Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Mercado.
Hi Kristen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi, my artist name is Larkn. I started writing songs when I was in middle school after I gravitated towards music from piano lessons. I enjoyed performing arts (singing, acting, poetry) and become more involved with them throughout my childhood, including starring in three of my high school’s musical productions, a summer fine arts camp, and self-made albums. I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA on a partial scholarship where I was influenced by a number of peers who also made. music from singer-songwriters to gifted musicians. After Berklee I moved to Los Angeles where I accumulated experience in the music industry from seeing how songwriters, engineers, record labels, artists and recording studios work to applying a lot of this experience and knowledge directly to my own songwriting and music career. After an unfortunate experience where I developed an aggressive form of acid reflux, I had to take time off to prioritize my health and wound up moving back to my home state of Michigan. After a period of recovery I made an indie record label called Better From Here Music, got into a record studio to record my first fully completed EP, called the Make it the Most! EP and have been promoting that music and my indie record label on my social media ever since.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Initially blending into Berklee was difficult. I felt like an outsider because I was one of the few students from my home state of Michigan and I always found it to be really difficult to describe my music and it’s genre, something I struggled with and went back and forth with over my career. I also found adjusting to LA to be difficult and finding ways to balance my day job with my music aspirations to be challenging in the scope of the survival. When I developed acid reflux in my twenties, I feared I”d never sing again and it was probably the hardest thing I ever had to go through in my life, at least up to that point. I also find my current situation of marketing my music online to be very challenging with how much pushback and judgements exists for artists today from haters, social media critics, nay-sayers and people who don’t appear to generally understand how running a business in music works and who can be overly-demanding, insensitive, judgmental and fair-weathered in an often toxic way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I create music. I both sing and play instruments, mostly guitar and piano. I perform covers and originals, often solo or with a band. While some people compare my genre or music to that of Taylor Swifts, I am influenced by a number of music genres and generically call myself an indie-pop artist because I feel that that encompasses the wide range of music styles that are within my music. I am probably most proud of my EP, the Make it the Most! EP, a six song EP that I fully produced and that was released on my label and can be found on Bandcamp or my website store, www.LarknMusic.com/Store
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I am a fan of nutritionist Kelly Leveque. Her books are great. They lay a foundation for her approach toward dieting called the Fab 4 Diet. There are a few social media influencers that I follow and who routinely offer sound advice. Aside from my passion for nutrition, I follow the regenerative agriculture movement, (a movement where farmers seek to gain independence and diversify their farms while at the same time depart from chemical dependency) and there are a few influencers in that arena I follow including, Dr. Zach Bush, who is a doctor and holistic medicine influencer. I also am a fan of yoga and breath work. Yoga has always helped to center me, especially in times of stress. Also nature in general has always helped, which is probably why I loved farming and being around things that grow so much, also higher education, because just learning new information in general is something I’ve always enjoyed.
Pricing:
- Larkn Substack, 8 dollars a month
- Make it the Most! EP, 6.99
- Rising More (digital single) 3.99
- @bfhmusic Patreon 5.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.LarknMusic.com/Store
- Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/JustLarkn
- Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/LarknOfficial
- Twitter: https://www.X.com/LarknMusic
- Youtube: https://www.Youtube.com/@LarknMusic
- Other: www.Larkn.Bandcamp.com
