For some students at South, music opens a door to free expression and inner peace. Senior Tina James and junior Trey Harris post original music on websites such as SoundCloud and Youtube. James posts mainly country, while Harris posts mostly hip-hop.

According to James, she recorded her first song during her sophomore year, later using it as a way to connect with others, both online and offline. She went to a studio to record with the help of her mother.

“I kind of opened up my own personal little world into everyone and let them catch a glimpse into my sound and how I write,” James said. “For me, as a songwriter, one of the main goals is to connect with the audience. From that point of view, if one song can impact somebody, [it] means the world to us as a songwriter.”

Harris started posting music online to build a career in the music industry. Through his posting, Harris said, he has made personal connections with others.

“People like what I put out, and it comes from my heart,” Harris said. “People relate, [and] I gain connections that way, and [my career] just keeps getting bigger [and] bigger.”

According to Harris, when he posts a song on SoundCloud, and it receives positive reviews, he makes a video for the song. Harris said that he has been saving the songs that he has recorded recently, as he is preparing to compile the songs onto a mixtape that he is going to release in about a month. According to Harris, he is going to make music videos for the songs on the mixtape that receive the best reactions.

Similarly, James has made connections through posting her music online.

“Putting my stuff on the internet has become an easy gateway to make connections,” James said. “I’ve met a lot of people and producers. [It’s] a way to share my life and who I am. It’s so much easier when it’s digital; it’s easier to share [and] see.”

Having music online has not only been a way to gain connections, but also a tool for furthering a music career. James used her pre-recorded songs to enter in a song-writing competition.

“I actually [went] to apply for a song-writing contest in which I ended up getting pretty high scores for my age, which is really unusual,” James said. “After that feedback, it helped encourage me to share my songs with the world.”

According to Harris, the encouragement and praise he receives pushes him to continue recording and continue believing in himself.

“People I don’t know come up to me all the time,” Harris said. “Two weeks ago, a girl [direct messaged] me on Instagram telling me she liked my music. We talked. She told me she’s from Texas, and she always plays my music driving around. The thought that there’s a car somewhere in Texas driving around playing my music is really cool.”

Both James and Harris went into their first recording sessions knowing they were going to post their music.

“I think everyone always has hesitation because we’re always our biggest critics,” James said. “I think I was just really excited about finally demoing a song that I wrote and spent some time on.”

According to James, she received a lot of encouragement from her friends and family. In addition to introducing her music and style to others, it was also the first time that they heard her music on a recording, where previously her friends and family had only heard her songs at different shows and performances.

“I shared it with everyone,” James said. “I posted it on Facebook and shared the link. Since it was my first song that I actually put out there, I was sending it to everyone. My mom was sending it to her coworkers, family friends and everyone.”

Harris took a similar approach with his first shared song. It became his most popular song after he put a lot of effort into promoting it to others.

“The first song I posted was on Soundcloud, and it’s my most viewed song because I promoted it really hard,” Harris said. “I went to record it because I knew I needed to start posting and taking this seriously.”

According to James, she also became involved in music from a very young age, which inspired her to continue listening and creating throughout life.

“I started songwriting at six years old,” James said. “It kind of became a way for me to express my feelings and emotions and to be able to put that in words. At first it was a hobby but I grew up loving music and I always knew I wanted to do something with it in my future. Over the years it’s grown, and it’s become something that I can’t live without. If I don’t write, it’s terrible. I have to write, I have to play. It’s such a stress reliever, it is the most amazing feeling.”