friendships and creating art with ciara rosalee

Lily interviewed singer-songwriter Ciara Rosalee on her creative process and musical aspirations. @ciararosaleemusic on Instagram.

L: So first off, how have you been doing? Anything new coming up? Hows life been treating you?

C: I've been doing pretty well, I've been using my free time to do more things I enjoy and just trying to do more self care type things.

L: That's great to hear, I saw that you had a record with Daniqa, Mariposa Extension Line, Charlie Street, and others as well called "Sunrise and Teary Eyes"- Did you all know each other previously? What was this collaboration like? Did you all write songs individually or did you create/plan it as a group? How did this all come together?

C: I knew everyone except ifeanyichukuwu, Maddie, and Anell before the record and as Mariposa Extension Line is the alter ego of Isaac Dunbar, I knew him beforehand as well. It was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful to have become closer with all of them since the first day of planning. All the songs featured on the record were all of our individual songs we had written on our own and then came together to put them on the record. ifeanyichukuwu was the person who had come up with the idea of this whole project and I was tagged in the post and that was pretty much the beginning of the process, from there it was planning what we wanted the proceeds to go to, the design of the record, and the songs we wanted on it. Overall, the process and everything was amazing and I'm so lucky to have been a part of it.

L: Are you musically inspired by anyone? Who are your favorite bands/singers? What've you been listening to lately? Any underrated artists?

C: I'd definitely say that I'm musically inspired by all of my friends who are also music artist, seeing their creativity and just watching them create inspires me more than anything. My favorite artists of all time are probably Twenty One Pilots , Taylor Swift, and Chloe Moriondo. I have been listening to a lot of Taylor Swift and Chloe Lilac lately as well as Tom Rosenthal. Some underrated artists would be Chloe Lilac and Dacelynn,

L: What are your future aspirations? Do you plan on taking music as a full time career?

C: I definitely plan on keeping music as a part of my life, a dream of mine would be to get signed to a label and create and perform as a full time career, yet as that can be very difficult, I would love music therapy to be a career path to go into.

L: Who is your dream collaboration?  If you could open a show for any artist dead or alive, who would it be?

C: A dream collaboration of mine is 100% Chloe Moriondo or Isaac Dunbar, I love the way that they create and just their sound, I can only imagine what it would be like to create with them. A dream collaboration that would be achievable would quite honestly be with my friend, Daniqa! The way that she writes and just creates is beautiful! [I] Would also love to open for either of them but I'd also love to open for Tessa Violet, opening for truly any artist would be such an amazing experience.

L: What is your songwriting/producing process like? How long does it take for you to come up with lyrics or melodies? How long have you been writing?

C: My process of creating music is often very similar, I find I'll have a lyric come into my brain and if I get extremely inspired by it, the rest will flow out easily and then I create melodies and the sound according to how I feel the song should sound. Generally, lyrics take me a few hours to get the first draft and then as I edit and produce, I will make changes and finalize it. I've only been writing for around seven months and since the first time, I just haven't been able to stop really.

L: Lastly, what are your hopes for 2021? Any new lessons from 2020 that you're bringing into the new year?

C: In 2021, I hope to work more on my EP and to keep creating more music. I also hope to expand my audience and my sound to be more versatile. Throughout 2020, I definitely learned to not pressure myself to make everything perfect and to allow myself to make mistakes as well as to create more freely and create what I would like to.

★ Follow Ciara on Instagram @ciararosaleemusic 

★ "Floating to U" , the lead single off of her EP "Ghost Town" is out on all platforms now