Francesca DeRosa
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Pursuing a dream takes hard work, long hours and a great deal of perseverance. Senior Stewart Taylor is very aware of this, but it has not stopped him from chasing the bright lights of Hollywood. Since the age of seven he has been actively involved with student and summer drama programs and writing his own songs. He hopes to turn this passion for music into a career.
Stewart has spent much of his high school career singing and songwriting, turning his focus over to music as soon as his schoolwork is complete. “I stay up late into the night working on homework and music,” he said. “I’m a dedicated musician, and that makes for no sleep.”
The inspiration for the songs he writes come from everywhere. “It will be four in the morning, and I’ll hear something, just a word or phrase that would be a great song title, and I’ll write that down,” he said. “I don’t have to have the experience to write about it.”
Next, Stewart collaborates with his producer in Miami via iChat. “He’s a couple of years older than me, but he’s pretty much a pro,” he said. “I was hoping to find another artist who could work so well with me, and bring out my greatest qualities as a musician. That’s a rare occurrence.”
The producer plays a vital role for the song to come together. He uses the professional software ProTools to create a track or beat to go along with the lyrics that Stewart has written. “What I do is give him a song idea, send him a song I like and want to model the feel and flow of, and then we experiment with different sounds,” Stewart said. “Over the course of several weeks or so, we come up with a great beat or track.”
But Stewart does not just write music, he performs it. Aside from taking part in numerous school musicals, he has auditioned twice for American Idol. Last year, he made it to the judge’s round, which MTV news showed. “It was very triumphant,” he said. “They didn’t get my vision though, and they thought I was too intense with my stage persona, like Billy Idol or Lady Gaga.”
This experience helped him to formulate his plans for the future. “I realized that I don’t want to make it on some reality TV show, because artists like that rarely get any respect,” he said. “My plans are to go into the music business as a songwriter first, then network my way into having a solo career of my own. I’ll just be working as hard as I possibly can to make my dreams a reality.”
The “Help Me Get To Hollywood” signs posted around the school in Oct.were for the concert that he held on Thursday, Oct. 21. This performance of several original songs was taped and sent to the University of Southern California’s pop music deparment. “The footage was what you would call a pre-audition, because if the people at the college like what they see, I’ll get to fly to LA to do an audition in person,” he said.
“I want to pay my dues in Hollywood, and get signed the real way through touring and clubbing and networking and lots and lots of hard work,” he said. “That’s what I live for.”
Stewart’s songs and footage from his USC audition are posted on his Myspace page and his Youtube account.
