Author Archives: Marylou Villegas

Essay #2 — Semester Reflection

Throughout this course, we have explored the various digital, global and networked spaces we inhabit. As an “online publisher,” I would say that I have learned a multitude of things through simply creating an online presence and expanding it. For my website, I wanted to create a space that promotes and documents my progress as a musician. In Goffman’s reading, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956), he explains his theory of there being a ‘backstage’ and ‘performance’ side to every individual (Goffmann, 1956). Using his dramaturgical model of social life, I would argue that this website serves to present a more personal side of who I am as an artist. Essentially, this platform is meant for my listeners/audience to get to know me for more than just my music. Media platforms like Instagram and Spotify make it easy for users to present and portray a fairly one-sided representation, but I want to inspire and encourage others to share their talents and passions through my story!

Audience Demographics/Analytics

Throughout this course, we had the ability to keep track of our statistics through websites like Google Analytics. After reviewing the data, I was surprised to see who my audience was and the various places they were located. Considering the fact that I am a musician based in Vancouver, BC, it was crazy to see how far my content has reached throughout the globe! In the image below, I have put together the data of my audience members within the platforms of Google Analytics, Youtube, and Spotify.

From the data, I noticed that there were a few common trends in my analytics. For instance, it can be seen that my target demographic ranges between individuals who are within the ages of 18-24. Likewise, across all three platforms, the results show that the majority of my audience is female. I would assume that because I am someone who writes songs about personal experiences, females would be more likely to relate to them compared to males. Geographically, the top countries in my audience can be found in Canada, the United States, the Philippines and Indonesia! Knowing these trends will help me create content and cater it towards these specific areas in the future!

In addition, I would define my public as young adults who listen and enjoy the musical genre of Acoustic/R&B. In Week 6, we learned that the term public can be defined as the social space created by the reflective circulation of discourse (Warner, 2002). I have catered my content towards that audience through singing/covering songs within that genre and creating warm and welcoming visuals/designs. Although my music is not something that can be held physically, I would say that I am providing my audience with songs and covers that they can consume and listen to through streaming and downloading on distribution platforms.

Now vs. The Start of the Semester

Looking back, I would say that my perspective of publication was limited to books, novels, news articles and newspapers. Given the many advancements made in technology and the various ways we consume media, I have grown to see that the publication of the self happens in our everyday lives. Throughout the semester, I have developed my own digital garden where I have cultivated my own little piece of the Internet. In Tanya Basu’s article, she defines a digital garden as a space that “explore[s] a wide variety of topics and are frequently adjusted and changed to show growth and learning, particularly among people with niche interests” (Basu, 2020). As the weeks developed, I continued to download various plugins and learned the importance of refining my voice through the process/blog posts created. I made the decision to remove comments on my website for the sole purpose of limiting certain interactions and feedback. Although user-interaction is great in many scenarios, I chose to limit these interactions on my site to keep the space as something I can confidently call my own.

Plans for the future

When it comes to my future monetization plans, I hope to continue gaining revenue through various platforms like YouTube and Spotify. Since I am still in the early stages of developing my website, I don’t plan on taking any further actions to monetize through WordPress. Instead, I hope to transform my site to provide more of a promotional asset to my brand. I see myself changing the format into more of a social media reference landing page like Linktree. Hopefully, by doing so my audience can easily access other social media platforms that feature my music/content in the future!

It’s hard to predict what may happen within the next few years. After this semester I would have finally completed my undergraduate degree and hopefully, be in the process applying for a full-time job. However, my main goal since the beginning has always been to finish school for my parents and then attempt to pursue music full-time for at least a year. I hope that over the next few years I will be able to support myself financially with something related to music. Whether it be working in an administrative position at a music distribution company, or even as an intern at Spotify, I hope that this website continues to be a space that I can creatively express myself and encourage others to do the same. There are still many things I have to endure, but I am excited for the lessons and growth to come!

References

Basu, T. (2020, September 03). Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books.

Warner, Michael. 2002. “Publics and Counterpublics.” in Quarterly Journal of Speech. 88.4. Available from http://knowledgepublic.pbworks.com/f/warnerPubCounterP.pdf

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The Importance of Mental Health Awareness

This photo was taken back in 2018. It’s crazy to think about how much has changed and how that rollercoaster seems to resemble a bit of what life feels like at the moment. A constant yet unsteady flow of ups and downs contributing to what feels like a never-ending ride. Throughout the years, I’ve dealt with anxiety and seen the ways it has affected various aspects of my life. Whether it involved me being constantly worried about what I was saying, having anxious thoughts about the small/mundane decisions of life, or even experiencing panic attacks when thinking about the future. There’s no lever that stops the ride, it just keeps going.

To be honest, I’ve spent a large part of my past in fear of the future and failing. Social media has made the act of comparing so easy when we are presented a highlight reel of the best moments of someone else’s life. Oftentimes we don’t share our struggle until we’ve actually gone through it because we are worried about being a bother or a burden. But if you’re reading this please know that you aren’t. Please reach out to those around you or a professional who is prepared to help guide you through your difficult seasons. To those reading this with loved ones struggling, please stay informed on ways you can support and love them through challenging times.

I, alongside my friends over at @sanctuarymentalhealth want to help tear down walls of stigma through sharing stories/experiences while informing others and helping those who are hurting know that they aren’t alone. Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries is a Christian non-profit that equips the Church to support mental health and wellbeing. I have partnered with them to share a few of the many resources they have to prepare communities of faith around the world to raise awareness, reduce stigma, support mental health and promote mental wellbeing. The primary tool that Sanctuary offers is The Sanctuary Course, an eight-week study guide for small groups and anyone who wants to learn about faith and mental health. You can access the course for free on their website or visit @sanctuarymentalhealth for more info!

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Life In Quarantine

It sucks being confined within four walls — not just physically but also mentally. When I came back from San Diego at the beginning of November, I had to isolate myself in my room for 2 weeks. This meant I couldn’t go out for walks or even to the kitchen to get some midnight snacks. It didn’t help that both my mom and sister work/study in the essential work-field of the hospital so they were extra cautious to stay away from me.

To summarize, this is what my days consisted of:

  • sleeping
  • crying
  • doing school work
  • crying again
  • watching Netflix/school
  • sleeping

I think many of us take the freedom of roaming around our homes for granted. In my room thoughts were contained and chaotic. I would argue that I’m the type of person who likes to stay busy and having things planned out day-to-day. With all that extra time on my hands, I found it difficult to focus and stay on-task. I spoke with various friends who expressed their feelings of stress, anxiety and mastering the art of procrastination. Due to the current circumstances, I don’t blame anyone for wanting to take a break or take time away from social media for awhile.

Since being out of quarantine, I’m embraced and have incorporating a few important things into my life. This includes:

  • daily walks
  • morning devotionals to get my head & heart ready for the day
  • half a glass of kombucha in the morning
  • telling my family and friends how thankful I am to have them

As difficult as it is to be apart from certain friends and family, I’m grateful for the advancements made in technology that have allowed me to stay connected while being apart. Although this isn’t how I would have expected to spend my last semester of university, I’m thankful for the skills it has taught me. I think I have finally found my rhythm and learned to use my time-management skills to stay organized and on-top of deadlines and exams.

I am super thankful that after the 2 weeks I was fine and covid-free but wouldn’t recommend travelling out of the country during a global pandemic. Also wouldn’t recommend long-distance relationships (but I’ll save that story for another blog post).

God bless and take care!

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PUB 101: Process Post (Week 12)

In this week’s lecture, we discussed the idea of the commentariat. In today’s day and age, we see how social media has allowed for almost anyone to comment and share their thoughts on a post. We were shown a TedTalk titled “Empathy is not Endorsement” by Dylan Marron who described his experience of how he turned negative comments into positive interactions. I resonated with what he described while dealing with hate comments online. There’s a longing of wanting to just hear the reason and purpose behind their hurtful comments. Although I will never be able to fully understand what he has experienced and gone through, I admire his strength and ability to share and inspire others through his story.

Speaking from personal experience, I started sharing my music on YouTube back in 2012. At the time, I was an awkward 14-year-old girl who just wanted a way to be able to sing to her grandma that lived in the Philippines. Ultimately, I can admit that being on the internet is an intimidating thing. You place yourself in a position to be looked upon and judged by others and the world is full of different opinions, good and bad. However, you must never forget that there is something so special about what you are creating/sharing and no one should ever be given the power to speak into what you love to do. Over the years, I have encountered comments and direct messages from people saying horrible, degrading words. Words I almost let get into my head until I remembered that you should never let other people’s opinions matter so much to you. If there’s anything I took away from sharing my music and stories online, it’s that you should always be careful about the words you allow to sink into your heart. In case you forgot, you’re amazing and you’re doing great things.

Take care & God bless.

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PUB101 — Process Post (Week 11)

Process Post Prompt: Make a plan for incorporating more transmedia integration into your online publication. What channels will you focus on? Why?

When it comes to transmedia, I would say that my website integrates quite a bit of that through the incorporation of my youtube videos. In some ways, I like to think of my website serves as the main space for people to discover other aspects of my music on platforms such as iTunes or Spotify. On my website, I have included various links prompting those to visit other platforms.

Ultimately, transmedia can be defined as “a narrative that extends beyond multiple media forms that also plays to the strength of those forms” (Heick, 2019). I hope to continue focusing on channels like youtube and instagram but would like to find more ways to integrate these platforms seamlessly into my website. In the future, I plan to keep this blog as a place to create extra content. Whether it be through sharing stories or advice, the narrative continues.

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My Musical Inspirations

Right off the bat I can say that my dad has always been/will always be one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to music. The moment he handed baby Marylou that karaoke mic, he knew music would be a big part of my life. Since the beginning my dad was someone who always pushed me to learn new instruments, join singing competitions and claims to forever and always be my “#1 fan”. I feel very lucky to have been raised by a man like him. He taught me the importance of never giving up and what the power of hard-work can do in your life.

Here’s a video my dad and I made to celebrate Father’s Day! (2018 throwback)

I knew that when my parents first immigrated to Canada and had my sister and I, we didn’t have very much to our name. My parents have worked so hard to build a life for us and made sure that we experienced life with the gift of music. Because of my parents, I grew up listening to various different artists like Micheal Jackson, Destiny’s Child, Celine Dion, Micheal Bolton, Air Supply, Journey, Stevie Wonder, Etc. I think this allowed me to appreciate the beauty in different genres but also helped determine my love for R&B. In terms of my sound, I would probably say that I fit into the category of Acoustic R&B. I’m not a very big fan of the EDM/Electronic genre nowadays and tend to feature more guitar/piano in my original songs.

I would say that the amount of artist that influence my music are too many to list down. However if I had to choose, the two main artist I look towards for inspiration would be Tori Kelly and Mac Ayres. Tori Kelly was someone I watched on YouTube growing up and was what helped inspire me to want to learn how to play the guitar. I admire her authenticity as an artist as well as the pureness in her voice. Mac Ayres on the other hand, is an artist I find myself listening to 24/7. I’m always trying to learn the chord progressions to his catchy tunes and have more recently been shifting my sound towards his similar groove.

As a musician I think it’s so important to be listening to music and artists that inspire you! By doing so, you can find a mix and develop your sound.

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PUB 101 Peer Review #3 — The Power of Painting

For my final peer review, I had the pleasure of reviewing Carissa’s blog — The Power of Painting. As a 4th-year Communications Student, minoring in Publishing and Digital print, her website focuses on documenting her creative journey with painting!

Right off the bat, I was impressed with the simple yet stylistic choice of her theme and colour palette. The relaxing hues of pastels and neutrals contrasted really well with the overall white background of her website. Her content focuses on all things painting while describing her various experiences, techniques and ideas learned throughout. I would argue that her intended audience demographic would range between the 16-24 age group. Carissa is very vibrant and youthful in her writing and I think it would attract those who are similar!

In terms of organization, I really appreciated how her content was categorized in their respective sub-headers. At the top of her website, there is a dropdown menu that separates both blog posts and PUB 101 content, showing her eye for detail and functionality for users.

In Travis Gertz‘s reading by “Design Machines” (2015), he explains the impact design has to make or break a brand. I think Carissa did a great job at evaluating a website theme that would promote a relaxing and easy-to-navigate page. Her website is purely one the represents herself through her art/blog posts and puts the notion of “connecting the content to the medium” into action (Gertz, 2015).

One of my favourite parts of Carissa’s website, was the Gallery feature. In this particular section she displays a collage that showcases some of the past art pieces she has painted for herself, friends and family! I would argue that Carissa has created her own digital garden where she has cultivated her own little piece of the internet. In Tanya Basu‘s article she defines a digital garden as a space that “explore[s] a wide variety of topics and are frequently adjusted and changed to show growth and learning, particularly among people with niche interests” (Basu, 2020). I hope Carissa chooses to continue posting on her website as well as her instagram account so others can see her amazing work!

Possible Opportunity for Monetization!

After seeing this gallery, I couldn’t help but think about the opportunity it gives Carissa to monetize and gain revenue through her art (only if she wants to of course). In our lecture with guest speaker, Trevor Battye, he explains how success comes from a combination of one or more of these features:

  • A niche tribe which you lead
  • A voice that a brand can attach itself to, to speak to a tribe
  • A monetizing action, for your audience to respond to

Ultimately, I believe that Carissa’s website has what it takes to gain profit from what she creates. If I were to make any suggestions I would advise her to move the left and right navigation buttons to the bottom of the page instead of the middle. I found myself getting distracted a bit while reading a few of her blog/process posts.

Conclusions

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing the progress that Carissa has made with her blog and brand as an artist. The image to the left represents a bit of what has happened since she began her journey as a painter at the start of quarantine. I find it very encouraging to see a visual representation of what hard work and dedication can do. It’s great to see her using her extra time

Please make sure to check out Carissa and her wonderful website at — www.powerofpainting.com and her some love. I hope you continue painting after this pandemic is over & consider selling/commissioning your artwork online. Best of luck! 🙂

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Mini Assignment #6 – Make a Gif

For this week’s mini assignment we were asked to create our own gifs! Essentially, gifs can be defined as a graphical interchange format. They are known as a series of images or soundless videos that will loop continuously and is not reliant on anyone having to press play. Thanks to makeagif.com, I was able to put together a gif featuring myself and the instruments I can play!

This includes:

  • the acoustic and electric guitar
  • the bass
  • ukulele
  • piano
  • clarinet

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PUB101 – Process Post (Week 10)

Building My Website’s SEO

This week (Week 10) we looked at the importance of a SEO. Essentially a SEO can be defined as search engine optimization. Websites and pages with “good” SEO tend to rank higher in search engine and appear within the first page of one’s results. One of the goals for my website is for it to appear as one of the first things if someone were to search for “Marylou Villegas”.

To try to achieve this goal, I went ahead and installed the plugin “Yoast SEO” onto my site. Aside from the multitude of features to optimize one’s website, they highlight 4 essential elements located in a Yoast SEO sidebar. These include:

  • The focus keyphrase
  • The readability analysis
  • The SEO analysis
  • The Google preview

Hopefully, the inclusion of these 4 elements while creating blog posts will help my website’s SEO on search engines will improve!

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What Inspires Me to Write Songs

One of the first songs I’ve ever written was about a boy back in Kindergarten when he broke my crayon after borrowing it. Since then not much has changed. I still write about boys, however, instead of breaking my crayons a few have broken my heart. Reflecting back now, I find myself laughing at the countless times I’ve written songs after what feels like my heart getting ripped out of my chest, but hey! You go through what you need to go through in life. Musicians just cope by singing about it!

I grew up watching a lot of rom-coms that have conditioned me into being a hopeless romantic. In the grand scheme of things, it makes a lot of sense as to why I find myself writing about love so often. I see it in a lot of things throughout my life. Whether it be about my romantic relationship, friendships, parents, I just feel really lucky to be surrounded by it.

Aside from that, the biggest inspirations for me when it comes to songwriting is God. I feel like this might be a sensitive/personal topic for some, but I would like to try and explain why this is special to me. From a young age, my faith and relationship with Christ has always been a big part of my life. Within the last three to four years, I have found myself in situations that have me in a posture of surrender and trusting Him with what He has planned for me. I sing because I know music was a gift given to me to give to others.