We’re back with another installation of our latest series, TuneCore Tuesdays, which aims to highlight artists and other music professionals who are writing, recording, and hustling on their own terms. By showcasing creatives doing it their way all over the globe, TuneCore Tuesdays aims to empower and inspire our diverse community of artists.
This week we’re talking to PRISCA. Check out her video and be sure to learn more about her journey!
PRISCA is an Atlanta-based pop vocalist and songwriter who took to music at a very young age. When she was around five years old, PRISCA was writing songs and poems, eventually taking to home recording before the days of home computers.
“I took multiple tape recorders, stacked harmonies, and recorded every little thought and melody,” she recalls.
In her early teen years, as she improved her piano skills, PRISCA saw firsthand the emotional impact music could have on her friends, and in some cases, her bullies. Hopping behind the keys after choir class in school, she found she had an innate ability to elicit laughter and even tears from her classmates.
“I wasn’t the most popular person,” PRISCA says, “But when I sang my own songs, people were listening to me. I never stopped.”
In 2015, PRISCA was chosen to join the legendary Kelly Clarkson onstage during her Piece By Piece tour, giving the performer a major confidence hike and a lifetime memory.
“My heart was in overdrive when I heard that I was chosen by Kelly to perform on her stage. She stopped the show in the middle of her set and invited me to come on stage, and perform a song with her band. Backstage she said that she fought for me to get the position, and she was a fan. While on stage she said incredible things about me that boosted my confidence to keep fighting for myself and my album.”
Like many TuneCore artists, PRISCA balances time working on her own recordings and songwriting ‘behind the scenes’ in the studio. For her, a success in this regard amounts to the freedom she’s given.
“I am lucky to have balanced fighting in the studio world as well as on stage, simultaneously,” PRISCA explains. “I had to learn how to choose myself and not get too wrapped up in creating for others, so I had to find that balance and run with it. Success is the freedom to work with who I want, the freedom to create constant masterpieces while listening to my heart, and the freedom that you feel when you find yourself amongst a community of creative artists who all push each other to be better.”
After the success of her 2016 single “Skin”, a song that promotes body positivity, PRISCA saw the opportunity to take her message wider and engage listeners who have struggled with issues their whole lives.
“Once [‘Skin’] was released, I had letters pouring in about how it affected them positively,” she says. “Unbeknownst to me, it was giving others the same power it gave me when writing it. I received an email from a listener who was in a facility healing, and this person wasn’t allowed to listen to any music, but had convinced the nurses to allow her to listen to ‘Skin’ on repeat, and said it helped her to not take her own life. Time paused for me.”
If you’re an artist reading this wondering how you can take a cause close to your heart and engage fans?
“My advice to other artists who want to explore an initiative is for them to just write all of the words and melodies that scare them. Whether those songs are funny, sexy, sad, or deep… those authentic pieces are the ones that move people. Don’t be afraid, and the initiative will form on its own after the song is written.”
Between writing, recording, using social media to engage her fan base, and hitting the road (eventually again), PRISCA knows that being an independent artist is tough, “not for the faint of heart.” She cites TuneCore as partner that’s helped her build on success:
“You run into hurdles constantly, but have to learn how to navigate in real time. As an artist, I have formed my trusted team over time, and am very selective with the musical family that surrounds me in order for us to be stronger together. The independent artist is strong and tough, and withTuneCore, it adds armour by being so diligent and ahead of the game.”
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