Even though music has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember, Garrison Starr did not have the easiest time getting started in the music industry. Remaining true to who she is has become very important for Starr in her journey to become an artist.
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In her song, “Dam That’s Breaking,” Starr speaks about what her life as a writer has been like over the last few years. She revealed that this song is all about feeling like she can no longer keep trying to be someone that she’s not.
Being raised in a serious Evangelical Christian community, Starr didn’t feel very welcome because she couldn’t truly express who she was.
“My sexuality was always an issue there and I think when I first got into the music business, I wanted to be liked and I wanted to prove to my community that they were wrong about me,” says Starr.
This feeling of being unwelcomed carried over into the start of her music career. Starr was starting to feel the pressure of conforming to the type of artist she thought people wanted her to be.
“I was struggling so much with my identity, where I fit in and not feeling like I belonged with this community that I was involved in. Then being thrusted into the public eye of the music business and putting myself out there, I think that I was working from the outside in. I wanted to be liked, wanted to be heard and wanted to be seen. I got to a point in my career where I just felt like I wasn’t achieving what I wanted to achieve, I hit a wall.”
After realizing that going down this path would not make her a successful artist, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Starr took a step back to reevaluate what she wanted her songs to sound like, where she wanted to go in her life and what she wanted to accomplish.
“That was a turning point for me,” says Starr. “It feels like a freedom that I have never felt before … today I feel happier than I have ever been in my life and I feel more confident than I have ever felt.”
Sometimes our insecurities can get the best of us and they can prevent us from moving past a difficult time. For Starr, collaborations used to be frightening and now with her newfound confidence, she has realized how much she actually thrives with them.
“This whole time I thought that I was helping someone else, but they were actually helping me. So, I feel super grateful for that.”
In her newest release, “Don’t Believe in Me,” Starr got the chance to collaborate with Katie Pruitt and K. S. Rhoads. After this group wrote the song together, Starr assumed it would be used by Pruitt, but instead, she realized she would be able to share her story through it.
“It asks a simple question: How do you expect me to do this if you don’t believe in me?”
“I love this song and it’s one that a lot of people that have heard it, have resonated with. I hope that it will be an encouragement to other people who are struggling with their sexuality within those confines of religion or prejudice in general. I hope people can find some comfort and strength and know they are not alone in that.”
Even though Starr has dealt with many people not accepting her throughout her life, she has continued to grow as an artist and as a confident person to prove not only to others, but to herself that she is fully capable of doing what she loves in a way that is best for her.
“I have to be able to use my own voice, to live in my own skin as I am and to let go of the expectations that other people have had one me and maybe still have on me. I have to let that stuff go so that I can move forward.”
Listen and pre-save “Don’t Believe in Me” down below:
