Meet Kayla Glaze | Artist, Singer, Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, Music Producer, and Mixing Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kayla Glaze and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kayla, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I believe taking risks is vital to achieving what you want to achieve in life. I would not be where I am right now if I had not taken a very specific risk five years ago.

Five years ago, I decided to take a trip to Los Angeles to go to the ASCAP Songwriting Conference with an EDM group I was collaborating with at the time. I hardly had any money at the time, but I decided to spend what I had in my bank account on my plane ticket. After paying off my ticket, I only had a couple hundred dollars left in my bank account to pay for shuttles to and from the airport in LA as well as to pay for my food while I was in LA – which would be several days. I didn’t know if I would have enough money for those things, but I went anyway.

While I was that conference, I met another artist named Sozi and we stayed in touch over Instagram months after the conference. She told me about an online music community called The Billboard 500 Club that I joined. It was in that online music community that I learned what sync licensing was and decided to start pursuing it intentionally as as an artist, songwriter, musician, producer, and mixing engineer. About eight months to a year later, my songs were getting pitched for TV and film placements by different sync companies. Two years later, my husband and I took a risk and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. We had never even visited Nashville before we moved there. Within eight months of being in Nashville, I landed my first sync placement and was recruited by The Bus Music, a major publishing company. I signed with The Bus Music in March of this year and have landed seven sync placements this year. My songs have been placed on Riot Games Valorant Game Changers Championship (the biggest eSports broadcast in the world), Season 4 of Love Is Blind on Netflix, Seasons 1 and 2 of Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis on Amazon Prime, and Black Iconic: Style Gods on BET.

I truly believe I would not be where I am right now if I had not taken the risk of going to the ASCAP songwriting conference in LA or had not taken the risk of moving to Nashville. When we put our faith into action and take risks, things happen.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a music artist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and mixing engineer. I am what people in the music industry call a 100 percenter. That in itself sets me apart from other people in the music industry, but what sets me apart even more is that I am a woman. Only 2% of music producers in the music industry are women, so I take a lot of pride in being a female producer.

My journey to getting to where I am right now in my career in music has not been easy at all. I did not grow up in a music city. Some people grow up in families where their parents are involved in music and are able to help them get connected in the music industry. I am the only person in my family who has pursued music as a career, so the achievements, connections, and opportunities that I currently have were not handed to me. I had to work really hard and had to take big risks to get them. I left Oklahoma and moved away from my family to California when I was 22. I did not know anyone in California when I decided to move, but living in California paid off for me because I made connections at music conferences that led me to where I am right now. My husband and I also took a big risk and moved away from family to Nashville right after we got married in early 2022 to be in a music city. Eight months after moving to Nashville, I got signed to The Bus Music. Pursuing music has been rewarding, but it has not been easy. Living away from family is a huge sacrifice.

As far as leveling up in my skills and abilities as a 100 percenter (artist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, music engineer) goes, I did not go to music schools, only took about 6 months of guitar and vocal lessons when I was 14, and have never been able to afford songwriting, production and mixing courses. But I never allowed that to limit me. I learned production and mixing by watching YouTube tutorials. I also reached out to producers in the city I lived in to see if I could sit next to them, observe them, and ask them questions as they produced and mixed songs.

One of the biggest lessons I learned along the way was how important it is know my worth and never operate from a place of being a “desperate artist”. So many artists get taken advantage of and enter into horrible contracts because they are desperate to make it. I decided I wasn’t going to operate from that mindset. I decided I was going to know my worth, work hard, seek legal advice, and wait for the right opportunities.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Nashville, so if someone were to come visit Nashville, I would definitely tell them to hit up Broadway and Printer’s Alley downtown. Broadway is quite the experience. It is an entire strip of bars and restaurants downtown that all have three to four stories and have live bands on every single floor. You can catch a different band on every floor in every building. A lot of tourists who come to Nashville don’t know about Printer’s Alley. It is also downtown and is a short walk from Broadway. Bourbon Street Blues Bar is one of my husband and I’s favorite bars in town and is on Printer’s Alley. Jimi Hendrix and Prince performed there. Right next to it is Skull’s rainbow Room, an iconic jazz bar. Etta James and other iconic artists sang there. Besides downtown, East Nashville has a lot of really cool restaurants and hang out spots. For coffee lovers, Crema Coffee is my favorite. For BBQ lovers, Martin’s BBQ and Edley’s BBQ are my favorites. For nature lovers, Centennial Park downtown is a great spot to hang outside, Love Circle is a great spot to hang that overlooks the city, and Radnor Lake is an awesome place to go for a walk.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I first and foremost, would not be where I am without my relationship with God. I truly do not think I would have been able to push through disappointments and discouragements and to continue to believe in myself without my relationship with God. I have faith in myself and in my potential because of who God is and who He says I am.

I also would not be where I am right now without the support of my family and my husband.

Although my parents are not musicians and did not pursue music as a career, they have supported me in so many ways as I have pursued a career in music. My mom supported my desire to join the school orchestra as a kid and set me up with and took me to all of my guitar and vocal lessons as a teenager. My dad and step-mom have provided me with electric guitars, acoustic guitars, amps, and studio equipment, and blessed me with money to take Ryan Tedder’s online production course through Studio.com. I am able to do what I’m doing right now in so many way because of what my parents have provided for me.

Most people do not know this, but I probably would not be signed to The Bus Music right now if it were not for my husband. In August or September of 2022, my computer crashed. I was unable to produce music for a couple of months. My husband worked doubles between two jobs (16 hour work days) every single day for a month to buy me a new computer and monitor for producing music. A few days after he got my new setup, The Bus Music reached out to me. If my husband had not done what he did, I would not have had the equipment to produce music when they reached out to me and wanted to give me a trial run to see if they wanted to work with me long-term.

Lastly, I would not be pursuing sync placements if I had not learned about sync through The Billboard 500 Club. I have also received incredible support from HRDRV, an online music community I am currently a member of that also landed my first sync placement with Riot Games for me.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylaglazemusic/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-glaze-25a313269

Twitter: http://twitter.com/kaylaglazemusic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaylaglazemusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJQ0tFcYQrX1h1H9KJGhscg

Other: https://withkoji.com/@kaylaglaze

Image Credits
Timothy Sumida https://www.tysuphotography.com https://www.instagram.com/tysuphotography