28-year-old Shantel Fitzgerald is a local musician that grew up in Orangeville and is currently residing in Price. She will be performing at International Days on Saturday, July 27, at 7 p.m. in Washington Park. The multi-genre artist has had a different style and sound in all of her songs she has released thus far. Some of her biggest influences include Ed Sheeran, Twenty One Pilots, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift.
Fitzgerald sat down for a question and answer segment, which can be found below:
What made you fall in love with music and made you want to become a musician?
“I’ve always felt music very deeply since I can remember. Being raised by parents who were born in the 50’s and having 15 siblings, I was introduced to a very wide variety of music growing up. When I was in the sixth grade, my parents told me that I would be taking piano lessons and I was honestly not very happy about that. I had my first lesson and I was hooked! Shortly after that I started band and choir. That’s when I realized that no matter what it was, if it was music, I was good at it. I felt like I finally found my calling.”
Besides Piano, what other instruments do you play?
“Guitar and ukulele. I used to play euphonium, trombone, tuba, trumpet and some percussion in High School!”
She was then asked to describe her creative process when writing music: “Every time I’ve written a song, it’s been different! Sometimes I write lyrics first, sometimes I write the music first, and there was even one time where I just heard the whole song in my head, instruments and all!”
How much has your music evolved through the years, what helped you become more experienced?
“My music has completely evolved over this last year. I was in a situation for years where my creative process was completely blocked and I stopped making music for a while. I started going to karaoke at the hotel, and that’s where I started to feel more comfortable singing in front of a crowd. After a few months of that, I was invited to an open mic night. I ended up showing up, and wishing so bad that I was up on the stage. That’s when I started performing there. Mostly covers, but eventually I was brave enough to do my originals. I’m now at a point where the stage feels like home and the audience feels like family. I never thought I would be where I am right now.”
Talk about your best performance: “My favorite performance so far happened this last April! I was flown out to Portland by a music producer I had met on TikTok for a show (who is now my boyfriend) and he ended up letting me perform in the middle of it. It was so scary because my music sounded nothing like any of the other performers. I ended up going up and performing two of my originals. The crowd was the biggest I’ve ever performed in front of, but they were all so kind and supportive! I ended up making some amazing musical connections that night that have already helped my music career so much.”
How about your worst performance?
“Worst performance probably would have been my very first one at open mic. I hadn’t performed in years and my voice and body were shaking so bad the whole time. I kept stumbling over my words, couldn’t look at anyone, and forgot lyrics left and right. A part of me loves that performance though, because it’s amazing to look back on that one and see where I am now.”
What are your plans with music and performing in the future?
“I hope to eventually do music full-time. I have a new song coming out very soon and it will be my first single in 4 years! I would love to get to the point where I am performing in front of a live audience regularly, and traveling the world!”
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in music?
“It’s going to sound cheesy, but you HAVE to believe in yourself. My music career has taken off so much in the last year and a huge part of that is because I finally had the realization that I could be the musician I wanted to be. You really can do anything you want, but you have to believe you’re deserving of it first.”
When is your next performance, what are your feelings about the event?
“International Days, this Saturday at 7 p.m.! I’m SO excited about this one. It’s going to be a 30-minute set of mostly loop pedal covers, and then a couple of originals. It was a goal of mine this year to perform at more local events and I can’t believe I got lucky enough to score International Days!”