Interview With Gabriella Evangeline: The Healing Power of Music

Gabriella Evangeline has been singing and creating since she was three years old and is looking to fund and distribute her first single! Below- a discussion with her on crowdfunding, mixed race identity & the healing power of music.

Q: How would you describe yourself and your music?

G: “I’m a musician from London, singer- songwriter. My music is kind of soft rock, dream pop, shoegaze. A bit like Mazzy Star, a little bit like the Sundays, I’ve been compared to Lana Del Rey but I think I have a unique sound. I’m not sure who my main audience will be, it seems like the older generations get my sound more than my own. It’s a bit more late 80’s, early 90’s sound that people my age don’t really listen to.  I’ve recently launched a crowdfund to release my first single.” 

Q: What is crowdfunding?

G: “Crowdfunding is just a way of raising money for a creative project. It’s asking for small bits of money from lots of people to get to the final target and it’s usually done online, through sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Gofundme.”

Q: Why did you decide to crowdfund?

G: “I decided to crowdfund to put the power back into my own hands, really, instead of signing with a label or getting management I thought I may as well raise the funds from people who will be interested in my music and people who I already know- getting small amounts from individual people that build up into a large amount by the end of the campaign.”

Q: How would you describe your ethnic background?

G: I’m mixed race. My Mum is African American with Native American ancestry and my Dad is English and Spanish. 

Q: What was it like growing up as a mixed race girl in the UK?

G: “Not very good, not very nice. It was quite a new phenomenon at the time-living in the suburbs of London, it was quite a white neighbourhood and I experienced quite a lot of racism. There was no representation for me. The people I looked up to were white, blonde girls and I wanted straight hair and blue eyes. I just felt that I was some kind of monster, or that I was defective in some way. That’s why representation so important, because if you’ve never seen anyone else who looks like you, you don’t know that you’re normal. Even now, mixed race representation is minimal and it’s usually young, attractive, slim women. Maybe in that way I’m not adding to the diversity so much, but my music is not really the genre you would associate with non-white people so I think that’s important. 

I feel like the only person of colour who was really famous in the rock scene was Jimi Hendrix, which is why I’d love to have my EP launch party at the Hendrix flat in London. I feel like that could be quite a moment, a surreal moment. Continuing the legacy of non-white musicians in the rock scene.”

Q: What was your experience as a mixed race girl especially regarding representation in the music industry?

G: “Well, there was no representation for me growing up. Especially not in music, especially not in the kind of music that I listen to. The only mixed race girls I can think of in the music industry when I was growing up were probably like “video vixens” from rap videos. I think a lot of them were mixed race and light skinned but obviously it was very objectifying, filmed from the male gaze and it didn’t feel empowering to me. And also, I didn’t listen to that kind of music.

I feel that crowdfunding can be really useful for people that don’t have a lot of representation. People who maybe wouldn’t be invested in otherwise. Not saying that I wouldn’t be, because obviously I have light skin privilege and a certain look, I think people would invest in me but the music that I make isn’t the typical music that you usually see mixed race people making. I don’t know any mixed race people who make the kind of music I make, or at least they’re not being represented in the industry. So I don’t know if somebody might think ‘ooh that might be a bit of a disconnect with my potential audience and me’ and how I look because I feel like my music might appeal to a white audience. 

Even the people I worked with previously, when I had a band and bandmates, just people in that scene, they’re all white, they’re mostly men, they’re all quite middle class. The indie rock scene. And I’m none of those things so it’s a complete shift and I think a very needed shift and a needed perspective in that genre of music.

I feel that people from mixed backgrounds and other non- white people might feel unwelcome in those scenes. They might gravitate more towards hip hop and R&B and that kind of thing just because it seems like they’d be more successful in that genre, they have more acceptance right off the bat just because of how they look. Whereas they’d be very unusual in the rock or indie scene.”

Q: How do you see the future of music?

G: “The future of music is digital. It’s 100% digital and crowdfunded. I think music labels are going to die. People don’t want that whole manufactured pop star or even rock star thing where someone is controlling the performers image and writing the songs and telling them what to do and they have this huge budget. People want musicians and artists that they can relate to and can see themselves in, and who are accessible, who they can talk to, even online and see their day to day life. With social media you can broadcast yourself so much more and have a direct relationship with your fanbase which you couldn’t do before, so now you can just go straight to them and ask for support.

I think every person needs their own kind of representation, I feel that it (the industry) needs to be opened so much more. We need dark skinned black people in rock, we need disabled people, people who are mixes we don’t usually see- those people have to be represented as well so, I feel like crowdfunding might be an easier way to get into that because you’re not having to appeal to some music industry mogul who is probably white, probably the whole team are white men.”

Q: When did you start writing music?

G: “Well, I started writing music when I was 3, that’s when I wrote my first ever album. My dad played guitar and I wrote music and melody. I always knew that I would be a musician. I have so many songs that I just now need to release and I’ve written them since 3 up until now, I’m 23. I plan to use the traditional singles and album format, for now, perhaps it will change and evolve but I have lots of music to put out. 

I went to music college for a little bit, and dropped out because I didn’t really enjoy it. I was in a choir, I did a lot of things.”

Q: Have you had a lot of support for your music?

G: “You know what- I feel like I have had quite a lot of support because I’ve had quite a lot of donations, the crowdfund hasn’t been up for that long and I’m already 30% of the way to my target. Considering I haven’t released any music, no one really has heard any of my songs. There’s a snippet video of some of my songs on the crowdfund page. That’s quite unusual as well, usually bands and musicians who crowdfund already have their music released and fans and then they’ll crowdfund but I’m sort of doing it like- I’ve got nothing out, nobody really knows me, but I want to crowdfund so that I can launch my career in the right way.”

Q: How did you transition from writing music as a child to writing music as an adult?

G: “It was mainly a thing that was just for me, it was like my therapy. I had very abusive upbringing and I didn’t really have anyone to speak to. I was an only child, and I was homeschooled, so I was very isolated. I’d just write my songs. 

The only people who ever really heard them were my parents and some of their friends. People would often encourage me to go on Xfactor or release an album or sign up for talent shows, but I knew it wasn’t the right time. I wasn’t ready. I was way too young- that’s another thing about the music industry, it’s like this cult of youth. Preteens and teenagers should not be working full time, at anything, but especially as a musician with so much fame and publicity, it’s not right. 

You need to be a child and have experiences and grow and develop yourself before you can come out as an artist, so that’s what I wanted to do. I’m glad that I did that because people really were pushing me to pursue it, and they’d talk about it as if I had no time left, and I’d be like “I’m 17, I have the rest of my life”. 

Q: Why do you think art and music is so important?

G: “I want to say something about the mission of art. I wrote an article called Envisioning A New Earth, I feel like music and art is important not just for entertainment or to be consumed but because it can lead us to new and better worlds, and more peaceful ways of living if we ignite our imaginations. In any way that we ignite our imaginations it can help us to envision other ways of living. 

So, changing that whole system of music, I feel like in the 60s they probably could never have imagined that you’d be able to raise money from strangers on the internet to fund a whole album, and you wouldn’t need representation or an agency or a label. That’s a really powerful thing, because imagine where we could be as a species in the next however many years if we harness that power of change and creativity to create new systems and abolish old ones. People in the 60s wouldn’t have even known what the internet was. That’s how new it is. And that’s crazy to think about. 

It’s interesting I said the 60s because I draw a lot of inspiration from that time, maybe not so much sound wise but definitely aestheticallyand theme wise. I write a lot about social change and spirituality and it’s that kind of vibe. I feel like for a long time music has not really been used for those things, whereas in the 60s it was all about activism and social change and spirituality and I feel like that’s really what I want to achieve with my music as well, now. Now is the time that it’s coming back to that sort of period where people are thinking more about real change, and peace and how can we achieve a better world for everyone? And I think, to explore that through music and art is really what all need to be doing. Whether that’s poetry, music, painting, films, whatever. I feel like bringing in that conscious aspect of it is really important. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

The 60s was that time of social change, people were making art and music that really meant something and stood for something and not just to make money. So, I feel like that’s something people can get behind. It’s not just about me and my music, it’s about something much bigger. I hope to lead a more conscious movement of musicians. Maybe musicians who never thought they could be musicians even people who didn’t consider themselves creative but see someone else doing it and go “oh hey maybe I’ll do it”.

I’d like to host little intimate concerts with spiritual talks and meditations, spiritual gatherings/circles and even maybe sound baths because sound in itself can be really healing, depending on the what the sound is. Maybe a showcase, a collective of different artists, all different mediums but all for activism and social change, mixed in with spirituality. We can make change in the world a creative and pleasurable process rather than just going out on the streets or having it be this struggle, it’s time to bring that spirit of the 60s back but even more radical and even better- with more amazing music and more diverse people.

The music was all pretty white back then, even despite all the black power stuff happening at the time. It’s all coming full circle, back around. John Lennon said that the 60s wasn’t the answer but it was a demonstration of what was possible- what we could do, and so I feel like this generation we have the internet and we have the information, so many more resources, and we’re so much more informed and what would we birth? What could this new age bring? There’s infinite potential.”

Q: How do you feel sound has the potential to heal?

G: Sound can be healing but sound can also be harming. A lot of this stuff in the mainstream, that hits the charts-even the vibration of the frequency is harming you, on a spiritual level. Also, a lot of the messages they preach in the music are harmful, like capitalism- getting money and cars and consumption, the objectification of women. 

I’m interested in sound as healing, on a physical and vibrational level, and an emotional level. Like the healing that you can receive when people create art that reflects your experience, which I think again is why representation is so important because there’s a lot of things that mixed race people can explicitly relate to that isn’t really being explored, or isn’t a theme in a lot of art. Having people who you feel really represent you and talking about things you’ve experienced. 

My music is an extension of my shamanic practice, because I have shamanic lineage that stems from my Creek (a Native American tribe) ancestors. I’ve always had spiritual experiences and visions, a lot of precognitive things in my dreams. I’m always in touch with spirit and the universe. I wrote in an article how the music you listen to and the things you read can really shape who you are, for better or worse. I often wonder who I would be without some of the musicians that I’ve listened to, and money shouldn’t be a barrier for people. There shouldn’t be any barriers to creating art that could change people’s lives. 

Everything you put out into the world will have a ripple effect. Who knows, by me putting out my single it might trigger someone into finally releasing their music. The people that you could influence and the effects that you could have could be really significant,

It’s time for music and art to be given the respect it deserves. Anyone can do it, and should do it, and be able to have the resources to do it, and especially women- specifically non-white women. Our time is here, it’s arrived, after all the years of oppression and not having a voice. We’re going to be the ones who are leading this new era. Like I said, the 60s are coming around again but it’ll be different leadership.”

You can listen to Gabriella’s music and contribute to her crowdfund here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/single-launch-recording-promotion?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet