Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Blackford.
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’ve been singing and writing songs for as long as I can remember. I always found a way to incorporate music into my life; doing choir and theatre, taking piano lessons, and participating in talent shows. I always loved writing the most, and I started to take songwriting more seriously in my mid-teens. Around that time, I started teaching myself music production, which has since become just as big a passion for me.
I started doing live shows in August of 2020 after graduating from high school. I took every opportunity that came my way to slowly build a foundation for my career as I attended college. In the past five years, I’ve played almost 50 shows across the Midwest — anything from coffee shops, farmer’s markets, and non-profit events, to local venues, festivals, and battle-of-the-bands competitions.
I graduated from Washtenaw Community College in 2023 with a degree in Liberal Arts and certificates in Fine & Performing Arts and Arts Management. After graduating, I began producing my debut EP “One Too Many Times” alone in my bedroom. After about a year of work, I released the project on April 12, 2024. Every song on the record was written and produced by me. I’m super proud of it. I was passionate about creating a solid foundational body of work for the rest of my discography to stand on, and I think I achieved that. I’ve spent the last year playing shows, releasing my debut music video (which I also wrote and directed!), and planning my next project. I just released a deluxe version of the EP, which includes live acoustic versions of each song.
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?
There have been plenty of struggles. While I’m so grateful to have performed as much as I have, it felt like I was going in circles for a while. It took a long time to break out of that “coffee shop musician” mold and break onto bigger stages in my local music scenes. Since then, I’ve been much more selective about the shows I take. I’m also pretty stubborn about my career plans, and there were plenty of setbacks last year that forced me to rearrange my schedule. I’m much more go-with-the-flow now, but it took time.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Although I love being seen as a singer, the real passion for me lies in the writing and production work. I’m very proud of being what the music industry calls a “hundred percenter”, meaning I’m doing all parts of the job myself. It’s difficult for me to describe my genres (most musicians struggle with this), but I like referring to myself as an Alternative Singer-Songwriter. I’m not committed to one genre, I’m more interested in creating whatever music is necessary for each song, though my music tends to wind up in the Indie Rock / Pop realms the most. I’ve been compared to artists like Maggie Rogers, Fiona Apple, Holly Humberstone, Billie Eilish, Joni Mitchell, and so many more. There’s a lot of variety in who I get compared to, but I think being hard to pin down is one of my strengths — I feel I can truly be an individual with my music, without feeling like a copycat of someone else. I also have a very eclectic taste, which informs my original music in various ways. All this to say: I think my originality is what I’m most proud of
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Comparison kills creativity. It’s natural for jealousy to creep up now and again, it’s human nature, but it can be debilitating. Reframing “I’m not as good as them” into “I value what they’re capable of”, or “how can I incorporate the things I like about them into my own work?” is life-changing. And for metrics like social media likes, monthly listeners, etc., paying attention to that stuff is typically more hurtful than helpful to me. Recognizing which kinds of comparisons push me to work harder and which ones just stifle me was a difficult but necessary distinction to make.
Pricing:
- One Too Many Times EP $4.12 on Bandcamp
- One Too Many Times DELUXE EP $7.12 on Bandcamp (on April 11)
- All music is available on youtube and streaming
Contact Info:
- Website: https://laurenblackford.us/
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/laurbford/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurbford/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@laurenblackford
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/laurbford
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1nyFC1RGlOvNZrQj1Hi8V1?si=Khe0skBxRvaoGxSP8v3RXA
