“When we are able to express ourselves, we can let go of different things that we've been through.” Kendra Muecke.
There is no limit to what possibilities are available when it comes to art, and this is especially true in times of change and uncertainty. The entertainment industry which was especially hit by the effects of the pandemic proved this after they were forced to explore new possibilities to showcase the creations and connect with their audience. Our guest today, Ken...
“When we are able to express ourselves, we can let go of different things that we've been through.” Kendra Muecke.
There is no limit to what possibilities are available when it comes to art, and this is especially true in times of change and uncertainty. The entertainment industry which was especially hit by the effects of the pandemic proved this after they were forced to explore new possibilities to showcase the creations and connect with their audience. Our guest today, Kendra Muecke, was able to explore such possibilities and got to live an exceptional experience during this period. She affirms the importance of embracing and being confident in your art even in the most difficult of times.
Kendra Muecke is a singer/songwriter, writer, actress, and published author from Houston, TX-based now in Los Angeles, CA. She performs under the stage name “Kendra & the Bunnies”, as a psychedelic folk-rock Americana and spoken word artist. “Kendra & the Bunnies” performs both as a full band and as a solo acoustic act. Her style heavily utilizes the element of storytelling through song, painting a creative experience for the listener. She has released four albums, charted globally at #8 on the digital radio charts (between Dua Lipa at #7 & Miley Cyrus at #9), published two books, writes for several online music magazines, is SAG-Aftra Eligible, and tours nationally.
In 2021, Kendra was nominated for 3 Josie Awards including Best Artist of the Year (Multi-Genre), Best Song of the Year (Self Love Proclamation), and Best Music Video of the Year (Self Love). She was also nominated for a 2021 International Singer-Songwriter Association Award. You can read more about Kendra’s music and writing in over 100 publications such as JamBase, Relix Magazine, Live for Live Music, Denver Westword, Houston City Book, Grateful Web, Getty Images, Shakedown News, The Hollywood Digest, Indie Pulse Music, and more. She graduated from Pepperdine University with a BFA in Theatre Arts and has, additionally, studied music business/recording at the Musicians Institute and songwriting at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music.
In today’s episode, Kendra will be talking to us about how and what she perceives art to be and also how she has evolved in her art and managed to keep up with changes and the uncertainties in the current environment.
Listen in!
Social Media Links:
https://www.kendraandthebunnies.com
https://www.instagram.com/kenbunny/
https://twitter.com/kenbunny
https://www.facebook.com/kendraandthebunnies
https://www.tiktok.com/@kendraandthebunnies?lang=en
- I think I was four years old when mum took me to the local downtown theater and had me audition. [2:46]
- I started doing professional vocal lessons, professional dancing, and acting lessons which became my everything. [3:13]
- I would go down to the theater several times a week and acted and learned all the songs and made friends. [3:20]
- Later on, I got into sports too but pretty much my entire life has been about acting, theater, and the arts. [3:32]
- Later on, in high school, I got into rock and roll music and philosophical questioning and spirituality, guitar and poetry too which has played a big part in my career. [3:41]
- I feel like art is the extension of my expression. [4:22]
- I would go through these experiences and make them part of my memory and that is where the song comes in. [5:10]
- 2020 was a total surprise. I had some tours booked but had to shift my mindset and postpone all the events. [7:23]
- I however decided to go ahead and switch to all online since I was already very active on social media and I had live-streamed a little bit. [8:15]
- I live-streamed over 150 shows last year and partnered with venues across the country and did a virtual live stream tour concert with people all over the country. [8:30]
- For people that were really creative about doing this, you might you probably reached audiences you wouldn't have. [8:55]
- I started to be known as ‘the live stream person’ and so I got a lot of opportunities from people just by word of mouth because I was consistently showing up. [9:02]
- I am now doing a little bit of professional live streaming where I've been signed on by an agency to help grow another platform. [9:13]
- It gave us a reason to put a pause button on things and think and so a lot of my songs and moments came in particular from being at home experiencing this year. [9:52]
- I will talk about the song ‘Self-love Proclamation’ since you talked about it earlier which I was recently nominated for three Josie awards. [11:00]
- ‘Self-love proclamation’ is co-written with a lot of people in Nashville and is all about just ripping off the band-aid and saying this is who I am and I'm going to love myself for who I am and that journey to finding ourselves is evident in the song. [11:15]
- Commercial Break. [11:40]
- Song teaser [12:50]
- There are so many different things that come to mind, the first thing would be the healing element to art. [15:01]
- When we can express ourselves, we can let go of different things that we've been through. [15:08]
- I work sometimes with this nonprofit based in Los Angeles, called artists for trauma and is where people who have PTSD, physical, mental, veterans, emotional, spiritual healing, come together to do art and I think that encapsulates what art can do for us. [15:14]
- It's done that for me personally, just like dealing with, you know, different racing thoughts, or whatever goes on in my life, I'm able to channel that into the guitar or into a poem or lyrics, and let it go. [15:35]
- The next thing would be the cohesion of community thought that can be showcased through an event. [16:09]
- It is also a really good way to start conversations in a way that is accommodating to different perspectives. [17:16]
- Sometimes I think about how there's there is art written about the previous history, but then I realize that we are creating history every day. [18:31]
- I'm really excited to see people start to go back to concert venues and have those shared experiences because we've craved being together in those shared experiences. [18:58]
- It still may take a while but I think we're going to appreciate it even more now. [19:10]
- I watched a lot of live streams with different artists and put on a lot of different live streams with different artists. [20:02]
- The one thing that I've been going back to over and over right now is, only you know. [22:08]
- We can take advice and we can listen to other people and we can listen for clues from the universe but at the end of the day, it's about our own perspective and how we filter in. [22:14]
- This means this only we know our true north and our true path. [22:40]
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