Today we’d like to introduce you to Anika Wirth
Anika, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As I am told, the first song I ever sang was ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” I was two years old and as I was coming up the stairs I sang the song from beginning to end. I was met by my mother and grandmother with tears in their eyes and the first sense that music was something special to me and something that could evoke a deep emotion within people. From there on I began to sing in my local church choir and in elementary school. I moved on to explore theater for a few years until I hit middle school. High School is when I really started to take music seriously and realized that this was something I could maybe make a career in. I sang plenty of national anthems and even school talent shows. At 19 I became part of a local duo with one of my best friends from high school. I think our first show was at a small coffee shop in St. Joseph MN and I don’t even think we got paid! I didn’t care, I was so happy to finally be playing a real show as it was something I had always dreamed about. At first we had a few shows but then by the next year and into my first year of college we had almost 40 shows per summer all over MN. We started doing lots of covers and posting those on social media as well as the beginnings of some originals. We even made our own Christmas CD fully produced and recorded in my basement bedroom!
I then went on to college where I studied music business and got the chance to perform many times. I was part of two choirs at St Thomas as well as a treble a cappella group known as Cadenza. At school I really got to explore who I was as a performer and hone my skills to become the artist I knew I could be. At school is where I met Kallie and got to sing with her in choir as well as our acapella group. We also led a club called “music industry club” together at St. Thomas! By our final year we had started to song write together. I think it came about from a class project where we decided to be partner and wrote two songs together. We later reordered one of those songs called “Talking to Walls” and the rest is history! We have since then written many more songs one of those being our newest single “One Time High” and are planning to come out with an EP in the near future.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Overall, I feel blessed that music has been a smooth road but there have been some challenges of course. After realizing that music was something I could try to make as a career I think I had a hard time that society doesn’t really like to accept music or art as a “noble” career if you will. Because of this I always felt like I was trying to prove myself to my peers and to society that this was something I could do. I think another challenge I had to overcome was essentially learning how to make and promote my own business. It was incredibly daunting to reach out to local venues and risking being shut down for shows. Not only was I the act but I am also my own manager, promoter, and marketing coordinator! This was hard to juggle with at first but since then I have learned so much and it has become so much easier and much more enjoyable. I also struggled with and still do to some degree with being a stubborn perfectionist! If my vocals weren’t perfect I would dislike my performance. I got to the point where I wouldn’t even watch videos of me singing in fear they would be awful. It took me a while to come to terms with being my own artist and embracing the fact that I was different from other people and had my own unique sound. After I realized that I could have much more fun performing and felt so much more confident in myself.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a singer – songwriter who takes pride in telling a story through my lyrics. I love to focus on rich harmonies and pride myself in being able to do many styles of music. I grew up listening to classic rock and classic country. Now I love to perform indie folk and rock as well as specializing in classic country and rock/blues. I take great inspiration from Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile and many more! I have taught myself production over the years and have started to hone my production skills much more in the past year. I also take pride in doing everything with my band mate. Half of the job is doing our own marketing, design, bookings, networking, advertising, and updating our social media accounts.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I think I have been very fortunate and “lucky” if you will to be surrounded by such supportive family and friends throughout my career so far. I feel very blessed for the unwavering support and constant advice from the people around me. On the flip side, bad luck or challenges have also been a part of the journey. There have been setbacks like canceled shows or creative blocks that seemed to come out of nowhere. But I’ve learned to view those challenges as opportunities for growth. Sometimes, those difficult moments lead to new inspirations or a stronger determination to push through.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themysticsduo?igsh=a293ZWpib3liZ3Br&utm_source=qr
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1k1l1ZLaUywX3qSS04qKGk?si=VWbj7TdFQq67toQ69yg74A
