Today we’d like to introduce you to Analisa Baumgart.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I believe I was born with the gift of song with which to gift others. I played piano by ear when I was two years old and gained my grasp on vocal pitch around age six. My parents nurtured my gift. I took piano lessons at age five until the end of my tween years (this was a personal choice), and have caught onto other instruments over the years. I even took vocal lessons from family friend and American Idol contestant Manny Torres when I was eleven, and that was also my first experience having original music recorded in a studio. I began both professionally performing live and steadily recording original music at sixteen years old. I was working with RKSTRS Media in those days.
Today, I am twenty years old. I still do live performances around Michigan and record original music. My debut EP “Dinner Plans” was released earlier this year. I’ve been to many studios over the years, but I have been recording with Matt Wansitler of Phoenix Music Productions (also featured in VoyageMichigan) for the better part of a year.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My journey has not been a smooth road, but I have learned to tell my story in song.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of quiet chaos and pain into my life. Some of my most memorable years of school were junior high. I had friends in every class and kindred spirits in choir (including our teacher, Mr. Degner, whom I saw as home away from home).
It was in these years, I had my first love, and from that, my first heartbreak. There were other exciting romances and thrilling events like school dances and choir solo performances/concerts that felt like scenes from movies. There were regrets, there were wishes, and there will always be in me a nostalgia for those days.
These great years of my life were promptly cut short in the middle of eighth grade. Consequently, I spent the vast majority of these formative years self-isolating. I had human interaction here and there, but mostly envied those who had it every day because I was so set in my ways that school seemed like a memory and no longer a future. Following yearlong COVID-induced parosmia (distorted scents and flavors), increased obsessive-compulsion, and pandemonium in my life, my headspace eventually devolved into something so severe that I made an attempt on my life when I was fifteen years old.
But like a phoenix, I rose from the ashes and have lived to tell the other side of the story. The happy ending.
I became a mental health advocate through song by telling my story on my debut EP “Dinner Plans.” My message for now and for always is to choose life.
The three-track “Dinner Plans” was made possible by the good people of RKSTRS Media and Impulsive Productions. I released it on January 22nd, 2026 in loving memory of my late friend Todd Gilbert on his birthday. He mixed and mastered the EP, which also featured his engineering and the iconic drums and electric on that title track.
I first worked with RKSTRS, which unfortunately closed. Michael Arthur was a significant mentor in my life and taught me incredibly valuable knowledge that I’ve taken with me to every studio. Tijon Sneed not only helped me grow into the songwriter and composer I am today, but is one of my best friends. Seth Bolf has been a positively incomparable presence in my life. I’ve never forgotten anyone else I had the pleasure of meeting, conversing with, and collaborating with from that studio and every other along the way. (All creatives on “Dinner Plans” have been credited on Spotify and further anecdotes can be found on my social media.)
Following the closing of RKSTRS, my family and I went “studio hopping,” as my dad says. Eventually, my family and I invested in Impulsive Productions. That’s when I met Todd Gilbert, who had been a family friend long before I was in the picture. I’d truly never met anyone like Todd, and I haven’t met anyone like him since. We were two very different people — he was outgoing and friendly, sharing memories with my dad, and I was more reserved. Luckily, I knew all of their Simpsons quotes! Todd was very understanding of me regardless of our differences. By the end of the first session, Todd and I hugged. We were friends.
Following his passing, I kept learning about Todd and his kind heart from his wonderful parents as well as my own father, and the friends I made at the Todd Gilbert Tribute Show, which took place at the Flint Local 432 (which is where the cover for the “Dinner Plans” EP was photographed and the title track’s music video was filmed, both shot by my dad).
Todd is the first friend I have lost, but who he was inspires me to be a better version of myself. Sharing the people who make me Analisa is a part of my purpose, and Todd is one of those angels.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Jeff Evans of The Burton Beat gave me the moniker The Siren of Genesee County in the summer of 2025, and I’ve carried it with me ever since. I am mostly known for my live performances at various venues. At solo shows, I play everything from crowd-pleasing classics to obscure favorites, and you might even hear the occasional original. I was a member of John Hammon and the Streetlight Saints (the original keyboardist, though I also had a spotlight to sing and play my own music at every show). It was a very positive experience to have met and played alongside other musicians, including the leader of the band himself. I feel very fondly about my time in the band. I most recently played keys and sang for Jazz on Wheels and tickled the ivories for War on the Horizon.
Many of my opportunities have come about because of connections. I’d like to thank my family, the Root family, Zeb Brown, and various other friends, patrons, etc., for thinking of me. These opportunities have even led me outside of Genesee County.
While these experiences have been life-changing for the absolute best, I am most proud of my original music. Each of the three tracks on “Dinner Plans” are truths in song. Additionally, I am non-conformist in the sense that I do not adhere to a specific genre in both live performances and original music. On my debut EP alone, you will hear pop rock as well as folk. Music itself is my niche, and I refuse to box myself in, even if it makes me less “marketable.”
What’s next?
My parents recently invested in a home studio for me, and I intend to learn more about production in hopes of someday recording my music myself. My dad calls this my version of college. I am trying my best to shape my present around my future. I will have guidance from aforementioned mentors Matt Wansitler and Mike Arthur. This commitment will require a great deal of patience, but I am truly looking forward to embarking on this, once again, musical journey.
Even the less musical aspects of my life are some kind of creative. I love cinema and reading, and I leave heartfelt movie reviews on Letterboxd (@Analisa16) and book reviews on StoryGraph (@analisa20). That being said, I am a serious writer, and I have been working on a major project. I will keep the specifics secret for now, but I have coordinated certain writings with a musical project. I’ve dabbled in digital artistry and editing (and though unimpressive, got the job done) for my own projects as well. I truly do find ways to execute what I thought would only ever live in my imagination, and I hope this inspires others to do the same.
I have plenty of work for the future, much of which I am currently working toward, and I am full of ideas in the meantime! I will continue to take on live performances when I can, but original work and music production are the priorities.
(None of my answers were recorded with AI; I am just a passionate writer who loved em dashes before the AI machines did.)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/view/analisacreative/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_analisaofficial_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19PmSqSkES/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCDxtCDiSNlcJWk_pIo_87Sw
- Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/analisa2/dinner-plans-2/
