UCN Interview: Kori Jean Olsen – “Writing songs is like a therapy session”

13 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on UCN Interview: Kori Jean Olsen – “Writing songs is like a therapy session”
 

Kori Jean Olsen is one impressive lady. With both feet planted firmly on the ground, an admirable work ethic and a whole bunch of talent, she is definitely on our ‘artists to watch’ list. Read on to discover more about this Austin, TX singer.

UCB: You are preparing a brand new single. Can you tell us about that?
Kori Jean Olsen: Yes, we are still deciding which one we’re going to pick. The one that’s my favorite is more of a balled, it’s called ‘Crushed.’ The other one is called ‘Stubborn.’ So, we haven’t quite decided.

UCB: And who’s going to have the last say?
KJO: I don’t know, because the first time we pushed a single we let the fans pick. We put a poll up on the website and they all decided. It was really cool and I think that’s why the single was able to do well; we didn’t pick it, it was what the fans wanted to hear.

UCB: How’s the album coming along?
KJO: It’s coming along great, we’re finishing up. We’ve been working on that real hard since January.

UCB: Have you written for the new album?
KJO: Yes, but I also go looking for songs from other writers as well. I’m a big believer in that everybody has special talents, so use all those talents.

UCB: When you go out looking for other material, what is it you look for in a song?
KJO: I look for songs that have a lot of detail and that tell a story. I love to hear people’s stories. I love just sitting down with people from everywhere and say ‘tell me your story, I want to hear about you.’ I look for that in a song because I feel as a listener you go back to those places with the artist and you’re like ‘wow, I feel like I was there with them when this happened’. Those are the kind of songs I pick when I am not writing a song myself.

UCB: I have had that discussion with other writers, how important details are in songs. You would think people connect more with generic lyrics but it’s not the case. Is that the same for you?
KJO: It is! We did a song where I talk about ‘I’m gonna wear that yellow dress, you know the one with the vintage lace.’ It’s very conversational, it’s what I would say if I was speaking to you. Other women listen to it and they go ‘oh my gosh, I have a dress like that’ and it’s just very detailed.

UCB: You worked with Brent Mason who has some very nice things to say about you! What was it like hearing such compliments from somebody like him?
KJO: It was incredible and what was even more incredible, we didn’t ask him to do that. We went into the studio and it was intimidating because I have my vocal booth and he’s sitting right in front of me with this big rack of guitars and Charlie McCoy is out there too, and all these incredible musicians! I’m like ‘oh my gosh he’s played with Alan Jackson and Reba and all these people’ and I was panicking a little bit. But we pulled through and we got some great stuff and a couple of weeks later my publicist called me and said ‘oh my gosh, we got this really cool quote from Brent, you have to read this.’ That was really flattering for him to take the time to do that. It was very sweet and it meant a lot.

UCB: You’ve been singing since a very young age. What made you decide to make it your career?
KJO: I started very young and loved performing but I think when I decided to make it my career was when I was 17. I competed in a competition called ‘Austin Idol’ and placed second out of hundreds and hundreds of performers. They sent me on to American Idol and the experience was invaluable for me. I didn’t go forward in it but I learned so much about myself and the hard work that it takes. I thought ‘you know what, I can do this.’ It was really neat because my parents had asked me before the show what I was going to do but I kept it a secret. I went out there and just did it and I felt I really wanted to make this a career, really put the effort in and to try to do it. And that’s when I started making trips to Nashville.

UCB: You’re in good company trying out for American Idol and not making it, like Hillary Scott. Do you think maybe at the time you didn’t see it but it was really a blessing you didn’t go through?
KJO: Oh, you know what, that’s so true! My sister went through the competition this summer and she made it all the way to Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler but she got turned down; she didn’t go to Hollywood. But through watching her I got to go back and reminisce on my experience and it’s funny how things play out. I wouldn’t have had it any other way and I learned from every audition. I’m glad I didn’t go through or I wouldn’t be able to do this right now.

UCB: You still got to learn the lessons but you didn’t have to go through the TV show.
KJO: Exactly. It was such a blast and a blessing to do it. In this industry, you go through tons of auditions and interviews and you get people saying ‘sorry, there’s so many others like you,’ ‘I just don’t see it,’ and you just take something from every person and say ‘ok, thank you for your time, I appreciate it‘ and you shake their hand. I try to leave instead of thinking about the negative and that they didn’t like me, well, what did they say that’s valuable to me, that I can take and use.

UCB: That’s a great attitude to have. It must be really hard to make yourself that vulnerable.
KJO: It is, especially when you’re out there performing and you’ve put your heart and soul in it and someone says ‘I just wasn’t into it.’ And then you’re crushed wondering why they didn’t like that because I put everything into it that I had. But it’s different for every person. So, you just have to take it, learn and move on.

UCB: Plus you might get a few negative comments but that makes the positive more valuable.
KJO: It does. You take it less for granted what’s happening and are more appreciative.

UCB: We were talking about the blessing of not being on American Idol, but how do you feel about reality shows now being almost the way to get into the music business?
KJO: It’s tough. You look around and it seems to be the only way to get in is if you have family in the business or if you’ve been on a reality show. It makes it more difficult. It can be discouraging and you get like ‘What? Really? They just stood in a line and I’ve been doing this for years now!’ But it is very cool to see other people succeed and see that happen for them because then you’re like ‘ok, I can do that too, it will just take a little bit longer for me.’ I love to see it and it makes me want to work harder.

UCB: Who were the artists who first inspired you?
KJO: I listened to all kinds of music, obviously country is my favorite. With the country artists, I love Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride. One of my very favorites is Loretta Lynn. We recently did one of her songs at a show, just for a cover, and we did ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough.’ I love that song and we did a real rocking version of it and the audience loved it. I love Loretta, the way she presents the songs and her passion for it. I love watching old tapes and seeing how she performed. Performance is important so I’d like to take after her on that.

UCB: Are there any artists that you study in that sense? Garth Brooks’ name has come up several time with regards to this.
KJO: I study probably every country artist. I have a list…this is going to sound sad. (laughs) I have a list at home of all the major labels and mid-tier and independent labels you can get on and I have every single one of their artists on there. I keep track of what they’re doing and what cool things are happening with them. I like to see how they’re doing it because then it might give me ideas about how I can get my foot in the door. But then I also watch videos to see what I like and don’t like, and what I want to incorporate.

UCB: You’ve been doing this for a while now. What advice would you give to young kids wanting to start out?
KJO: I’ve been asked that a lot and I think it’s because out demographic is really big. The shows are family-oriented. We get 2-year-olds and we get grandparents. There are lots of little kids and this little girl came up to me one time and said ‘how did you get so pretty?’ and I’m like ‘eat your vegetables.’ (laughs) They’re always looking up to you for advice and I would just say it’s hard work and you can’t give up. There are going to be lots of times, in any career you’re in, you have to work hard and there’s going to be times when you’re turned down but it’s ok because for every door that closes, another opens.

UCB: And what’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
KJO: You know, I actually received some good advice yesterday. I was talking to some people about writing music which is a big phase in my life right now. I have been writing a whole bunch. Someone asked me how my writing was going and I said ‘It’s going good. I love writing with different people although sometimes you don’t mesh with every person you write with, I take something from every person.’ And they said to me ‘you should take it as they’re taking from you as well, it’s vice versa. You’re taking something from them, and they’re taking something from you.’ So that was a good piece of advice. And then something my dad always says to me is ‘if you’re going to do it, do it right.’ Even from a young age when I was studying for a math test, because it’s my sore subject (laughs)… He’d always say ‘If you’re going to do it, do it right. You need to go out and do it real, that way you can look back and you’re not regretting anything.’ So that’s become kind of my thing, I don’t ever want to look back and say ‘What if? What would have happened if I had just worked a little bit harder?’ Every night when I go to bed I say ‘did I do my best today?’ That’s kind of my outlook on life ‘do your best every time.’

UCB: With that in mind, do you set really clear career goals or do you have vaguer targets and allow things to happen?
KJO: Probably a little bit of both. I think that I set very specific one if we have a project coming up, like the new album. I have some very short-term goals like ‘this month I want to accomplish these things.’ But then slightly more vague I’ll say within a year I want to be at this point, something like I want to have done this many shows. Something more vague is wanting to be a better songwriter. You can’t set a time limit on something like that. It takes time but it’s a goal I am constantly seeing and remembering.

UCB: Are you a very spontaneous writer with notebooks everywhere or is it now I am going to set time aside to write?
KJO: It’s very spontaneous, I can’t sit down and write on the spot. I mean, I can, but my best stuff comes when…basically how I work as a writer is whenever there is something that has happened to me that is very emotional and I feel very passionate about, I sit down and write about how I feel in that moment. I write it all down. Then when I have a writing session, I go back and I pull from those ideas that came when I was in the moment, and then write a song about it. You haven’t lost the passion and you can go back to that experience. You have bullet points and some liners about the emotions you felt. I also write down where I was when I felt that emotion and what is smelled like and all those different things. Then you can bring all of that into your song which brings us back to the details.

UCB: Do you find yourself writing more when you’re in a good mood, or when you’re feeling sad?
KJO: I write about every emotion. I write when I am sad and I write when something really cool happened. I keep a personal blog that I don’t let anybody else read and that’s where I pull things from all the time.

UCB: Somebody told me yesterday that songwriters must save so much money on therapy.
KJO: (laughs) That’s so true!

UCB: Is that something you feel as well, that you learn to pour yourself into songs?
KJO: Yes, for me, songwriting is my way of telling people how I feel because for some reason words are a lot harder to form. Especially when you’re in that moment, it’s a place for you to go write everything down and not forget it. And then when it gets turned into a song, you almost have like a therapy session.

UCB: When you’re writing, are you aware of the fact that you’re putting everything in the public domain? Some songs are so deeply personal that it makes me wonder did they realize in that moment that everyone is going to hear about this?
KJO: It’s tricky and I often go back and think ‘you know, I am not the only one who has felt this emotion and there are a bunch of other people out there’. That’s very comforting to know I’m not alone. So it’s my way to reach out to my fans because I know that every one of them have felt something similar and so they can relate to it. It’s almost a way to create friends and a group of people that support you.

UCB: What are three songs that you think you could not live without?
KJO: One of them for sure would be a very recent one, Lady Antebellum’s ‘Hello World.’ It’s a fabulous song. And older song I love is ‘Butterfly Kisses.’ My dad used to sing that to me, I could not live without that song. That was the song we would dance to when we were kids. Whenever it would come on my dad would sing it to us. I love that song! And then one more… Oh, this is tough… Definitely those two and if I have to name one more that’s just a really fun, random song, it would be ‘Jessie’s Girl.’ I’ve always wanted to remake it and sing it from a girl’s perspective.

UCB: Ooh, that would be a good idea!
KJO: I’ve already been thinking about how I can do that! (laughs)

UCB: If I had a crystal ball that could show you the next 5 years, what would you like it to show you?
KJO: I would love for it to show me reaching out to my fan base on a larger level, maybe getting a record deal. I think just being able to do what I love all the time. Not many people get to do that and I feel like I am alm
ost there. I want to be able to reach out to people and music is very powerful and very healing.

UCB: With regards to record deals, there seem to be two kinds of artists. There are the ones who want the big deal with the big label and there are those who seem to purposely avoid that and want to keep more independence. Where do you fit?
KJO: I think somewhere in between. Obviously we found that radio is very difficult to get onto. You have to have a label deal to get on Billboard unless you have millions of dollars. Somewhere in between would be awesome, where you still have control over what you do and you don’t feel like they’re making you into something you’re not. But to be honest, I think I would be grateful for whatever got handed my way. If I got a major deal, that would be fabulous, but if I didn’t and was able to do this independently, that would be awesome too. Wherever my journey takes me, that’s where I am going to go.

UCB: And if I actually had this crystal ball, would you look into it?
KJO: I would not look at it. I like surprises! Like if someone’s seen the end of a TV show and I haven’t, I’m like ‘Do not tell me!’ I like to wait for it, I’m patient! (laughs)

UCB: I like ending interviews with this question. What quote or saying motivates or inspires you day to day?
KJO: Oh, that’s a good one… I think one of my favorites, like words that I live by, is the one from my dad we talked about earlier: if you’re going to do it, do it right so that at the end of the day you’re not regretting anything. I am the person who will look back and wonder ‘how could I have done it better? I could have done this or I could have done that.’ So for me it’s work your hardest every day and see where that takes you and that way there’s no regrets, whether you made it or didn’t make it. Because, what is being successful, it’s different for every person.

UCB: What is your definition of success?
KJO: Being able to do what I love and being happy about where I am at in my life. Right now, I am happy about doing what I do because I have made a lot of progress and got to work and write with some incredible people. So my quote is ‘do it and do it right.’

UCB: That’s great. Thank you.
KJO: Thank you!

For more information and tour dates, please visit KoriJeanOlsen.com. For the latest updates, follow Kori on Twitter @KoriJean

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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