Profiles In Music: Recent Episodes
Citizens.am
Profiles In Music is an hour-long show that aims to introduce new artists and their music through engaging one-on-one interviews. The show provides artists the opportunity to introduce themselves, discuss their music, and share their stories. We want to go beyond the music to get to know the artists, their passions, and what inspires them. We believe that music is a vital instrument for social change. We're interested in learning about the artist's process, challenges, goals, and life's ambitions.
Profiles In Music airs every Friday at 5:00pm (pacific time) on Citizens.am radio and is broadcasted and archived on our social media platforms, such as YouTube.
Jon Mullane, a Billboard-charting artist from chilly Nova Scotia, has kept his music hot by staying true to himself and not following trends. Jon joins us in the studio on the day of release for his new album: California. Jon tells the Profiles in Music audience what it was like to start his career back in the days of studio rentals, before artists could record their own songs at home with personal computer software, and he laughs about how his very first live musical gig was performed in front of a roaring crowd of 15,000 people.
Jon talks about his work with the non-profit Give an Hour and their Campaign to Change Direction, which raises awareness about mental health issues and educates citizens to recognize the signs of emotional suffering in others. Jon and Sean swap stories of childhood bullying and discuss the importance of erasing the stigma associated with pursuing mental wellness.
During the hour, we listen to Jon Mullane’s single “Sun in the Summertime”, which was written during the pandemic to give people good feelings, if only for three minutes. We also hear “Walking Away”, a collaboration with songwriter Michael Jay, and Jon’s cover version of “Hello Again.”
Today’s Profiles in Music features the amazing 16-year-old pop singer/songwriter Kyla D Carter. Kyla turned her non-musical family upside down at the age of five when her parents heard her bellowing “Seasons of Love” around the house and recognized their daughter’s extraordinary talent. Kyla describes how her career took off immediately, moving from commercials and voiceovers to Broadway before her age hit two digits. In this interview, Kyla tells her Profiles in Music audience about the ups and downs of being a child artist and expresses her gratitude to the pandemic for slowing her down and allowing her to have a more traditional high school experience. Kayla shares how her role on the cartoon show TrollTopia turned her from a musical theatre enthusiast to a pop singer, and she laughs about the anxiety of releasing her first original single at age 13. Sean and Kyla also discuss the important role of the aBreak58 playlist in exposing her music and advancing her career.
We listen to Kyla Carter’s hit single “Criminal 4 You” and learn the hidden message in her song “If These Walls Could Talk.” Kyla shares her future music plans and talks about how the broadness of her experience and the variety of people she’s met have helped her to connect with the world as an artist – with a little extra help from Instagram, of course.
Today on Profiles in Music, Sean is joined by Paul Hayward, creator of the UK’s rising punk rock band The Cides. Paul describes his style of music as “Anger with passion about an injustice.” He talks about the history of the punk rock scene in the UK and shares tales of his exploits as a Molester. Paul explains the true definition of anarchy, and we listen to The Cides’ songs “Forgive and Forget at Christmas”, “Black Flag”, and “Red Light Situation”.
Other topics of conversation include: Why PayPal is evil, how capitalism funds wars, and getting back to nature.
www.thecides.com
Alec Blake is a #1 Charting Songwriter and Record Producer from southern Germany. He grew up in a musical family and began playing the piano at the age of 7, the guitar at the age of 13, and the drums at the age of 16. Until he finished school, Alec played the drums in his local school band. During the coronavirus pandemic, Alec dedicated himself to music production and created his first single 'I Believed In You' which got released on July 1, 2022. Just one month after its release, the song got already being played on the radio in more than 32 countries and the trend is rising. Furthermore 'I Believed In You' peaked at #1 on the World Indie Music Charts Top 100 as well as at #18 on the official US Top 20 Show, broadcast live from Hollywood to more than 50 countries, in a line with major superstars like Charlie Puth, Tiesto, Elle King and many more. Alec's musical intention is to create danceable, good mood songs that invite the listeners to switch off from everyday life and simply enjoy the music.
Sean St. Heart interviews Gojko Lojpur, a Serbian-American artist using his music to make a positive impact in the world.
The Crown Jules drops by the Citizens.am virtual studios to discuss the latest single, Sound of the Night, a melodic "movie in your ears" song about impossible love.
Join Sean St. Heart as he interviews, iLUMiNATiVE, an independent music artist from Mullumbimby and was born in Byron Bay, Australia. He has been recording music since 2005 and has released three projects; ‘The Awakening’, ‘Kundalini Rising’ and ‘The Spectrum’ worldwide. All albums have been featured on various radio stations across the globe. The song ‘Know Yourself’ from breakout album ‘Kundalini Rising’ was the first song to make it onto a national mainstream radio super network in Australia.
iLUMiNATiVE is an advocate for freedom, freedom of speech, human rights, neurodiversity, natural medicines, Autism / Aspergers (ASD), universal law, spirituality and sexuality.
In relation to the cause, he says “I just got to a point in my life where I got sick of not living up to any potential I had and decided to work towards acting it all out, stop hiding in the closet. An awakening of who I really am, and thats love & a conscious spirit having an experience as a human being. To do the work to get over my physical limitations, health issues, social anxiety, low self esteem and caring too much of what people think. It was also a process of deprogramming and detoxification for me.”
iLUMiNATiVE continued, “It took a lot of suffering and losses, losing everything to just go for it, which can make one fragile or just broken to a point where I just didn’t care anymore, which can lead to a break through, an unstoppable force, a transmutation of negative energy.”
The battle with Autism is mental and physical. A spiritual self revolution was necessary to move towards focusing on my visions and dreams of being who I want to be, not limited to diagnosis and be who I am rather than letting society program, belittle me or limit me. I always felt bad for being different and so now I am just standing up for myself being on The Spectrum, as we/I have suffered enough for neurological indifferences. Its time to go beyond the program, even the program of Autism and thats what I represent, thats what spiritual awakening has done and does for me. Awakening, evolution and revolution is my cause and purpose even if its alone.
The newest iLUMiNATiVE album on the rise is called ‘The Spectrum’ released on the 11/11/2021. This creative album ranges in topics and subject matter but stays on point within ‘The Spectrum’.
This album includes 7 original songs, both clean and explicit versions with radio edits of singles distributed for radio play: ‘The Spectrum’, ‘Stay Awake’, ‘Love Forever’, ‘Rejoice’ and ‘Born Again’. A music video for every song will be on Youtube and Instagram.