playing gigs in Seattle to develop a small fan base.
Who have been your musical influences?
There’s a lot! It’s hard to put anyone in a specific order. I feel the most influential for me would be John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Ed Sheeran for the Singer-songwriter category. Before I was playing music I was really into Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Sum 41, and more rock music.
Lately, my musical influence has changed overall and while they’ve inspired me the most for my earlier kind of work, I’m listening to artists currently like Post Malone, Mike Shinoda, Quinn XCII, and just a lot of independent artists trying to get their name out there. I like to listen to a lot of random music.
“Overwhelmed” tells a particularly personal story. Please share with us how you came to write the track?
Absolutely! Overwhelmed is a song about anxiety. I had a difficult time like everyone else in 2020 and was left in the unknown about what my future would hold. I had some personal family situations that were very serious and mixing that with a pandemic, work, and my future for music I was left with a lot of questions and sleepless nights wondering if I’m living life right. Will I be proud of myself 10 years from now? A lot of reflection took place in 2020.
I often think back on things and wonder if I could fix situations in the past instead of doing the correct thing which is moving forward. I think Overwhelmed is questioning what my purpose is in life and how can I live in the moment, even when I feel I’ve fixed myself in certain aspects, why do I feel it’s not good enough?
While the song as a whole sounds dark, I like to have all my songs have some sort of positive meaning to it. I have a lyric saying “I wanna win this fight” which is so minimal in the song, but it’s the most important part to me.
The song has dark lyrics mixed with very lo-fi and relaxing instrumentation. I feel the juxtaposition with the music and lyrics make someone who does have anxiety feel at ease listening to the song. Calm music really helps tense feelings. I’m hoping Overwhelmed does that for someone and they can relate to the lyrics knowing they’re not alone and things will be okay.
The song resonates with audiences and listeners. How important is it for your music to engage with audiences on a meaningful level?
I think it’s important for any musician wanting people to engage with their music. The highest form of flattery is someone opening up to a situation that your song helps get them through a certain time. Or if a song makes a situation even better if it’s a happy song they can relate to in a good time of their life.
I make music for myself and, hopefully, that one person that feels alone knows they’re not and things will get better.
Please tell us more about the production of the track and video
I was scrolling through Facebook groups and stumbled on a video of Will Henderson (The producer) playing a minute of the instrumental of Overwhelmed. I contacted him and asked if I could sing on it. He agreed and I sent him the vocals and the rest was history. The process was so smooth and easy. Will is an absolute pro and is incredibly talented. He lives in New Zealand while I live in Washington state. I feel that Covid may keep everyone locked in, but that didn’t stop me from meeting new people thanks to the internet. I didn’t meet just a new producer, but I met a great friend.
The COVID-19 lockdown has had a major impact on the entertainment industry, particularly emerging artists. How have you managed to keep motivated as a singer-songwriter?
I kind of just forced myself to be motivated. I’ve seen a lot of musicians quit during the pandemic because the future isn’t stable and everyone was hurting for income. I just kept moving one day at a time adding progress to my music. I forced myself to wake up and make my bed every morning, work out, and treated making music like a 9-5 job during quarantine. Maybe not the healthiest way to work on music, but it helped me move forward and finish songs like Overwhelmed. I felt any progress each day will eventually help me get somewhere. I focused on making contacts with multiple producers to help work on multiple projects at once. I got to meet some incredible musicians online that have worked with some of my heroes and that kept me going.
Those little steps actually did help me get somewhere and get the biggest opportunity I’ve had to date! I got in contact with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Fort Minor wanting to produce a song of mine. That was definitely a huge motivation boost and a huge pat on the back to keep moving forward.
What projects are you currently working on?
Currently working on a music video for Overwhelmed!
I have a few songs close to being finished, the song with Mike Shinoda is just about ready. I’ll be releasing that hopefully soon once the music video is finished. I’m very excited to release that one.
Where can people find out more about you?
- https://www.instagram.com/stevencurtismusic/
- Overwhelmed lyric video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IviF3dzRjSg
- YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/user/StevenCurtisMusic
- Facebook.com:https://www.facebook.com/stevencurtismusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevencurtis253
- Website:https://www.stevencurtismusic.com/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stevencurtismusic
Photos by @lostandfounddesigns and @kyleolthoff
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