So, I gotta tell ya, I'm on cloud nine right now. The craziest thing happened - my new song, "Coming Home," made it onto the Bulgarian Nation Radio Top 20 competition! Can you believe it?
I'll admit, I'd pretty much given up on making music after my brother passed away six years ago. It wasn't until my work computer crashed and I had to rebuild it (with all the necessary DAW plug-ins, of course) that I got the itch to create again.
Then, I stumbled on a Facebook post by Theo Ushev (if you're not familiar with Mr. Ushev, he's an Oscar-nominated animator and filmmaker from Bulgaria, living in Canada, and also a big supporter of independent artists) in which he introduced Ilko Birov (who I later found was raised in Vancouver too, and was also recording from home. Synchronicity.) and his song "Mrs. James", and that's when I got the idea to offer up my own music to the radio.
I reached out to Ilko, and he pointed me to the Bulgarian National Radio website, where all the regulations are posted. I submitted the song, and waited for about a week. All song entries are evaluated by 9 judges, who don’t know each other. Only 2-3 new songs are added each week. And here we are!
Now, let me be real with you -- making this song wasn't a walk in the park. It’s no surprise that usually songs are made by teams of people (sound-engineers, producers, etc...). But for me it's a fun and another way to learn something new. And to harass the family by waking them up early in the morning to the sound of a tormented croaking half-deaf singer... But I had fun with it and learned a lot along the way. And I may or may not have annoyed my family by waking them up early in the morning with my musical endeavors.
I gotta give credit where credit is due though - I brought in a guest singer to see if that would improve the overall quality of the song. Did it work? Who knows. But one thing's for sure - I had a blast making it, even if it's not perfect.
(I lost my Mom not too long ago. She was a poet... I wish she could hear that song...)
So, now I'm asking for your help. Give "Coming Home" a listen and let me know what you think! I don't have high expectations, but I'm curious to see if people will like it. And who knows? Perhaps other musicians will get inspired to try themselves.
…and maybe I'll even get to cross off bucket list item #9. Fingers crossed!
Pssst! Find out the story behind The Vlade in this interview here.
