Covid-19: From a musicians perspective
An insight to the life of an up-and-coming artist during the largest pandemic in history
This time last year life looked a whole lot different for a local Cardiff musician. Thalia Ellice Richardson is an up-and-coming, multitalented musician whose life is based around her passion for music. Before Covid-19 came about, Richardson was finally getting her feet into the Cardiff music scene but due to the events of 2020 this has become a much harder task. After a year of ups and down she speaks to us about how the pandemic has effected her as a musician.
“I feel like music is one of those things that’s kind of woven into the fabric of my being than something that I've ever grown into.” Thalia Ellice Richardson
Born in Falmouth, Thalia found her home here in Cardiff, due to the cities vibrant music scene and opportunities that came along with it. Prior to Covid-19 Thalia was immersing herself entirely into the music scene and was starting her professional music career. “I would say prior to covid was what I would say was the start of what I would actually say was my music career, because I've always been involved in music in my life. Ive always been singing and stuff like that, but about a year ago now (so were talking 2019) is when I decided I actually wanted to start pushing my music and making this something that I actually wanted to give a go and try in my life.”
Even before the pandemic hit, Richardson knew of the difficulties the music industry came with but had the passion and desire to push through these. Richardson said: “I think in this life you need to be more than just passionate to actually make it. You have to have that actual want to go out there and that passion and that had brewed in my at that point, so I was starting to get quite active about a year ago in the local arts community.”
Aside from studying biomedical science at the university of Cardiff, the 23 year old musician was spending her days performing at local shows, open mic nights and eventually it got to a point before lockdown where she was paying for her living expenses off the money she made gigging at professional events and music nights. Covid-19 has understandably effected this, however Richardson says the pandemic has given her a “new perspective” on her music career.
Richardson is a performer, she doesn’t just create great music, but she is the music in itself. Her fans are fans of her as a whole not just of her music. Richardson said: “Obviously as much as I want to be out there - and I love the energy of being in the community and getting that energy back from people as you’re performing and you’re putting it out there and you’ve got the crowd, I love that - But the longevity of my sound is what I actually need to be putting my energy into”
Thalia has now been spending her time in and out of lockdowns focussing more on recording music, writing new tracks, creating albums and getting her music out on platforms for her listeners. She said the endless hours of free time during lockdown has allowed her to work on creating beautifully mastered tracks. Aside from this, the pandemic has also enabled Richardson to correspond with people she may not have necessarily come across without the pandemic hitting. She said; “Its (Covid-19) opened up so many avenues, I started to communicate with producers from all over the world. I had people sending me beats from here, there, wherever. I had artists getting in contact with me, collaborating with people from all over the world just through the internet which is a fabulous medium that in reality I don’t need to be in the same space as you to make a song with you and that’s great, Im glad that I got that opportunity.”
The pandemic has acted as somewhat of a catalyst for Richardsons music career, with her saying; “Im a bit like a diamond you know. If you put me under pressure I'm going to shine. And I like those sorts of situations because that’s when I'm like ‘Right okay, what am I going to do about this now? Right I'm stuck in my house, what am I going to do about this?’ And I think I'm glad I took that approach to things.” The consequences of the lockdown have forced her music to blossom, and since coming out of isolation she has found herself with a brilliant team working alongside her to help her create the music she has desired to make for such a longer time.
Although Richardson herself has benefited from the pandemic, many other musicians, sadly, aren’t feeling the same way. Some musicians rely entirely on performing as their main source of income, and with the pandemic meaning music events and performances coming to a temporary close, many musicians are worried about what the future now holds for them. When asked her opinions on the future for musicians as a whole, Richardson said; “As far as the sense of having music as a viable career, as too make you enough money to live or anything, it becomes a lot more difficult if you’re taking out performing. Because performing is a huge part of the revenue that most artists make, it's the tours, it's the ticket sales, it’s the this and the that, that’s what’s making you money. So streams might make you a penny here and a penny there but it's not really the same thing.”
However music comes from the soul, and a virus shouldn’t take away from that. Richardson continued; “ I think I did music for the love of music and I think that’s the same with a lot of people. So I don’t think these times are going to be stopping artists, I think that artists are sensitive souls and we actually need to make this art and communicate it through these times.”
As with every industry at the moment, the arts community - specifically focusing on music - can come together and use this as a force for change and the chance for artists to create musical masterpieces they’ve yet to focus on. Richardson believes this could be one of the best things to happen for the arts community. “ I think this is actually going to be one of the best things for the arts because when you think about everybody actually engaging on their phones and all of that, when their stuck at home on the internet, this is a brilliant time for people to be releasing music, this is a brilliant time for artists to be getting Involved in the scene. And this is a brilliant time to just open opportunities in this new digital age because we might as well utilise the tools that are put before us, We are living in these times after all.”
Written by Niamh Colclough
- Richardson, alongside many other local Cardiff musicians is using these troubling times to showcase her incredible music to the world. Go and check her out: instagram @ellicedabeast