What’s your stage name and where are you from?
My stage name is just my name- Thomas O’Shea. I’m from Madison Wisconsin.
What’s the story behind your stage name?
I’ve gone through a bunch of different stage names actually. I started off as Yoon- for about 5 or 6 months and did covers and very bad EDM music. Then I switched to TY’O, which was just my initials. I went by TY’O for just about eight years, but once I graduated with a music degree, I thought it was time to retire using fake names. So since then, I’ve been going by my real name!
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
I started out with piano at the age of six and really fell in love with classical music. I high school, I learned about the world of audio production and started messing around with GarageBand on my phone. Then I went to school for audio production and started combining classical sounds with my pop music and never looked back.
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
I love bouncing ideas off people and working in person. I remember recording my mini musical that I did as my honors thesis for college. Every single person I recorded, I bounced ideas off of and that pushed me to work differently than when I’m working alone. Specifically, I think of my studio session with Chris Jewson, a rapper from Madison that I went to school with. I had recorded a demo for him for how I THOUGHT I wanted his part to sound like. After around two ish hours in the studio, we had completely changed the flow he was rapping in, added extra characters, and flushed out his character with a background, intentions, and life experience.
What message do you want to convey through your music?
I used to have a set plan for exactly how I want people to convey my music, but after meeting and talking to more Jazz and Classical musicians, I realized I was approaching that wrong. Now, I want the music to speak for itself and whatever a person feels about it is valid. Music is a weird, personal, living, and ever chancing thing. As a composer, songwriter, and musician I find it strange to say “I want this song to make people think about _____ or make people feel ______.” I know I have a strong feeling when I write music- that feeling is what I’m specifically writing about but we all have different experiences. I want people to make their own connections.
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
This happens every day- starting an idea then not knowing where to take it. I overcome this kind of writer’s block by experimenting. What if I keep the chord progression but make the melody simpler? What if I add a different bass sound or sample my voice? I try stuff, see what works. If the initial idea doesn’t work, 9 times out of 10 I will be inspired with another idea to try.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Jon Bellion. Hands DOWN. For the past half decade, he has basically been the music industry. He can write in basically any genre, turn any idea into a song, and thinks critically behind every detail down to how he articulates the vocal performance. He is the musician I want to be at some point in my career.
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
Honestly? No idea. So much has already happened (a lot that I can’t talk about yet…) I keep taking the risk by reaching out to people, cold emailing or dm-ing artists and producers and just hoping something sticks. I’ll put it this way- since graduating, I haven’t really had a real break- and most of what I’ve been working on has yet to be released…
I will say this though- I want to start traveling specifically to make music more. Go to LA or Atlanta or Chicago just to create with local artists there. I also want to just overall work with more people in person. 90% of my collaborations in the last year have been online and I want to change that to more 50/50.
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
The only way is up. I’m keeping myself open to any possibility. I’ve been submitting loops and beats to high profile artists, collaborating with billboard charting producers, and working with some pretty big names. I can’t say much yet, but I’ve very excited to finally reveal what I’ve been working on.
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
I post all my original work on my website: okhitrecord.com
all my remixes, music videos, and hopefully long form content soon on YouTube.com/@tyoismusic I’m also on all platforms as Thomas O’Shea
