HOME | DD

Description
Not sure what I'm doing on break; I'm still drumming up inspiration. I do have motivation, though!

Here's where you can find the banners in (poor quality) display! (:

♡ Spotify | open.spotify.com/artist/4BxGBy…
♡ YouTube | youtube.com/@id43770
♡ DeviantArt | ... Just click back to the homepage of my profile? idk
♡ bandcamp | idhello.bandcamp.com/music
♡ SoundCloud | soundcloud.com/valentine-hills

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BLOG

I'm going to have a separate blog soon so I can store all my thoughts in. For now, my portfolio is still my treasured garbage dump where I can spam and rant. There is something I really need to get off my mind/chest, but I'm not sure who to vent to.

I emailed a few PR teams thinking they were fan-driven channels and pages - silly me, I should have recognised the corporate lingo from the get go. Vague interpretations of their services, generic band photographs, suspicious reviews and favours etc. A few people in my circle agreed that it invoked a bad feeling within. Alas, how would I know where to go if I don't try? So I gave them a lengthy email and pasted all the links I had; details about where I stand in statistics, how long I've been a musician for, my current financial situation, direct feedback from face-to-face and online, tried and exhausted various social media efforts for free etc. There were a couple times when I thought about paying for sponsored posts, but realized it wasn't for me. But the way I discover music is completely different to how my boyfriend does it, so maybe someone it's not a bad idea to try it out, but anyway.

In short, as of now, I have over 1k combined streams across several platforms, not even before my first anniversary. I say over - recently, the stats have been increasing rapidly that I just can't be bothered to calculate it all again. I do everything on my own in my own bedroom, so 100% credits mean 100% earnings and responsibility, from song-writing to producing, graphic art and branding, marketing and promotion etc. I've been told that it sounds cool/decent by both non-metalheads and metalheads, but it's not to the taste of someone who doesn't regularly listen to metal. People respect me more when they learn about my music, so I think it's a good idea to push the independent artist narrative forward. Additionally, people have been interested in me in real life because of how I dress and physique, which is the perfect time to shamelessly plug my music because they get curious as to what I do. I've embedded myself into several metal communities, so I have a rough understanding of how they explore music and what the general opinion is on upcoming artists; it's difficult to set aside my bias as both fan and musician. Additionally, I've also promoted myself outside of metal and it didn't work in my favour, so I know I should stay in my lane- I just don't know who the exact audience is. I'm not willing to change my aesthetic since I dislike the edginess that follows with making metal, but I understand it can be tough as the happiest non-metal artist to progress forward. My goal is to be featured as a local/upcoming artist and maybe have my stuff play in the background of the venues on a playlist. I mainly want to promote my recent album since it's my best work yet, and it's the most authentic piece I've made. I want to stick with that style and perfect it, so what's left now is to work on my social media handles, which is difficult because I'm really introverted and camera shy. I've thought about other forms of content creation since I do like creating content... I just don't like my face or voice. I suppose I wouldn't oppose to an interview HEHE

One email returned to me, and it made me want to block every PR team I reached out to. I was offended, and couldn't figure out if I was defending my vanity or I knew my own worth. With all that being said amongst the positive feedback TO MY FACE and how (I think) the stats are good for someone like me, introverted and doing everything at once, it's just... the email seemed pretty weird. A lot of it was just very strange phrasing. They said to give a hand in song-writing, but like... my song-writing reflects me the most. I like writing lyrics that don't revolve around death, like the topics are still as heavy and a bit disturbing but idk man, it's pretty easy to write about your life experiences (: any edgier and darker, I would have passed this earth. Authenticity is so easy to maintain, so I don't want to change my image to something more classical - I will die for anything pink and heart-shaped, so leave me and my heart-shaped objects ALONE! Also, it sounded like they were going to control my music, and this is probably the only time where I wish I had bandmates to back me up. The other thing they said was, "you need more followers" like yeah, idk man, that's probably why I contacted you? I already knew that?? That's such a dumb thing to say. They told me to check everything and "turn my project upside down" so now I'm existing and developing a new album out of spite |: the last thing I want to do is lose my individuality and pretend to be something I'm not. NO DOUBT they would tell me to make TikTok music and make content on TikTok like please, no. I thought the whole point was to bridge the gap so I can get more public appearances by showing up to interviews or whatever. When I looked back on their website, it made me think that the audience is probably looking for something similar to Metallica since Thrash Metal has been a timeless, popular genre of all. I even told them that I don't see myself as mainstream, but I don't want to be too obscure. I can't be Alice in Chains, but I want to be like Kyuss, if that makes sense (in terms of popularity)? And I know, I know, my branding is all over the place, especially when I specifically/purposefully chose blurry, stretched images, but like... I just don't feel like changing any of it. It's me. I don't want to change myself. I love doing music. Maybe I'm just too sentimental with my projects... which does make sense consider I always spend my time on my hobbies, and I'd rather do that than socialize.

They said that the connection to Hitman is clear, like that information is important. I only mentioned it because I learned older generations have a harder time remembering it, but the younger generations, specifically gamers do, because my name is from the Hitman franchise; ID#47 is based on Agent 47. IT'S LITERALLY NOT DEEP OMG. The one good thing about my name is that the # does separate me from the other id47s. I mentioned that my fashion basically propelled forward from the depiction of nuns in Hitman: Absolution - I just like the game, nothing more. WHAT DO YOU MEAN It iSn't ClEaR CAN I NOT HAVE OTHER HOBBIES

I've mentioned using as much # as possible, going out and advertising by mouth, made YouTube shorts and lyric videos, have promotional posts on my Instagram- WHATEVER. And you know what? I do believe I did damn well for myself. I learned from my mistakes, at least I know from trying, and I feel like I've been getting better. How did I get better? Well, I've just been chilling in my own empire, so I never felt the pressure to enter competitions. The only pressure I feel is from myself when I feel like I've been sitting on a project for too long, so I feel the need to put it out. Having a portfolio now, I could not care what happens next. I like revising my own history, and sometimes I get inspired by the past version of me that I pat myself on the back like, "wow, the vision/execution was there, well done. I'm going to steal that now".

Man, I just have such a strange gripe with being professional, I hate it. I eventually want to make videos to post on YouTube, but I just don't know what? The only experience I've had was being able to edit and post because I made the video with my friends. I just don't know how to do it on my own, though... I'll find something. I always do (:

Anyway, thank you for supporting me!! I hope to be added into playlists. If you think my music is good, please share it ♡♡♡ share it anywhere, idrc at this point

Description
Not sure what I'm doing on break; I'm still drumming up inspiration. I do have motivation, though!

Here's where you can find the banners in (poor quality) display! (:

♡ Spotify | open.spotify.com/artist/4BxGBy…
♡ YouTube | youtube.com/@id43770
♡ DeviantArt | ... Just click back to the homepage of my profile? idk
♡ bandcamp | idhello.bandcamp.com/music
♡ SoundCloud | soundcloud.com/valentine-hills

---

BLOG

I'm going to have a separate blog soon so I can store all my thoughts in. For now, my portfolio is still my treasured garbage dump where I can spam and rant. There is something I really need to get off my mind/chest, but I'm not sure who to vent to.

I emailed a few PR teams thinking they were fan-driven channels and pages - silly me, I should have recognised the corporate lingo from the get go. Vague interpretations of their services, generic band photographs, suspicious reviews and favours etc. A few people in my circle agreed that it invoked a bad feeling within. Alas, how would I know where to go if I don't try? So I gave them a lengthy email and pasted all the links I had; details about where I stand in statistics, how long I've been a musician for, my current financial situation, direct feedback from face-to-face and online, tried and exhausted various social media efforts for free etc. There were a couple times when I thought about paying for sponsored posts, but realized it wasn't for me. But the way I discover music is completely different to how my boyfriend does it, so maybe someone it's not a bad idea to try it out, but anyway.

In short, as of now, I have over 1k combined streams across several platforms, not even before my first anniversary. I say over - recently, the stats have been increasing rapidly that I just can't be bothered to calculate it all again. I do everything on my own in my own bedroom, so 100% credits mean 100% earnings and responsibility, from song-writing to producing, graphic art and branding, marketing and promotion etc. I've been told that it sounds cool/decent by both non-metalheads and metalheads, but it's not to the taste of someone who doesn't regularly listen to metal. People respect me more when they learn about my music, so I think it's a good idea to push the independent artist narrative forward. Additionally, people have been interested in me in real life because of how I dress and physique, which is the perfect time to shamelessly plug my music because they get curious as to what I do. I've embedded myself into several metal communities, so I have a rough understanding of how they explore music and what the general opinion is on upcoming artists; it's difficult to set aside my bias as both fan and musician. Additionally, I've also promoted myself outside of metal and it didn't work in my favour, so I know I should stay in my lane- I just don't know who the exact audience is. I'm not willing to change my aesthetic since I dislike the edginess that follows with making metal, but I understand it can be tough as the happiest non-metal artist to progress forward. My goal is to be featured as a local/upcoming artist and maybe have my stuff play in the background of the venues on a playlist. I mainly want to promote my recent album since it's my best work yet, and it's the most authentic piece I've made. I want to stick with that style and perfect it, so what's left now is to work on my social media handles, which is difficult because I'm really introverted and camera shy. I've thought about other forms of content creation since I do like creating content... I just don't like my face or voice. I suppose I wouldn't oppose to an interview HEHE

One email returned to me, and it made me want to block every PR team I reached out to. I was offended, and couldn't figure out if I was defending my vanity or I knew my own worth. With all that being said amongst the positive feedback TO MY FACE and how (I think) the stats are good for someone like me, introverted and doing everything at once, it's just... the email seemed pretty weird. A lot of it was just very strange phrasing. They said to give a hand in song-writing, but like... my song-writing reflects me the most. I like writing lyrics that don't revolve around death, like the topics are still as heavy and a bit disturbing but idk man, it's pretty easy to write about your life experiences (: any edgier and darker, I would have passed this earth. Authenticity is so easy to maintain, so I don't want to change my image to something more classical - I will die for anything pink and heart-shaped, so leave me and my heart-shaped objects ALONE! Also, it sounded like they were going to control my music, and this is probably the only time where I wish I had bandmates to back me up. The other thing they said was, "you need more followers" like yeah, idk man, that's probably why I contacted you? I already knew that?? That's such a dumb thing to say. They told me to check everything and "turn my project upside down" so now I'm existing and developing a new album out of spite |: the last thing I want to do is lose my individuality and pretend to be something I'm not. NO DOUBT they would tell me to make TikTok music and make content on TikTok like please, no. I thought the whole point was to bridge the gap so I can get more public appearances by showing up to interviews or whatever. When I looked back on their website, it made me think that the audience is probably looking for something similar to Metallica since Thrash Metal has been a timeless, popular genre of all. I even told them that I don't see myself as mainstream, but I don't want to be too obscure. I can't be Alice in Chains, but I want to be like Kyuss, if that makes sense (in terms of popularity)? And I know, I know, my branding is all over the place, especially when I specifically/purposefully chose blurry, stretched images, but like... I just don't feel like changing any of it. It's me. I don't want to change myself. I love doing music. Maybe I'm just too sentimental with my projects... which does make sense consider I always spend my time on my hobbies, and I'd rather do that than socialize.

They said that the connection to Hitman is clear, like that information is important. I only mentioned it because I learned older generations have a harder time remembering it, but the younger generations, specifically gamers do, because my name is from the Hitman franchise; ID#47 is based on Agent 47. IT'S LITERALLY NOT DEEP OMG. The one good thing about my name is that the # does separate me from the other id47s. I mentioned that my fashion basically propelled forward from the depiction of nuns in Hitman: Absolution - I just like the game, nothing more. WHAT DO YOU MEAN It iSn't ClEaR CAN I NOT HAVE OTHER HOBBIES

I've mentioned using as much # as possible, going out and advertising by mouth, made YouTube shorts and lyric videos, have promotional posts on my Instagram- WHATEVER. And you know what? I do believe I did damn well for myself. I learned from my mistakes, at least I know from trying, and I feel like I've been getting better. How did I get better? Well, I've just been chilling in my own empire, so I never felt the pressure to enter competitions. The only pressure I feel is from myself when I feel like I've been sitting on a project for too long, so I feel the need to put it out. Having a portfolio now, I could not care what happens next. I like revising my own history, and sometimes I get inspired by the past version of me that I pat myself on the back like, "wow, the vision/execution was there, well done. I'm going to steal that now".

Man, I just have such a strange gripe with being professional, I hate it. I eventually want to make videos to post on YouTube, but I just don't know what? The only experience I've had was being able to edit and post because I made the video with my friends. I just don't know how to do it on my own, though... I'll find something. I always do (:

Anyway, thank you for supporting me!! I hope to be added into playlists. If you think my music is good, please share it ♡♡♡ share it anywhere, idrc at this point