By India Pearman
Staff Writer
Strumming her way to her goal, Costa student Bradford Michela brings artistry and passion to her music, a true artist in the making, starting in her garage.
After 35 hours over the summer of singing, playing guitar and drums, editing, and learning how to use the software while in her garage, alternative musician and Costa freshman, Bradford Michela, produced her first original song, Jesse James. This song is available on Michela’s personal website, bradfordmichela.bandcamp.com.
“My songs are inspired by people and relationships” Michela said. “I like telling stories and love stating my opinions about things. I also like alternative music because it’s raw and it’s real. I like things that are not perfect.”
Michela has been surrounded by music for as long as she can remember, due to her parents love for music. At the age of 6, she wrote her first song, began playing guitar, and started singing Michela says. From there on, Michela says her dream has been to record and release a song by the time she began high school.
“My whole life I always thought that I needed a record label and a band to make music,” Michela said. “But I discovered an artist online, Declan McKenna, and he started recording stuff in his garage and I thought, ‘why am I not doing that?’ I learned from him.”
Michela’s inspiration to record and release her song was Declan McKenna’s self started career. From recording in his garage, to developing into a known artist, McKenna’s success inspired Michela to pursue her dream. After finishing Jesse James, Michela brought McKenna a copy of her song to one of his concerts in LA in August. After his gig he direct messaged her via Instagram and sent her a video of his band dancing and listening to her song in their tour bus.
“We thought it was really good,” McKenna wrote in a direct message to Michela. “It sounded like my early demos. Keep writing songs, you are talented and your voice is v v good.”
Michela performs at open mics where audience members get to perform on stage, and at Inhouse, where a group of Costa students meet monthly and share their talents. Michela is hoping to start performing at more events, beginning with local coffee shops and restaurants. She has written about four other songs including The Kids are Alright, You Wear too Much Vineyard Vines, Phoenix Photo District and BGBH Short Films. She hopes to produce these with better quality now that she has more experience with the recording software, Mixcraft.
Download and learn about Mixcraft here.
“Her music has gotten really incredible over the years,” said Michela’s close friend and Costa junior Hayden Armstrong. “I feel like her lyrics have really matured. She has started to develop her own style and her own type of music and what she writes about.”
Michela hopes to continue to release her own songs from her garage. She has considered professions in the music industry as a recording artist going on tour so that, through her music, she can share her stories and opinions to a wider audience. Michela is hoping to start performing at more events, beginning with local coffee shops and restaurants.
“I enjoy writing and creating songs, so I can tell stories through them,” said Michela. “I also like hearing stories about other people’s experiences in life. I have met a bunch of people through music, especially at Inhouse. Music is something I have been doing forever and I’m going to be doing it for the rest of my life.”
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