Yes people, another mention of the dreaded COVID 19!! A couple of weeks ago I was having the time of my life on tour doing a job I loved and was ready to release some new music that I was so very happy with. None of this is the case now due to corona. But letting go of the way things should have happened and giving in (not up) to what is, has proven to be really interesting. Can an external catastrophic event stop a creative mind? Can self -isolation be teaching us something? Read on and see!!

1. I was sort of self- isolating before it was a thing.

 Apart from work (that admittedly takes up most of my life) I did not realise how much I love being at home. You see, I do have an active social life, but in all honesty if my friends didn’t ask me to go out and do things I would probably be in my home. As a singer-songwriter a lot of what we do is in isolation anyway.

2. It’s ok to do nothing

 I used to be a workaholic, but last year after working myself to the point of exhaustion and illness, I started the journey of learning how important rest is. Because of this I’m much more in tune with my body now and can feel when I need to slow down, (which is more often than I thought). I see a lot of talk about being productive while on lock down, but I’ve taken the last two weeks to fight my compulsion to always be doing something and have reminded myself it’s ok to do nothing. Rest is important to my well-being.

3. You kind of have to spend time with yourself to know yourself

 Tom Bilyeu said it best “But the reality is, the only thing that matters in this life is what you think about yourself, when you’re by yourself and it’s you and your thoughts”. By choosing not to fill every second of every day with something, I have really met with myself and really learned a lot about me; the good, the not so good and the areas where I still need to grow. I’m learning that all the answers I need and the parts of me I am getting to know now, can only be found once all the noise has stopped.

4. Self -care is a full time job

 Between taking care of myself, nurturing my creativity and trying to evolve, I actually have no time left by the end of the locked down day. I have come to realise that the lifestyle that we consider normal really doesn’t allow time to truly take care of ourselves or for any healing. It’s something we squeeze in. Because of this lockdown I’m being urged to find ways to integrate proper rest into my busy schedule once the world returns to its new normal.  Research has shown that two of the top five regrets from people coming towards the end of their life is, “I wish I hadn’t worked that hard” and “I wish I had stayed in touch with my loved ones more”.  Lock down is the perfect time to make sure we don’t have these regrets.

5. It’s ok to be ok

 The reality is, due to Covid-19 I have lost my job, have no prospects of earning anytime soon, had to holt my plans of buying my first home, my dream holiday was cancelled, my birthday was last week during lockdown, I’ve had to move back in with my mum, claim benefits and have been indoors for the past two weeks…but I feel completely at peace with this. All I can do is go with the flow and choose to remind myself instead that; I got to do a tour I loved for 10 weeks, met some incredible people, had a virtual house party for my birthday, I’m grateful to have a mum that I can run to no matter how old I get and I now have time to take care of myself and reconnect with loved ones.

 I know it will get better, work will come in eventually and this is an opportunity to do all the things I claim I’m too busy to do when I am working. I’m finding blessings in the smaller things in life and my dream holiday & plans can resume once this is all over…or maybe some new wonderful plan will unfold.

 Everyone has been effected so differently by this virus. I have heard some truly horrible stories and it’s not over yet. However, while still being aware of what’s going on around us we can make choices everyday that either bring us closer to fear & chaos or closer to harmony and peace. While our own lives can seem so out of our control now, let’s still be responsible for our choices and how they affect our well being and the others around us.

With Love,

 Ione

Hello there!!

If you’re back, thank you and if you’re new, hi! So we’ve mastered the E.P and now it’s time to get the artwork done. I’m hopeful that this blog can serve as inspiration, help or entertainment to someone out there to know that the life of an independent artist is great but loooong!!

Once the music is finished there is still so much to do as an artist and believe it or not, since my last post the past two weeks have been dedicated to me deciding on the artwork for my new single ‘Tell Me”. In an ideal world I would have decided what look really suited my brand, the mood of the song and done a photoshoot for this single. However factoring everything in a shoot can be quite costly, so I simply went into the archives and used an unused picture from an old shoot and guess what …it looks great and apart from this blog no-one would know the picture is four years old. ha! eek!

I do remember a time when album covers were iconic and pieces of art within themselves, a lot still are but it’s quite unrealistic for me to think I can compete with artists who are signed or the budget of a record label. And as I look around I see huge pop stars using a plain background, their name and the title of the song as their single cover. Lo-fi is now in, alongside pictures and videos that look like they were filmed on an old school camcorder from the 90’s. So basically no excuses Ione!

The process of getting to the finished product has been interesting. I used a cover art designer based in the states who was recommended to me by a friend. At every junction of my life I’m learning about myself and throughout this process I have learned that I love artists, I love phone calls and face to face meetings to exchange ideas, I love the back and forth between what I envision and what my music sparks for the designer… I love collaborating.

However in this instance because of distance I never spoke to my designer or met up which is fine. Instead, most of our exchanges and design ideas were sent via instagram. Hmmm. It struck me that I had to suggest sending over the song that the artwork was related to, when my instincts tell me that the song should inform every part of the design. I don’t even know if the designer even liked the song, (it’s a good thing I don’t need my ego massaging). This process was akin to me looking at the menu at at a fast food restaurant, placing the order and getting exactly what I ordered. When in fact, what makes me come alive is having ideas and watching them morph into something they never could have been without another creatives input; getting back something different & often better than my original idea, with us both agreeing two heads are better than one. This is not a criticism, merely an observation, does the process even matter anyway I ask?

In the end I have a front cover I love that does represent me and my music, and what sparks joy in me will always be important to me. But what is sometimes more important than my preferred methods and even me feeling alive every second of every day, is my art having a chance to be heard by the world. As a producer friend of mine once told me “the music industry is a results game” and business got done. The pace of the industry is fast and I’m learning how to simultaneously nurture the artist in me and get my work finished and out.

With all that being said keep a close eye on my social media this week as I will be revealing the artwork to my new single “Tell Me”

Much love,

Ione

Hello there & welcome to my blog!!

My name is Ione (eye-oh-nee) and as you can tell from the title of this blog I’m a singer-songwriter. I’m from Manchester, England and I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a long time, I’ve also been avoiding it for equally as long. Mainly because I didn’t know where to start and because I wanted amazingly edited pictures to go along with it that matched my brand etc etc.

However one of the things I have learned from a lot of successful people is to start where you are, so here I am. I don’t tend to do long captions on social media, so this blog is a space where I can delve deeper into the process of being a independent artist in 2020, and all that comes with it. It’s an exciting time to be an artist, the flood gates are open for anyone to make it, but also…the flood gates are open for anyone to make it. So how do I make myself stand out? Or should I just do my thing and slowly build a fanbase organically? ahhh!!

You’ve joined me at a very exciting time as I have just mastered my 3rd E.P, which I consider to be my 1st (this is a chat for another blog). And I’m also on tour with a musical called “Beautiful- The Carole King Musical” about the life of the amazing songwriter Carole King. Although it has been a long journey just to get to the point where I have a body of work I am very proud of to release, I know that the work and hopefully the fun has only just begun.

Stay tuned for the adventures :)

Love,

Ione.

Hey Guys and Gals,

Welcome, welcome, welcome to my first blog entry!! My name is Ione (eye-oh-nee) and I am a singer-songwriter from Manchester, England. I am a firm believer in always keeping your dream alive & that we can create the lives we want. I never thought I’d see the day I was a blogger, but it has been suggested that I do this so many times and I have put it off for so long, that one day I just thought… why not aye!?

My blog will mainly focus on my journey to work towards all my dreams and goals while trying to eat and not be the stereotype of the starving artist. Is this even possible?

I do believe the idea that the music industry is more unstable than other industries is a bit of a myth, the whole world is unstable right now with brexit, the possibility that technology will eventually take over many jobs previously occupied by humans (imagine) and someone I know being made redundant every other month. It's a risky world for us all, so we may as well take a risk, a "calculated" risk on ourselves and our dreams, whatever they are.

so what now?...

Right now I am a freelance singer which has led me to do some pretty cool stuff, including travelling the world, singing at corporate events, West End shows and being a vocal/performance coach to signed artists. All of these have been and continue to be incredible experiences and a lot of people I know would be happy with a job generating a (somewhat) regular income. However first and foremost I am an artist, I want to make and release my own music and there are so many other things I would love to do in my career and life, so follow me as I have the nerve to believe that all the things I dream of doing can actually come true.

Hopefully my blog can be a source of inspiration and insight into the world of an independent artist. As I’m gearing up to release some new music (new single out 25.01.19) this feels like the perfect place to share my journey, exclusives, behind the scenes and who knows what else. :)

Wish me luck!

Love,

Ione x