
Antonia Desilva for The Meadow

interviewer: Sara Sharif (@sarangelic)
interviewee: Antonia Desilva (@antonia_desilva)
Antonia is a 19 years old musician based in New York. She just put out an album this past summer called Garage Band Dump which you will hear a little more about in the interview.
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"...I’m also inspired by my friends and the people around me who are making music, it feels like we are constantly feeding off of eachother and learning from one another’s creative processes."
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Antonia shares a fear...
I think when we make music or art we naturally want people to listen to it or receive it in some way, but a fear of being vulnerable with others can come up along with that desire to share-this is something I definitely experience.
* in relevance to our issue #2 FEAR
t h e i n t e r v i e w
1. Please start with a little introduction about yourself!
Hello! My name is Antonia, I’m 19 years old and I live in Manhattan, New York where I’ve lived my whole life. I’ve been making music for a few years now and put out my first album this summer.
2. What genre would you say your music belongs to?
I think my music right now fits best into the category of Indie music but that could change over time as my music changes and I have new words to define it.
3. What is the story behind your musical journey?’
Ok let’s see...I guess it started when I was very little because I always remember loving singing and that’s never really gone away. I started playing piano and then later on came guitar which is the main instrument that I use today. Around high school is when I started writing songs of my own and then I quickly got into producing them on the GarageBand app on my phone. So far, that’s been the most fun for me.
4. And how has your journey been so far?
I think it’s been very peaceful actually, especially in the beginning. I see music as something that’s always growing and changing and pushing me forward, which feels very exciting.
5. I love the vibe of your entire album, “Garage Band Dump”. Tell us what it means to you! Is there a theme set amongst it all?
Thank you! The title is pretty much what it sounds like- it's a bunch of songs that had been sitting in the GarageBand app on my phone that I sort of dumped onto SoundCloud one day without any real theme or intention in mind. But I think the way they were made could act as a sort of theme or unifier because they were all coming from the same place of being very spur of the moment and share a warm, fuzzy quality.
6. How was the process of the making of the album?
Oh it was fun!! I loved making these songs, especially one’s like Daily life and Lost In Thought which have more elements, because it was my first time doing stuff like layering different sounds and it just felt so exhilarating to be able to do that. I never thought of the songs I was making as something that I could put out online and saw them more as first drafts. Then one day I put all of those old songs together as a collection and called it an album. I had been toiling over this other album that I was planning on putting out but nothing was feeling quite right about it, like it was too uptight. Putting out these old Garageband projects felt super freeing and exciting and I stopped working on that project.
8. What is your creative process?
It’s always changing so part of it is just staying fluid with that movement. Right now I haven’t felt super inspired to write songs because I’ve been focusing on school work but even little things like listening to someone else’s music or watching an interview with an artist I like feels like it’s all aiding that movement.
9. Who is your musical inspiration?
I have so many, and so many for different reasons. Some names that come to mind right now are Julia Jacklin, Aldous Harding, Jessica Pratt and Alice Phoebe Lou. I’m also inspired by my friends and the people around me who are making music, it feels like we are constantly feeding off of eachother and learning from one another’s creative processes.
10. Any tips for our musicians out here who are probably also working on an album?
I’d say to put out music that you love and that is close to your heart. When you do that you naturally want to share it out with other people and have it be heard.
11. Is there anything you would like to say about the current stresses all around the world?
I think right now, for those who live in America like me, we are seeing the most horrible aspects of our country and are also seeing beautiful resilience and community arising from that, in response to that. I see that where I live in New York. It feels like this moment is calling for a deep transformation in all aspects of our country and like our lives (especially the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalised) depend on that transformation. Like our country and world can’t go on the way it has been.
12. So, what should we expect next, in the near future?
I don’t know what it will look like yet but I definitely want to put out another musical project at some point, we’ll see!
13. How do we gain access to your music?
You can find my music on Spotify, Soundcloud, Youtube, Bandcamp, Itunes and Apple Music.
14. Any message for Pastel Serenity’s creative community and for all the musicians out there as well?
Keep making, keep creating and keep sharing always, always, always!