Noah Elliott

Let’s talk about your background. When did you first discover your passion for music? At what age did you write your very first song and what was it about?

Literally the only music I listened to for the first 10ish years of my life was Zimbabwean music. Quite odd for a dude growing up in the Pacific Northwest…. My mother fell in love with Zimbabwean marimba in the early 1990s and was playing in bands and teaching it by the time I was born, so it was natural for me to pick it up. I was playing shows and different Zimbabwean music festivals at age 8. The songs I was playing in the marimba bands usually had these big group singing sections, and that’s how I was introduced to singing. As I got older, I started creating my own taste in music. When I was 15, I discovered “A Team” by Ed Sheeran and it completely blew my mind. I learned that song on the guitar and played it every day for months. I also started writing music at that age, mostly to impress girls I liked. I remember the chorus to the first song I wrote “my, oh my, rugged heart has turned to shreds”

You grew up in a small town in northwest Oregon, what was the music scene like there and how did growing up there impact your artistry?

There honestly wasn’t much of a live music scene in my hometown, but I sang in lots of school choirs, musicals and whatnot. It made me really value harmony and the energy that comes from creating music with a lot of people.

How did your sound and artistic vision change since you first started writing?

It’s changed a lot. I’m pretty sure I initially started writing music to impress girls I wanted to date. When I was a sophomore in college, I realized how terrible of a motivation that was. I fell out of love with music for about 6 months. I took a big step back and realized that if I’m going to make this my life, I need to do it from a deeper, more personal place. And it was really painful. Luckily, I found that intrinsic motivation. Now my only goal is to simply make music that I think is cool while I’m making it.

Your most recent single “Empty” got a lot of buzz. What has that feedback been like for you?

Empty is such a vengeful, tormented song, so it’s really interesting that it seems like people have been connecting with it the most so far. I think people are connecting with it because I’m sharing stuff that people don’t normally share. I was nervous about how all the nasty lyrics about cheating and coping mechanisms would be perceived, but it’s really rewarding to hear people connecting with it.

You just dropped your new single “Never Know”, congratulations! Can you tell us more about it? What was the inspiration behind it and what was the creation process like?

A summer ago, I got to work with Jon Santana, this amazing producer in Nashville. He, Brigetta Truit (co-writer) and I wrote and produced “Never Know” in a single day. The inspiration for the song came from my own experience of coming to terms with the fact that you can’t control people. It’s about being let down by someone you love and not understanding why.

What’s been the most exciting experience you’ve had so far in the music industry?

Every time I get to work with someone new it’s the most exciting experience ever. Getting to work on the songs on this project with all my amazing collaborators was a dream. Now I’m working on new stuff, and each time I get in the room with someone and we create, it blows my mind. Being able to walk into a room and a few hours later walk out listening to a song we created is the most exciting feeling for me.

When you were just starting out, what did you do to get your music out there? Any advice for aspiring songwriters/producers, about either the craft or the business?

Do grunt work and be nice to people. I produced some music for myself in college and had no idea how to release it, so I just emailed hundreds of indie bloggers asking for help and offering to do whatever I could to help them out as well. It resulted in me making some really good friends all over the world who liked me and my music enough to share it on their blogs/playlists.

Let’s talk more about your personal journey. What is the hardest lesson you’ve learnt in life so far?

The hardest lesson that I keep learning over and over again is that you cannot control how others perceive your music. You can only control how you perceive your music. If your relying on others’ reactions to your music for your happiness, you’re gunna have a rough time.

How do you use your intuition in your creative process?

Recently I’ve actually been trying to practice going against my intuition. If I go with my intuition, I’ll always be making things that sound familiar to me. Most of the music I listen to for years, though, is slow-burning. That is, music that I don’t love on first listen. So I’ve been trying to write things that sound odd to me at first in order create things that are fresh.

Growing as a person, you will always encounter challenges that require leaving your comfort zone to try things that scare you. What scares you? Is there anything new and exciting you’d like to try?

Releasing music that I don’t feel is completely finished scares me. I’m terrified of how people’s perception of me will change if they hear something that I’m not quite done with. I’m such a control freak that I usually spend months refining lyrics, melodies, etc before they see the light of day. And honestly it’s part of me that I’m really trying to work on. In a few weeks I’m going to start this thing called First Draft Fridays where I send out first drafts of songs I’m working on that week. So here’s to trying to grow 🙂

We’ve got one last question for you! Thinking of yourself as a soul on Earth, what do you think your purpose is?

I think that my purpose is to live a life in which I don’t feel the need to ask myself that question.