Open letter to Gary Barlow. I know that writing open letters to artists and politicians voicing an opinion about the choices they are making/have made seems to be the trendy thing to do these days, however this letter is different as it is not filled with judgement of any kind. After watching the BBC documentary When Corden met Barlow I was so Inspired and moved by the interview that I felt like I had to thank you in some way for being so open to share your story with us. I don’t know you personally and thought maybe this way I could reach out and let you know that I think you are a class act! (I’m sure you have been told this many times!) If anyone hasn’t seen it yet then please go watch it now! Especially if you are an aspiring artist. Life changing stuff! Even though we are different in many ways. I really look up to you as a singer/songwriter, and I could relate to everything you were saying. Since you were so open in sharing your story, please let me tell you a little bit more about mine. I was discovered at the age of 18 on the Social Media platform YouTube singing cover songs. I always had the dream of becoming an artist but coming from a small country like Holland, wanting to be an international superstar seems to be a bit of an unrealistic ambition. I auditioned to be in a girl group at the age of 16 and got turned down in their words, I just wasnt good enough. Even after this, I still believed that I could do it and put myself online for the world to see and crazy enough, after a few months I had ranked up millions of views from all over the world. I couldnt believe what had happened. Record labels where queuing up to sign me and you could say that it turned in to a real fairytale story, eventually I was signed by Justin Timberlake and was asked to be a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show. I don’t think you could have a better start as an artist. While all of this was happening I recorded my first album and got to write songs with some of the most amazing people in the industry. I went on tour opening up for Justin and it seemed like the world was at my feet. My first single ‘Outta Here’ was released and it went to number 7 in the UK and charted in a few other countries, I was so excited! I couldnt believe the first time they played my song on the radio, everything seemed to be going so well. When my second single came out it didnt do as well as expected and the label didnt know what to do with me anymore. We put out a third single which Justin was featured on but even that couldnt save the record. I started feeling like the label stopped believing in me completely and eventually I was dropped. I had to move back home with my mom in Holland and felt like the biggest failure. I was handed everything on a silver platter and still managed to mess it all up. I couldnt even face myself and look in the mirror anymore. Here I was, 22 years old and I already felt like my career was over. People in the media started talking about me saying things like: She was never that talented anyway and that I was probably working some lousy job in a fast food restaurant now. I was so frustrated and upset, I didnt want to get out of bed most days. I felt like the people around me were pressuring me to go back to school or find a normal job. After a long time, I decided I wasnt going take it anymore and was tired of feeling sorry for myself. So I packed my bags and planned to move to London to work on writing new material. I didnt know anyone found a roommate on Spareroom, took the Euro-star train and never looked back. I have been working on my new music every since and started uploading video’s on YouTube again, and even though being an unsigned artist is hard at times, I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason and your story has inspired me to keep on going. I have no Idea how I am gonna get there but you have shown me that with hard work, talent and an incredible amount of determination anything is possible. So thank you for being so open and sharing the highs and the lows of your journey with all of us dreamers! Your sincerely, Esmee x
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 18:30:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015