Interview: LA Based Pop Artist, Mikey Spills Details on "Tshirt"

Mikey is an LA-based pop artist by way of New Jersey. Following years of writing, releasing music, touring while opening for artists like Lauv, LeAnn Rimes, A R I Z O N A, Jacob Whitesides and more, Mikey was born. The past two years , Mikey has carefully crafted his sound and come into his own. He will release a collection of songs throughout 2019 and is bound to relate to listeners with his catchy melodies and emotional lyrics.

Mikey shares the inspiration behind his latest release, "Tshirt", finding his passion for music, and much more in our interview below!

What's the inspiration behind your single "Tshirt"? "T-shirt" is a song about being dragged along by somebody who really only wants you around when it's convenient for them and who struggles to fully let you go. It's a situation I feel like so many people have been caught in, on both sides. The idea of this scenario was in my head at some point but I was stuck in this really terrible bout of writer's block. I had a conversation about that after one of my shows with my friend Josh Radnor who is someone I look up to very much creatively, and he made a suggestion to start reading more to help open my mind to new ideas. I took that advice pretty quickly and about halfway through a book he recommended I opened up and wrote the chorus of "T-shirt" in probably 10 minutes. I brought it to my producer and co-writer Allen Mattox and we finished the rest. I've written around 10 songs that I really love so far for this project and this is absolutely one of my personal favorites. 

When did you know you wanted to pursue a musical career? I fell in love with music pretty young listening to The Temptations, but my drive to actually perform first came in 5th grade when I randomly became obsessed with Elvis Presley. I begged for a guitar for Christmas which thankfully my parents got me that year and I taught myself immediately. I played in bands through middle school and high school. Halfway through high school is when I really made the decision to pursue music as a career and found myself thinking it could be possible. 

en you faced a setback in your career, how'd you move forward?

- There are constant setbacks in this industry but I've always found them to be motivators at the end of the day. I also allow myself to feel disappointed or upset for a day or two if I need to, which especially recently has proved to be positive for me. My whole philosophy is to just feel your feelings, that's something this new project specifically is about. So when I experience a setback, I let it hit me and say "okay, this sucks and is a bummer and thats fine, lets feel it out and get it out of the way", then I feel refreshed and more motivated to move forward. If I hold in or ignore frustration it usually takes me longer to focus and move on. 

What advice would you give throughout your career?

- I'm still learning so much, but at this point I would say to know there is no one, singular way to get where you want to be. I feel like there's so much pressure as an artist to have a step by step plan on how you're going to become successful. Sometimes that is great and you should definitely have plans, but more times than not, things will NOT go as planned and that's fine because really its all about being able to adapt to new situations. So my advice would be to not be discouraged when your expectations aren't met, move forward and look for the next opportunity because there will be one. 

What was it like sharing the stage with Lauv, LeAnn Rimes, Jacob Whitesides, and many other artists? Those shows were some of my favorites of all time. I've been crazy lucky to be able to share the stage with some legends and some artists that I'm a huge fan of. The best part is getting to play your music to an audience who for the most part has no idea who you are and getting to experience new reactions to songs you've poured your heart into. I opened for Lauv in NYC a couple years back and that one was super cool because I've known him for years since we played a tiny VFW hall in New Jersey together where there were maybe 25 people. So that one was special to see him selling out a show in a major city and getting to be a part of it as well. LeAnn Rimes is obviously a music legend and one of the sweetest people on Earth so that one I will absolutely remember forever. 

How have you crafted your sound for your fans? I've spent the last two years working on this new project and really doing some soul searching as far as who I am as an artist. A big part of crafting the sound was embracing collaboration as opposed to feeling like everything had to be me. I met some really great people over the past few years that pulled me out of a really negative headspace caused by some poor choices in the past of who I surrounded myself with musically. I was lucky to be able to collaborate with these people and some of my best friends on this project as a whole. I spent a lot of time in the studio and wrote more music that I'm happy with in these last two years than I have in my past combined. 

Connect with Mikey on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.