At the young age of seven, junior Natalie del Carmen discovered her love of music. At the age of twelve, she began professional music lessons. Nine years later, she has honed her talent and is bringing a new level of skill and originality to the music industry.
As a current recording artist who found her voice on YouTube, del Carmen has had plenty of experience with performing for a public audience. In fact, her cover of “Cleopatra” by The Lumineers was endorsed on Twitter by the band members themselves. This allowed her to showcase her talent to over 22,000 people and receive positive comments on many of her pieces. Utilizing her channel, she has shared covers, original songs and information about her songwriting process.
“When you’re playing, you’re there to make someone’s day happy because they went there to see you,” said del Carmen. “People aren’t there to put you down.”
After years of experience performing for a large audience, del Carmen has become desensitized to stage fright, allowing her to have a more confident stage presence.
In her original piece “That’s Just Living,” which she boldly performs and explains on her YouTube channel, del Carmen uses narrative-style lyrics to urge her listeners to chase after their dreams, regardless of society’s opinions and ideas. She questions the meaning of true success and inner happiness by telling the tale of a boy who lost himself in the bustling world of societal pressures and materialistic needs. The protagonist of her song was successful by every measure that society enforced upon him, but he never achieved anything he truly wanted to. However, del Carmen stresses that life is about making mistakes and learning from them and there is always room for improvement no matter how permanent a situation may seem. She hopes to use her voice and talent to help people find themselves, try new things and stay strong in the face of social norms.
“It would be amazing if I could have a job involving music in the future because I can’t think of anything else I would rather be doing,” said del Carmen.
Del Carmen’s genuine passion becomes evident in the plethora of instruments she has mastered: piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo and flute. According to del Carmen, instrumentation is a huge part of her recording process. Through various instruments, she is able to find her musical style and develop an original sound. While she typically only writes songs using guitar, piano and ukulele, her background with other instruments allows her to make recording sessions more creative and interesting.
“I like the fact that I play a lot of instruments and I interpret things a different way because I feel like I can be original with a lot of my songs,” said del Carmen.
Despite her unique sound, the influences of Ed Sheeran and the Lumineers can be traced through her lyrical craft and composition. They have been her major influences because their lyrics are relatable. When she was first starting out, her music placed a heavy emphasis on pop, but over time, she has gravitated toward a folk-pop sound. While her sound is greatly influenced by her favorite musicians, most of the subject material of her lyrics comes from her life and the lives of other people around her. This allows her to share her own experiences and connect with her audience.
For the past six months, del Carmen has been spending long nights in the studio and plans to release new music to the public soon. She encourages others who have similar dreams to have a lot of patience. Dedication is important when so much time and practice is required to have a successful final product.
“At the end of the day, it’s about doing what makes you happy and doing what you love. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.” •