Conversations with Stark Soul

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stark Soul.

Hi Stark, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been practicing and performing music and the arts since I was 3 or 4 years old. Though I really didn’t fall in love with music until middle school, playing the alto saxophone in band. Performing in concert, jazz, marching and multiple auditioned bands grew my excitement to keep learning and pursuing music. After graduating high school, I went to college to study music business. Though I learned a lot of great knowledge about music and the industry, this was a dark time in my life. A lot of stress, anxiety and depression came over me. I felt like I needed to find a way to let out my emotions before I exploded. So I decided I wanted to start making my own music. So I went out and bought a USB mic, found a free recording software and started my journey as an artist.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been a smooth road at all! Especially when you first get started, you’re really just another young kid rapping on cheap equipment making at best sub-par music. Breaking that narrative with people, and proving to them I was serious about making music into a career was difficult for a while. Something I still struggle with now is how open I really want to be with people in my music. How ironic is that. Now that more people around me in my personal life are giving my music a shot I question if having them know my true feelings is something I want. I took my first crack at this with my second album “Pity Party” Sharing my true feelings about my life and things happening without getting too deep. I plan on delving deeper into my true feelings with my coming music.

The biggest struggle for me was letting “the numbers” get to me. Seeing such a little amount of plays or likes on your music or social media really can eat at you while you’re trying to grow and make a presence in an oversaturated market. I had a lot of days where I wanted to quit because my plays weren’t increasing on my music or I wasn’t getting as many likes on Instagram as before. Nowadays I’ve learned that I’m making this music for me and even if few people are listening, those people still listened and I should appreciate them. The handful of people that would reach out to me on social media telling me how much they liked music is really what kept me going and I didn’t want to let them down.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a vibe setter! I make music for pretty much everyone. So whatever mood you want to be in, you can put on some Stark Soul and get what you want. I specialize in rap and hip hop but I do still play the alto saxophone so I also perform blues, jazz, concert style music and of course the occasional visit to my parent’s church to rock the pews at a Sunday service. I’m definitely known for my wild and energetic stage presence. When I’m performing I just go crazy. The first time I ever performed live, I pulled a muscle in my chest from how hard I was going on stage. When I’m performing I truly give it everything I’ve got! I’ve never finished a music set at a rap show without everyone in the crowd telling me how much they loved my performance. I’m most proud of myself for simply just not giving up. I’ve had and still have a lot of frustrating moments with music and questioning what I’m doing, but at the end of the day I know music is what I love and I can’t see myself really doing anything else with my life. What sets me apart is that I’m just real with my music. I’m not trying to sell a gimmick to get popular or do some crazy thing on social media to get attention. The thought to do it crosses my mind and it might boost me for a bit, but in my eyes, it’s the artist that keeps it real and authentic with their music that has the longest and most fulfilling careers.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t believe luck has played a role in my life at all. For me, it seems to be I just take a chance or an opportunity given to me and it ends up leading me to the next big thing in my life. Like this: I recently started helping out on the Them Yo People In The Mixx radio show at Streetz 105.1 and working there for a bit and meeting some great people ended up with me having a couple of my songs getting to be played on their station. Which really just makes me so insanely happy every time I hear my music getting played on the station.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/stark__soul
• SoundCloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/tarkoul
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3baRGvQl4FnGIuLg5NHlV8?si=c0karr89S_CQT7n6xjI1CA