Ready to Take the World By Storm: An Interview with Shelton Taylor
All images courtesy of Shelton Taylor’s Instagram // @sheltontaylor
Passionate, down-to-earth, and incredibly in tune with his emotions: those are but a few words I would use to describe Shelton Taylor, the twenty-one-year-old Texas native who’s ready to take the music world by storm. I sat down with Taylor on April 7 to discuss his humble beginnings, upcoming albums and strong connection with music.
Allison: So I’m going to start with a bit of an easy question, and that’s: What drew you to the music industry in the first place?
Shelton: Hmm. That is an easy question. So, the first time I started singing was with my mom when I was really young. She would just play the piano and have us sing with her. I actually grew up in kind of an interesting situation. I grew up in Texas and we were out on this ranch—I guess kind of like a cult, it was a weird kind of thing. We weren't allowed to listen to music, but we knew a couple of hymns that we could sing. So that’s actually how I started singing. Ever since we moved out of that situation, I knew I wanted to be a singer. I loved everything about music. Everyone has that dream when they’re little, like, “Oh, I want to be a firefighter,” or, “Oh, I want to be the president.” That was just what I thought. Ever since I could sing, I thought, “Oh, I want to do this.”
A: What made you pick up the guitar?
S: The first song I played on the guitar was a church song. I led worship for eight years growing up. So coming out of this group, you would have thought we would have taken all religion and just thrown it all out, but we didn't: we actually went to some regular, non-denominational churches, so the first song I learned on guitar was “How Great is Our God.” No one really taught me; I just remember wanting to play it so bad because one of my friends was playing guitar, and I remember looking it up on YouTube and figuring it out on my own. It really wasn't until I started writing songs on guitar that I got obsessed with playing guitar.
A: When you go about writing your songs, is there a specific creative process you have? Or do you just kind of go for it?
S: That's a good question. Everybody has a different creative process, of course; I typically just write about experiences I've had. This song I just put out, called “Drive Away,” was different in that I didn't write about a situation I've been through. My brother and I were on the beach and he had just gotten chased by a security guard. It’s funny because we were on this private beach, and we were fine because we had friends there, but we had a guitar and it was pretty natural for us to just sit and write a song. That's just kind of something that we do and enjoy doing. So that song kind of sparked out of nothing. There are some songs that just come to you and you just write them like they are already there. But there are also others that you write as part of a bigger story. I’m working on an album right now, and all those songs sort of came to me a couple years ago over a couple weeks when I was honestly feeling super sad and depressed. I was fed up with my job and I just took a break and started writing songs. A lot of the time, I'll have an emotion I'm feeling and I’ll think back to a time where I felt that same emotion. Then, I’ll try to form a melody that has that same emotion and tune and I'll tell myself the story of the time I felt that way.
A: Do you have a personal goal when you’re writing music?
S: I love storytelling and I love beautiful music—I mean, I love all types, I’m not a one-genre type of person. But when I'm playing music, I really love that melody that just feeds my soul and makes me feel warm inside. So when I’m writing music, I think, how is this going to reach someone? and is this going to bring someone joy? So that's definitely the goal, because that's just who I am as a person.
A: Are there any musicians that influence your music now, or any that you’d like to collaborate with?
S: One hundred percent. Like I said, I grew up not really listening to music, and there was a point recently, when I was about 16 or 17, where I really started diving into the music that everyone else had always known. It was cool because I was just figuring it out at that point. It really impacted me for sure. A couple artists are Tame Impala and The Bee Gees. I listen to a lot of older, disco-style stuff as well, and more recently Daniel Caesar—just anything that feeds your soul. I know that’s very general, but those are some artists that influenced me. I’m a big fan of Daft Punk and was a big fan of The Weeknd for a bit, but I definitely lean more towards your basic pop and indie pop.
A: Now, going back to the album you said you were working on, are there any tracks that you haven't released yet that you're excited to share with everyone?
S: Yes, there are a bunch. There's technically 13 tracks on the album, and I'm planning on releasing it here in June. We’re actually producer-shopping here right now—I produced most of the songs all on my own, and we do want to wrap everything up and bring it together. There’s one called “Los Angeles” that depicts a journey—I had a rough family situation when I was around 16, 17. Stuff was going down with my dad, and I ended up moving out and crashing with a friend; then, I was playing in different psych-rock bands and sleeping in people's backyards. It was pretty gnarly. There was a time where I was just scraping by—I mean, living the life and playing shows, but it was also really draining. “Los Angeles” talks about leaving a lot of things behind in Texas, and different things I had to let go of in order to pursue what I wanted to do. Something inside me was pulling me to the music scene and I just couldn't stop myself. It’s about two voices in my head, one saying that I have to stay, I have so much left here, and the other saying to follow my dreams. When I wrote it...it’s just a very strong song, emotionally.
A: Are there any songs that you like to play live the best?
S: I recently always get asked to play my song “Juliana.” It’s more of a...well, when I play it on the guitar—which, all my live shows are acoustic—I always get asked to play that because it’s more upbeat. So that’s my most-asked song. But in terms of favorites, I’m really bad at picking favorites because I love so many different aspects of so many different songs. But the one I just dropped, “Drive Away,” has a bunch of harmonies, so it’s hard to play that live without a group backing you, but it’s really fun and the melody is very soothing to me.
A: A bit off topic, but you competed on the 17th season of American Idol. How was that?
S: It was pretty crazy, thank you for asking. It was definitely something where most people that meet me figure it out and go, “Oh, you were on American Idol.” It's not the first thing I say when I meet people because I don’t want to be labeled as an American Idol kid. But it’s funny because I was basically cast at the age of 15 or 16. I was posting a lot on social media, and a casting agency reached out to my agent saying that I should go on, and they would love to have me on the show. We kind of pushed it aside because we wanted to grow organically. My manager ended up being in a crazy situation which I can get to later, but we pushed it off because we just wanted to put out music. But later on, I ended up with a different manager and headed out to California. They reached out again, and I thought I might as well try it. I didn’t really try out. They had a tryout and then the first live auditions; because I went through one of the casting agents, I just did that [tryout]. I ended up making it to the top 20. It was a lot of fun; my mom got to go to Hawaii with me for the first time, which was super awesome. So I can't complain: the experience was a lot of fun and definitely pretty crazy. I realized how much work goes into a show like that, and once we got to the top 40 contestants, I think there were maybe two people that weren’t cast. So it’s crazy to think that everybody just tries out. It was interesting to me how many of the contestants got cast. Hollywood Week was really stressful—I think it was two or three days without sleep—but overall, I enjoyed the experience a lot.
A: How does it feel to you to watch your following grow over time?
S: It’s been really, really cool. Right off the bat from a young age, I think one of my videos blew up, and it was crazy because I got millions of views on Instagram. And then my manager came in, and he ended up kind of messing things up a little bit. I guess he wanted me to grow really fast, but I think it’s better to grow slowly and remain consistent in what I’m putting out there. He didn’t have the same vision, so he ended up buying a bunch of followers, and for a while it was really hard because I had no control over that. But moving out here, I started playing shows and meeting people and it was all about face-to-face, actual relationships. I got to make fans that weren't just fans online. They would come to watch me play and go out to hang with me. I think there is something to TikTok and Instagram that can blow someone up just like that, but for me, I'm more of a face-to-face person. I do better in person than over the phone. I am so bad at social media. But at the same time, it's been really exciting to see that happen. And now, putting out songs and seeing people’s reactions and how excited they are now that I've got some songs out is so encouraging. It’s definitely what’s keeping the ball rolling for me.
A: Would you say that's one of your favorite parts of this line of work?
S: A hundred percent. I love people, I love singing. I love sending people my music and having them tell me that it made their day. It’s super encouraging. One of my favorite things about music is connecting with people in ways that other people can’t. I’m very grateful and it’s been very awesome.
A: How have you been able to balance your music with your home life?
S: That’s a really hard one. I don’t always balance it as well as I should. It's not easy, for sure, for musicians. I will say this: if you're an independent artist like I am now, we have a very small team. It’s so time-consuming. It’s crazy because we obviously want to catch up with people and talk on a professional level, but we have to message about 4,000 people in total, and try to have deep conversations with them, too, about the music. Being successful is important, but what’s even more important is keeping a true relationship with those people. That’s just who I am as a person. It’s definitely been hard; I try to make my weekly schedule with at least one day set aside to spend time with my family, so that’s kind of been the way I’ve been able to do it. I want to be there for people, and as a musician, you have to be there for a lot of people. It’s about understanding that once you're done with your music, you need to take a break.
A: What are your future ambitions as a musician?
S: In my future, I can see a lot of different things. I think I'll start out by saying no matter what happens in my future, I'm happy where I'm at. I'm happy playing music for people. That's what fuels me. There’s some sort of connection—it feels like a power I've been given, and a love I feel when playing music. So I can be sure that even if I'm not having number-one hits every year, I'm going to be playing. So that's exciting, that I've been able to support myself and make it playing music. The good thing is I see myself playing music no matter where I go. I had this dream when I first came here that I’m going to sell out the Staples Center three nights in a row. I remember going to see Ed Sheeran play at the Staples Center, and I remember thinking, “This is where I'm gonna be one day.” I don’t want to limit myself. I would love to travel the world if I were able to. It is, for me, really just about the music. It’s not about the lifestyle. I feel like I’m the type of person that would like to live in a shack on a beach or something, or just a very simple life, yet still be able to reach a lot of people with my music. I can't see myself living a super glamorous lifestyle. I don’t feel the need to have a bunch of things. For me, I think it would be so cool to have one song that everybody in the world could hear and relate to, and a big goal in my music is to give people the idea that pain and heartbreak are real—and give them hope that other people are there with them, and that there are second chances and redemption. I definitely want to go on a world tour. Definitely want to have a really nice studio. Just being able to reach people and help people that are in need would be cool.
A: Now for the fun questions! If you were an instrument, what would you be and why?
S: Let’s see. I would probably be...this is hard to explain. There are pedals that you can use with your guitar and it creates different sounds and effects, like an echo. But basically, I’d want to be a guitar pedal that can make something completely atmospheric and different while keeping the same message. I think that's a good representation of who I am, because I have these different experiences that I want to share with people and I'm putting it through this pedal, so to speak, and it's coming out full and atmospheric and different, but it still has that same message. I want to see myself as someone who can take something that people understand and give it to them in a way they've never heard before.
A: If you could steal credit for any song in the world, what would it be?
S: If I have the freedom, I'll answer it like this: I've never really wished that I wrote anyone else's song, because to me, songs are something very personal. I'm content with the songs I've written. Even if they’re just special to me, that’s enough. But to give you a solid answer, “Blackbird” by The Beatles. It’s very pretty and the melody puts you in a different place. I want to write at least some songs that are like that, in the way that they are just timeless. I think that's the difference between a really good song and a song that fits with its time.
A: Do you consider Monopoly a game you play with friends or enemies?
S: Both. I don't really have enemies, but on the Monopoly board, I do have enemies. I used to play Monopoly a lot with my little brothers, and at first, I would always win, every time. I was so much better. Then, a couple years passed and they got obsessed, and I got busy with other things, and they became so much better than me. We made $500,000 bills out of paper to add to the game because we would go so insane. I remember games would last for days, maybe even weeks. It got to the point where they were so good that we stopped playing because they kept winning. I’m super competitive, so if someone said they could beat me at Monopoly right now, I would pull out the board, but it takes so much time out of my day now.
A: What is the most embarrassing song in your music library?
S: I keep my library super concentrated, so once I get tired of a song I'll take it off my playlist, but I can tell you a song of mine that gets played a lot that I'm super embarrassed about. There's a song on YouTube called “Small Town Lights” that I wrote when I was 16 or 15. It's a great song, kind of cheesy and definitely very stylistically simple. It’s crazy how many people will message me on YouTube talking about how inspiring it was to them. Of course, they’re usually pretty young, so they don’t have Spotify and they can’t really listen to my other stuff. I’ll tell them, “Oh, thank you so much!” because I do genuinely appreciate it, but internally, I’m like, “God, I wish you could hear my other stuff.” But there’s that one, and then there’s also...whenever my brother and I play music—my older brother, he used to write songs with me—he’ll ask me to play this one song. It was one of the first we wrote, and I'll always refuse because it’s just so embarrassing. Oh! I did also write a song about my dog, Snoopy; that one’s pretty embarrassing, too.
A: If you were a crayon, what color would you be and why?
S: If I were a crayon...I say cray-on, that probably makes me wrong.
A: That’s probably just my East Coast accent that makes it sound like cran.
S: I think that’s really cool. In Texas, I would get told I have an accent, but it’s been four years so I think it’s gone away. I was going to ask you if I had an accent.
A: I don’t think I hear an accent.
S: Yeah, I don’t think I have it anymore. But, yeah, if I were a crayon, I’d probably be a shade of blue. I think blue is really cool, because it could be one of the happiest colors, like the color of the sky, but it can also be a really sad color. The way I think is, my emotions to me are really important and my sad emotions are just as important as my [happy] emotions. Recently, I’ve been trying to work through those, especially in my music and songwriting.
A: Very interesting. Okay, last question. If you could have any song play whenever you walk into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
S: These are really good questions, kudos to you. Honestly, I wrote this song when I moved out here to California. I was in this car that I bought—I think it was a Dodge Charger. My dad got the registration for it, but a year later, I drove out to California. I was a broke teenager trying to figure it out, so I didn’t switch the registration over for the first year. I remember the next year, it got impounded. I flagged down a police officer and I ended up getting arrested and thrown in jail. It ended up being really cool because I wrote a song in there [jail]. I can play it for you if you want.
A: Sure, I’d love to hear it!
S: This is another song where it’s really simple, and it is a really hard question to say what song I’d have played for the rest of my life, but it’s really meaningful to me and I think having the most meaningful song play would be amazing.
A: I can see why you picked that one, it’s beautiful.
S: Thank you so much! And thank you so much for having me, I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately and you definitely had the best questions.
A: Thank you! It was so much fun getting to chat with you, I can’t wait for your album to come out!
S: I’ll keep you posted on it!
You can listen to Shelton Taylor’s latest single “Drive Away” on all streaming platforms, and I highly recommend giving his other work a listen as well. Shelton’s post-interview performance of “Los Angeles” can be listened to here as well.