Latest / The Scene Projects / Demi Michelle Schwartz on Authenticity, Creativity, and Building Community

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Demi Michelle Schwartz on Authenticity, Creativity, and Building Community · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Well, welcome into a very exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:04
  I'm your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is Demi Michelle.
• 0:08
  Welcome to the show, Demi.
• 0:09
  Hi.
• 0:10
  Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:11
  Well, it's my pleasure.
• 0:13
  You're a songwriter.
• 0:14
  You're an author.
• 0:15
  You're a busy girl.
• 0:17
  I am.
• 0:19
  Let's talk about hear me out.
• 0:21
  You had a new album come out this year.
• 0:23
  Why don't you tell me about it?
• 0:25
  Yeah.
• 0:26
  So hear me out is my sophomore pop album.
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  I released my debut album, Dear Diary, in 2021, and then I had an EP.
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  But hear me out is definitely a project that I feel like really captures my evolution as a
• 0:41
  songwriter and a person and also kind of my confidence in myself.
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  It took me a really long time to not only become confident with myself as a person and
• 0:50
  using my voice, but also my songwriting as well.
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  And so I think that album really captures that evolution.
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  And it's an eight track project.
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  And the whole inspiration behind it is that I feel like over the past few years, past five
• 1:07
  years, really, I was in a lot of situations, and I had a lot of experiences that I didn't
• 1:12
  really talk about for various reasons.
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  Maybe I was afraid to, or I was afraid of judgment, or I just didn't feel confident to
• 1:20
  use my voice through my music or just in general.
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  And I feel like because I passed that barrier, I finally felt comfortable sharing some things
• 1:28
  that I haven't really talked about at all, really.
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  And songwriting has always been my way of processing things and getting things out of my
• 1:35
  system.
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  And so hear me out became that project.
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  It's definitely a very fierce and bold and unapologetically honest project.
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  And I really loved creating these songs.
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  Not only writing them, but recording them in the studio as well.
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  I'm a multi genre artist.
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  I do pop and country and some other genres too, but pop has always been my main genre.
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  And so returning to my roots for this album was also a lot of fun.
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  And that album is finally in the world.
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  I'm submitting it to various award shows for nomination consideration as well.
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  One of the songs, Passive Aggressive, won the songwriter achievement award at the Josie Music
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  Awards last year, which is crazy.
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  And so it's already gotten some recognition in some ways, but I'm really excited just to keep
• 2:20
  talking about these songs and this album and seeing where it goes next.
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  I had some other friends that wanted Josie this year as well.
• 2:27
  Yeah.
• 2:28
  No.
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  They're great.
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  I I've been involved with them for three years, and it was crazy to finally win an award, so
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  that was wild.
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  Well, congratulations to you.
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  I'm so proud of you.
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  Thank you.
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  It takes so much courage just to write one song.
• 2:46
  Yeah.
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  And I'm a songwriter myself, so so I know, but I was blessed with an unnatural confidence.
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  So I never struggled with wanting to wanting to put things out there.
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  I've oh, I had I was a busker.
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  I stood on the corner with my guitar and just put it out to the world, you know, mostly
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  because I was hungry.
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  That's how I was feeding myself at different times during my life.
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  But, I love the the passion and the mission behind hear me out was to really because it's
• 3:18
  not just gonna give you a voice.
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  It's going to be the voice of other young women and young men out there that maybe have lived
• 3:26
  through the same experiences or feel those same emotions.
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  Like, that's what it's really about when we get down to the root of being a songwriter or or
• 3:36
  being anyone who shares their their craft with the world.
• 3:40
  Yeah.
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  No.
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  I completely agree.
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  I think one of the big themes of the project that I was keeping in mind as I was writing it
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  was this balance between remaining silent and speaking your mind.
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  And there's a song on the album called Quiet, which is one of my favorites.
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  And, basically, he's talking about how there's power in silence, and sometimes not saying
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  anything is stronger than saying something.
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  And so there's also that kind of balance as well.
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  It's like when to stay quiet, when to speak your mind.
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  And I think it's been really great to see the response as well.
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  And just like from people who have followed my musical journey since the beginning, because
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  this is very different.
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  And I'm a very kind and sweet person.
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  Some of those songs on there are very, like, sassy, and they're like, oh my gosh.
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  We saw, like, a side of you that we never saw before.
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  And so that's been really fun to to kind of show a different side of myself in this album.
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  Well and that's great.
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  And and how nice of your fans to not just accept it, but to to be excited about it.
• 4:39
  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  To to be like, oh, you're you're not you're not just this person that you've put out to the the
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  outward facing world.
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  Right?
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  You have a person inside of you, and you're starting to turn that camera in.
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  And so much of what you have touched on with me here in just a few minutes is really a mission
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  of what not just the scene projects as a podcast itself, but as a larger network, and
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  we're starting more shows to to get real.
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  I think the world as a whole is pretty tired of superficial content just for content's sake.
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  I I'm probably a bit older than you, but I grew up when Jackass was still on TV.
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  Right?
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  And we're literally just watching these idiots falling off escape pictures and slamming
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  themselves into each other with carts.
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  And, like, that was the top show when I was growing up.
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  And to see how far we've come in the last few decades, albeit slowly, I feel like now the
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  because the attention has kind of been rested away from these mainstream major media outlets
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  and it's put into the YouTubes and the and the podcast apps and all these different places
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  that people can really find their community and the community that's going to support them.
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  So Mhmm.
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  Yeah.
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  I I I applaud you for everything that you're doing
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  Thank you.
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  Because it's it's adding to this momentum of realness that is trying to express itself
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  through all of us of just like, you don't have to try and bury this and and act like
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  everything is rainbows and sunshine all the
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  time.
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  It's not
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  that way, and we all know that.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  No.
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  I completely agree.
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  And I think authenticity is something I try to tell everyone, like, no matter what you're
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  doing artistically, like songwriting, writing, whatever.
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  I think it's really important to be authentic.
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  And I've had, like, quite a few experiences over the past few years, like, with music where
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  I kinda wanted to do something authentic to me, and I got, like, kind of weird reactions or
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  judged for.
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  And a perfect example is my EP, It Is What It Is.
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  It's a multi genre project.
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  And I got, like, some not very nice comments from people whose opinions I value saying,
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  like, oh, this project's all over the place.
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  You should stick to one genre, blah blah blah.
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  And I'm like, why should I put myself in a box and, like, that that project won album of the
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  year at the International Singer and Strong Writers Association Awards?
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  And it's like, okay, guys.
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  Now you can keep talking.
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  Yeah.
• 7:13
  Yeah.
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  Kiss my butt is what you can do.
• 7:16
  Yeah.
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  I'm glad
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  I didn't listen to you.
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  How has how has songwriting changed you and especially with this album where you're coming
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  out and you're being, you know, in your words, more fierce?
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  How has it changed you as a person?
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  So much.
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  I think that I personally have healed from a lot of situations through songwriting.
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  And I've discovered a lot about myself through songwriting.
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  And so I feel like, as a person, I naturally change because of that.
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  And I'm much more confident in who I am.
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  I feel like a huge thing with me is boundaries and just from being in the music industry as
• 8:03
  well.
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  And it is what it is.
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  That EP is very much centered around, like, kind of taking back control of my life and
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  boundaries as well.
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  And so I feel like I know what I want.
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  I know what I deserve, and I'm not gonna settle for any less.
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  And by writing different songs on various topics and different experiences and emotions
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  I've gone through over the past five years or so, I've really come to a place of like, okay,
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  this is who I am.
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  This is what I want.
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  This is what I'm going to get.
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  This is what I deserve and kind of just focusing on that.
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  And that just kind of transfers over into other areas of my life too.
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  Like in publishing, I'm much more sure of myself and what I want and the kind of
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  connections I'm looking for and just in my personal life too.
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  I think sometimes we can settle for things and kind of what things happen to us instead of
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  taking control.
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  And so I feel like through songwriting and discovering things about myself, I'm able to
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  make changes for the better.
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  Well, I think something that you touched on there was the the creative process.
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  Being creative and expressing yourself is so key to this human experience.
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  Now whether you use that to write a book and publish it or you're using it to write a song
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  and put it out there or it's all just for you, right, it doesn't matter as long as you're
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  expressing yourself.
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  It's going to tell you more about who you are than necessarily who, you know, loves you on
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  the outside.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  No.
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  I completely agree.
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  And I think going back to what you were saying before about how sometimes things can seem so
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  picture perfect and superficial or whatever, I think whenever artists can look inward and be
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  authentic, that's what causes connection because there are enough people, too many
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  people doing music and writing and stuff.
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  Like, it's so oversaturated.
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  There's so many people.
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  And the only way you can possibly stand out is to be yourself.
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  And I know sometimes it can be easy to be like, oh, that kind of genre is really taken off.
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  I'm gonna do that.
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  Or this kind of promotion tactics seem to be working for these people.
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  I'm gonna do that.
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  Like, it's easy to look at things and compare and think like, oh, if that's working for that
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  person, it should work for me too.
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  And that's definitely not the case.
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  I've been, like, completely genuine to myself since the very beginning, and everything that
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  I've gone to and, like, accomplished and things like that, it's all because I was authentic
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  with myself and not listening to all the noise.
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  Well, the and the noise is just that.
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  It's just noise.
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  It's always going to be there in the background.
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  If you can't cut through that to speak to someone's heart, I don't think you're ever
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  going to make it.
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  No.
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  You know, especially in the music industry.
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  I mean, take a guy like Jelly Roll.
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  He was in the music industry for twenty five years Yeah.
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  Before anything started actually going right.
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  Yeah.
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  I wasn't a a huge fan of his music, you know, from back in the day.
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  I know he's been through South Dakota, but I have a feeling that what he was writing about
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  then isn't as real as what he started writing about in the last five, six years and probably,
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  you know, a little bit longer than that.
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  But as these songs are coming out, and I will attest to it because I've been at a concert of
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  his, you know, crying my eyes out, and it spoke to my heart.
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  It didn't speak to my mind.
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  It spoke directly to my heart, and I felt his pain in that moment.
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  And I think that's what people these days are really about because we've all been through
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  some stuff.
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  You haven't lived.
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  You know?
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  If you were born in the eighties or nineties, I was born in '86.
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  I've seen it all at this point.
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  Like, I've been through a lot.
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  We've all been through a lot these last five years alone.
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  So that you you're not gonna get by.
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  You know?
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  There's a reason Friends isn't running a TV.
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  And it's like that.
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  Just, you know, the era of
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  the
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  sitcom, because of its scripted perfectness, it isn't what people want to see.
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  And even reality TV that's probably why reality TV became so popular, you know, in the last ten
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  to fifteen years.
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  It's because people wanted that realness.
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  But even that became so scripted and everything, they're like, okay.
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  Well, we know that that's not real either.
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  And now where everyone has an outlet, the podcasting especially is so great for this.
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  It's such a low point of entry to just get behind a microphone and put your thoughts out
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  into the world.
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  And now and that's a mission of ours is to start a million podcasters, not to do a million
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  episodes.
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  That's easy.
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  I'll have a million conversations in my life.
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  No problem.
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  But to get other people started and having conversations and getting to know themselves
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  through getting to know other people, I really think that's the future of this thing and being
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  inside of that movement and feeling that momentum every single day now.
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  I know that I know that's where it's going.
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  Right?
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  Like, it's
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  not a maybe this might have no.
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  This is where it's gonna go Mhmm.
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  Because of the heart to heart connection that we're able to have with each other in this
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  format.
• 13:08
  Yeah.
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  No.
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  I completely agree.
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  And I host two shows as well.
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  I have a music one called Right On Track and a publishing one called Literary Blend.
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  And kind of what you were just saying there is, like, when you talk to other people and you
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  have that human connection, I learned so much about myself.
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  I become more empathetic hearing others' experiences.
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  I make more connections.
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  I widen my network.
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  There's so many benefits to podcasting from both sides, like being the guest and the host.
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  And I'm just beginning to dip my toes into the guest portion of it.
• 13:41
  I've, I've only been podcasting since last April, so it hasn't even been a year yet.
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  But I had a phone full of numbers that I could call when I was able to then move over to Zoom.
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  It really expanded, because I'm not afraid to have a conversation with anyone.
• 14:00
  Right?
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  Like, it it doesn't scare me to get on camera with someone that I've never met and to find
• 14:05
  common ground.
• 14:06
  I don't have to do any research.
• 14:08
  Besides a few posts that I've seen of yours on Facebook, knew next to nothing about you.
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  But within four minutes of the conversation, was like, oh, I have so much common ground here
• 14:18
  to walk on with and plenty of things to talk about.
• 14:20
  To fill up a twenty minute episode is nothing.
• 14:23
  Yeah.
• 14:24
  No.
• 14:25
  For sure.
• 14:26
  So you're writing a book or short stories, rather.
• 14:30
  I know you're aggregating.
• 14:31
  You love writing as well, and I couldn't let you go without talking a little bit about that.
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  What came first?
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  Were you a songwriter first and then an author, or were you kind of writing short stories and
• 14:42
  some of those became songs and now just both of them just seep out of you?
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  So it's really interesting.
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  So ever since I was young, I feel like I've always had the music and the storytelling, but
• 14:55
  I actually started pursuing them both at the same time career wise.
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  Because when I was in school, I double majored in music and creative writing.
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  And then I started my MFA in writing and public fiction program to get my master's.
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  The same time I started, like, actively releasing music.
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  And so they kind of happened together, which is really interesting.
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  In terms of the writing itself, though, I primarily write young adult fiction, fantasy
• 15:22
  and thrillers mostly, but I write other genres too.
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  For short stories, I'm an agented author.
• 15:28
  My agent is currently pitching my manuscript to major publishers.
• 15:33
  Haven't gotten a deal yet, but in the meantime, I've been writing a lot of short stories.
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  And as of now, I have 10 acceptances.
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  Seven of those are out, and the three others are coming this year.
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  And that's been really good for me just from a confidence standpoint because when I'm getting
• 15:53
  rejections from editors at Simon and Schuster and Harper Collins and these major publishers,
• 15:58
  it's like, I don't know if I'm a good writer.
• 16:00
  And then all these anthologies are accepting my work, which has just really given me validation
• 16:04
  that, like, I'm on the right path and I just have to be patient.
• 16:07
  So I'm waiting for my own big book deal.
• 16:10
  I know it's coming, but I'm just trying to wait and be patient for that.
• 16:13
  Well, and while you're doing that, you're building your own community around you.
• 16:18
  You have two podcasts.
• 16:19
  You have a music career.
• 16:21
  Mhmm.
• 16:21
  When when it does finally happen, you already have all this built in love out there of people
• 16:27
  who are going to buy them.
• 16:29
  That's what it's really about, and that that is the essence of, you know, the scene projects as
• 16:36
  a podcast network.
• 16:37
  And it's very much to empower creators to just create.
• 16:43
  Right?
• 16:44
  Like, I've always been almost more into the marketing and promotion and production side of
• 16:50
  music than I was in my own performing.
• 16:53
  Like, didn't write the songs for anyone else.
• 16:55
  I don't necessarily care what you think of it.
• 16:58
  You know?
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  I it's what it means to me.
• 17:02
  Yeah.
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  And it's always been that way since the first song I wrote when I was a teenager.
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  So to pursue that career, which I thought I was doing when I quit my welding job and left that
• 17:14
  career last February, I thought it was to be a rock star to me.
• 17:18
  I thought I was on we were going.
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  I was on local news.
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  I was doing all of you know, doing a few friends podcast and not realizing that the
• 17:27
  education that I was getting in the media landscapes was actually what was going to help
• 17:33
  me.
• 17:33
  I don't want to just be famous for the sake of being famous.
• 17:36
  There's no one famous right now that I'm even like, I gotta meet them.
• 17:41
  Maybe Jelly Roll.
• 17:42
  Right?
• 17:42
  Just because I because I love it, but, I mean, I've hugged Alexandra Kay, who was on tour with
• 17:48
  him all year.
• 17:49
  Like, I'm already one step one separation.
• 17:52
  Right?
• 17:52
  We're big fans of her.
• 17:53
  She played in Sioux Falls for 300 people two years ago.
• 17:57
  Last year, she's touring arenas.
• 17:59
  So it's like, I saw this and was like, oh, man.
• 18:02
  That's so cool.
• 18:02
  You know?
• 18:03
  It can it can really happen to anybody that's just out there working hard.
• 18:06
  But what we really need is more media because there isn't a there isn't a big break anymore.
• 18:12
  Right?
• 18:13
  You you don't minus maybe Joe Rogan or something.
• 18:15
  But you have to be somebody to even get on his radar Yeah.
• 18:20
  To get invited to the show.
• 18:21
  Like, you have to be out there grinding and doing it and having a a a history of work
• 18:27
  behind you.
• 18:28
  So we're kind of providing that for our local community.
• 18:32
  I live in South Dakota.
• 18:33
  There wasn't a lot of media to begin with, even fewer independent media sources.
• 18:39
  Yeah.
• 18:39
  So once I kind of tapped into and understood what I was doing and why I was doing it, I just
• 18:46
  put the gas pedal down.
• 18:48
  Right?
• 18:49
  And if I get to do seven, eight interviews a day for the rest of my life, I'm that's great.
• 18:55
  And even if that conversation only changes one life and that life is mine, well, then it was
• 19:01
  successful.
• 19:02
  Yeah.
• 19:02
  No.
• 19:03
  I completely agree with you.
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  And the other thing too, what you were saying about, like, you know, how you need to work for
• 19:10
  things.
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  You can't no one can just sit around.
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  Nothing's gonna fall into your lap.
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  I've been busting my butt, like, constantly, and it's starting to pay off.
• 19:19
  And, like, even in publishing too, so many people it's very weird because I feel like a
• 19:25
  lot of people know me at this point, and I have a lot of, like, Asian friends and, like, people
• 19:29
  who are more established.
• 19:30
  And it's, like, kind of weird.
• 19:32
  But at the same time, it's like, I don't think of myself as, like, oh, like, I'm popular.
• 19:37
  Like, it's just I have the connections and I have friends, and it it's all based on genuine
• 19:42
  relationships.
• 19:43
  And I think that's the only way anybody's gonna get anywhere in any industry is, like, their
• 19:49
  relationships are so important.
• 19:50
  And so when people are like to me, like, how are you like, how does everybody know you?
• 19:53
  It's like, I've literally just talked to people, and I make genuine connections that
• 19:57
  mean something.
• 19:58
  And that's, like, how that's literally all I do.
• 20:01
  Same.
• 20:02
  Same.
• 20:03
  You make me feel less alone in this world because that's my whole life.
• 20:06
  I spend a lot of time behind a screen, in front of a camera, behind a microphone, but it's that
• 20:13
  that is changing my life.
• 20:14
  It's that that work, these reps that we're doing that are making us capable of taking that
• 20:21
  to the highest of levels.
• 20:23
  Mhmm.
• 20:23
  Have you ever considered self publishing your book?
• 20:26
  No.
• 20:27
  I think the main reason is because I'm an independent artist and I do not think I could
• 20:33
  manage doing both independently.
• 20:36
  And I've just always dreamed of like a big five deal and stuff.
• 20:42
  And I'm definitely close because I did the whole querying thing.
• 20:46
  I pitched agents for a year and four months.
• 20:48
  I pitched three different manuscripts.
• 20:50
  I finally signed with an agent.
• 20:51
  And so we're trying.
• 20:53
  And so I definitely want to go traditional in terms of the publishing.
• 20:57
  But it's definitely harder.
• 20:59
  I have so many friends who have self published or want small presses.
• 21:02
  And those are definitely valid paths because there's different paths out there because
• 21:07
  there's different fit fits for different people, which is why there's different options
• 21:11
  available that I've always been like, I want to see a book in a bookstore.
• 21:16
  I want to be with, like, a big publisher, so that's why I pursued
• 21:20
  Yeah.
• 21:20
  Well, it just seems like in the meantime that you just keep building up your own brand.
• 21:26
  Now is there a lot of crossover between fans of your writing and fans of your music?
• 21:31
  Yeah.
• 21:31
  Definitely.
• 21:31
  And that's been really cool to see too because was funny because, like, people have asked me,
• 21:36
  like, whenever I was starting publishing, they're like, oh, you're make separate social
• 21:39
  media accounts.
• 21:39
  It's like, no.
• 21:40
  Because, like, my brand is me.
• 21:42
  And so people know me as, a songwriter and an author.
• 21:45
  It was crazy because I this is insane.
• 21:47
  So I was at the grocery store recently, and somebody recognized me.
• 21:51
  And they were like, oh, you're a songwriter and an author.
• 21:53
  I'm like, the fact that they recognize me, one, is weird.
• 21:56
  And second, like, to know that I'm both a musician and an author is crazy.
• 22:00
  So I think it definitely is starting to cross over, which is really cool.
• 22:05
  I think you just self publish it and sell it to your people.
• 22:09
  They you're you're gonna the these people don't know what they have in you anyway if they can
• 22:13
  give you a book deal.
• 22:14
  They're never going to the person that I see sitting in front of me.
• 22:19
  You've already accomplished so much to get yourself to
• 22:22
  this point. Yeah.
• 22:22
  Yeah.
• 22:25
  You know what?
• 22:25
  Instead of waiting for them to get you the publishing deal and put it in the big
• 22:29
  bookstores, I'll just print it and take it to the bookstores yourself and sell it because
• 22:34
  this is what sells.
• 22:35
  You are are the seller, and nobody's ever going to put that that kind of effort into selling
• 22:41
  your name and your brand more than you are.
• 22:44
  And and I'm just I'm incredibly inspired by you.
• 22:47
  You're just doing it all, and you don't really, care what anybody thinks.
• 22:52
  Yeah.
• 22:52
  No.
• 22:53
  I don't.
• 22:53
  Even
• 22:54
  someone with as much unnatural confidence as I have to just keep going.
• 22:59
  I'm like, well, I could be doing more.
• 23:01
  I I think there's stuff I'm leaving on the table right now.
• 23:04
  Demi, I got to get you out of here, but why don't you go ahead and plug everything and tell
• 23:08
  people where they can find you, and, we'll let you go.
• 23:12
  Yeah.
• 23:12
  So you can find me I'm most active on Twitter and Instagram.
• 23:16
  My display name is demi michelle with the butterfly emoji.
• 23:19
  My handle is demi m schwartz.
• 23:22
  You can also go to my website demimschwartz.com.
• 23:25
  Demi m schwartz Com will also take you there.
• 23:28
  And on there, you can find everything about me as a songwriter and author.
• 23:31
  Links to my podcasts are on there.
• 23:33
  I'm also a freelance editor, information on that's on there.
• 23:36
  I have a blog I update regularly to keep updated with everything I'm up to.
• 23:40
  So that's the best place for everything to do with me.
• 23:43
  And I want to thank you so much for having me today.
• 23:46
  It was absolutely my pleasure.
• 23:48
  Demi Michelle Schwartz, thanks for being part of the scene.
• 23:51
  Yeah.
• 23:52
  Absolutely.
• 23:52
  Thank you.