The social media sensation singer and songwriter, Salem Ilese, 22, who started writing songs since 9 years of age and now have songs with millions of streams. Her song "Mad at Disney" went viral on TikTok last year and people start praising her talent.
The pop star have attended Berklee College of Music in Boston for two years before moving to Los Angeles in 2019 before starting singing career.
"My family was really supportive the whole time, and I moved out with a bunch of my friends from [Berklee], and we were all diving in headfirst together, which very much helped the adjustment period, When I got here, my biggest concern, honestly, was keeping myself busy enough."
"We usually start with a title or concept, something like that, and then we'll just start, I like to start from scratch on the track with a piano or a guitar or a synth or something and just build it around what we want to say lyrically."
"It usually takes about four or five hours if we're lucky to get the song done, and then I'll record a demo, And I really like to walk out of a session with a completed demo of all the parts and the vocals, even if it's scratch vocals, so that I can kind of listen to it the next few days while I'm driving."
"The first year was definitely chaotic, but I met a lot of really cool people, so I'm very grateful, It's really fun. I'm very blessed that that's my day job."
"I have a list of concepts on my phone on the Notes app, and it's the same notes app that I've had for years, So it's extensive, and I've just been adding to it since I was like 14."
"I feel like one of the reasons that we make music and put out art into the world is to give a commentary on what's happening right now,"
"We launched into a conversation of the lack of representation in all the princess movies and just the whole princess, damsel-in-distress trope that had been fed to us as young kids, I remember the first time I saw a Disney movie, I think I was 3 or 4 years old, and I totally fell for it at first. I was like, 'I want to grow up and be a princess and have someone rescue me from a tower.' And then, something clicked when I was 9. I was like, 'This is wrong — I don't need someone to rescue me.'"
"I'm so glad that I released it, because it definitely changed my life, And I always think about that. It's kind of funny that it was the one I expected the least to do well, and then it just completely blew my expectations out of the water."
"'Mad at Disney' definitely impacted every aspect of my career, I feel like before that song, I was still just trying to put out as much music as possible and praying that anyone would hear it. I remember just being so happy even getting a thousand streams on something, and that feeling honestly hasn't really gone away."
"But it did give me the incredible opportunity to have a platform on social media, specifically TikTok, I've been blessed with this amazing community of people that listens to my music, and I can have conversations with them and they give me feedback. It just feels like a little family of people online."
"How's my body being banned before a gun in someone's hand? I'll never understand how someone's 'pro-life' all the way but they remain pro-NRA."
"I had just read about her UkraineDAO, where she raised about $7 million for Ukraine, which was absolutely incredible, She was the first person that I'd really seen harness cryptocurrency for the power of good and use it for social change, so I decided to reach out to her and see if she'd possibly be down to the artwork for it. And she'd actually already heard the song, which was so cool."
"I just think she's one of the coolest people and is such an important presence in activism today,"
"I really want to work more with Pussy Riot, for sure, I'm super excited for that song to come out."
"That was one of the craziest experiences that I've ever had, I'm such a big fan of them, and I had never met them in person. I'd only talked with Yeonjun and Taehyun over Instagram Live, so it was really cool to get to actually talk to them and hug all of them and perform together for the first time."
"I know it's really daunting at first, because obviously the internet is not always the nicest place, but I will say that as long as you love what you're making, that's all that matters, And the only way to get it out into the world is to share it, and you never know what will happen."
