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4/26/17

120: Jonas Blue – Focusing on the Quality of Your Art

I have a lot of drive and a lot of will power and I will stick to something and I will get it done.

Today I’m talking to Jonas Blue, a major recording artist in the UK. Jonas is known for a tropical house cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and his single Perfect Strangers, which hit double platinum in Australia. He started pursuing music at a very young age and has never looked back.

Jonas and I talked about his story and background, how he got started in the music industry, what his creative process is like, and how he goes with the flow. He also told me how he knows a song is going to be good, and why he sticks to his guns.

If you’re new to Nion Radio and want to join a community of creatives, join the Nion Life group on Facebook. You can connect with other artists and asks questions and join conversations for answers and inspiration. I’ll see you there.

I firmly believe that I’m going to be around in this business and passion for a long time because I love music and I love what I do – I live, eat, and breathe it.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/jonas-blue” title=”The Importance of Focusing on the Quality of Your Art” artist=”Jonas Blue” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/120_JonasBlue_COVER.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • How Jonas got into music and became a DJ [3:40]
  • When Jonas started making money as a musician [8:20]
  • What changed when he started working at a record shop [10:20]
  • Who influenced Jonas the most growing up [12:40]
  • Why it’s still about the music [15:50]
  • How long it took Jonas to become proficient in music making [17:05]
  • How Jonas starts making a song [18:25]
  • The value of structure in creativity [20:30]
  • Where the inspiration for Fast Car came from [22:30]
  • How he found the vocalist for Fast Car [27:25]
  • The inspiration behind his song Perfect Strangers [29:50]
  • Why he transitioned to Jonas Blue [34:20]
  • The challenges that come with his career as an artist [37:10]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Instagram | Twitter | Website

LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE

CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION

I have a lot of drive and a lot of will power and I will stick to something and I will get it done.

Today I’m talking to Jonas Blue, a major recording artist in the UK. Jonas is known for a tropical house cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and his single Perfect Strangers, which hit double platinum in Australia. He started pursuing music at a very young age and has never looked back.

Jonas and I talked about his story and background, how he got started in the music industry, what his creative process is like, and how he goes with the flow. He also told me how he knows a song is going to be good, and why he sticks to his guns.

If you’re new to Nion Radio and want to join a community of creatives, join the Nion Life group on Facebook. You can connect with other artists and asks questions and join conversations for answers and inspiration. I’ll see you there.

I firmly believe that I’m going to be around in this business and passion for a long time because I love music and I love what I do – I live, eat, and breathe it.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/jonas-blue” title=”The Importance of Focusing on the Quality of Your Art” artist=”Jonas Blue” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/120_JonasBlue_COVER.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • How Jonas got into music and became a DJ [3:40]
  • When Jonas started making money as a musician [8:20]
  • What changed when he started working at a record shop [10:20]
  • Who influenced Jonas the most growing up [12:40]
  • Why it’s still about the music [15:50]
  • How long it took Jonas to become proficient in music making [17:05]
  • How Jonas starts making a song [18:25]
  • The value of structure in creativity [20:30]
  • Where the inspiration for Fast Car came from [22:30]
  • How he found the vocalist for Fast Car [27:25]
  • The inspiration behind his song Perfect Strangers [29:50]
  • Why he transitioned to Jonas Blue [34:20]
  • The challenges that come with his career as an artist [37:10]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Instagram | Twitter | Website

4/26/17

120: Jonas Blue – Focusing on the Quality of Your Art

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I have a lot of drive and a lot of will power and I will stick to something and I will get it done.

Today I’m talking to Jonas Blue, a major recording artist in the UK. Jonas is known for a tropical house cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and his single Perfect Strangers, which hit double platinum in Australia. He started pursuing music at a very young age and has never looked back.

Jonas and I talked about his story and background, how he got started in the music industry, what his creative process is like, and how he goes with the flow. He also told me how he knows a song is going to be good, and why he sticks to his guns.

If you’re new to Nion Radio and want to join a community of creatives, join the Nion Life group on Facebook. You can connect with other artists and asks questions and join conversations for answers and inspiration. I’ll see you there.

I firmly believe that I’m going to be around in this business and passion for a long time because I love music and I love what I do – I live, eat, and breathe it.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/jonas-blue” title=”The Importance of Focusing on the Quality of Your Art” artist=”Jonas Blue” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/120_JonasBlue_COVER.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • How Jonas got into music and became a DJ [3:40]
  • When Jonas started making money as a musician [8:20]
  • What changed when he started working at a record shop [10:20]
  • Who influenced Jonas the most growing up [12:40]
  • Why it’s still about the music [15:50]
  • How long it took Jonas to become proficient in music making [17:05]
  • How Jonas starts making a song [18:25]
  • The value of structure in creativity [20:30]
  • Where the inspiration for Fast Car came from [22:30]
  • How he found the vocalist for Fast Car [27:25]
  • The inspiration behind his song Perfect Strangers [29:50]
  • Why he transitioned to Jonas Blue [34:20]
  • The challenges that come with his career as an artist [37:10]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Instagram | Twitter | Website

4/26/17

120: Jonas Blue – Focusing on the Quality of Your Art

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If your message keeps shifting, your brand feels inconsistent, or your presence doesn’t match your capability yet. This is where you build the foundation before you scale.

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It’s an ongoing creative partnership focused on bringing your personal brand identity to life.

Your brand. Your website. Your visuals.
All shaped as a direct extension of who you are. The work also includes a bespoke process of identifying and aligning the right experts when needed, so nothing gets built out of sync with your core.

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read the latest

A long view over changing terrain, the difference between a static rulebook and a living Brand Brain

Brand guidelines are static rules for the surface. A Brand Brain is a living codification of identity a team or an AI can generate from. The difference, defined.

Mountain terrain stretching in every direction, breadth before depth in choosing a practice

We trained six styles of kung fu in one month. Sampling that widely taught me how a creative actually finds the practice worth years: breadth first, the pull as data, then depth.

An unfamiliar landscape seen at full attention, travel waking up a creative eye

Travel makes you more creative because unfamiliar places wake up your perception. Why the effect works, and how to bring the sharpened eye home with you.

Elevated Realism portrait of Nick Cannon at ease in a light blue suit, brand photography that matches who the subject has become

Your brand photos lag behind you because you kept evolving and the images stayed frozen. Why the gap opens, how to spot it, and what closes it.

A mountain path with fixed edges, the chosen container that makes depth possible

The kung fu school had rules: locked-in weekdays, dawn starts, push-ups for lateness. A month inside taught me that constraints you choose are what make depth possible.

Out in the field making the day's work, a daily creative practice in motion

A daily creative practice is making one real thing every day, however small, to stay in a proactive state. A working definition, and how to build one that lasts.

A traveler standing clear of the crowd, one coherent identity the machines can read correctly

AI describes your brand by averaging your public record. How to codify one identity, repeat it everywhere, and get the machines to echo you back accurately.

A performer's world stripped to essentials, artistry carrying without production

I’ve photographed Justin Bieber several times and seen fame up close. His stripped-down Coachella set showed the thing I keep relearning about creative work: production amplifies, and only artistry carries.

Calm Jamaican coastline, a nervous system coming all the way down in creative burnout recovery

You recover from creative burnout by treating it as a nervous system state: build real down-cycles, read your own signals, and return to the work you love.

Mountain landscape in New Zealand, one clear thread running through a magnetic personal brand

A magnetic personal brand comes from coherence and one clear through-line. Here is how entrepreneurs build one, in order, and the trap that keeps most brands scattered.

Hiking a New Zealand mountain trail, learning at your own pace in midlife

I spent a month training kung fu in Wudang at 47, the oldest and slowest learner in the room. What being a beginner again in midlife taught me about pace, comparison, and starting anyway.

Photographer walking a snow-capped mountain ridge in New Zealand, the long practice of seeing that develops taste

You develop taste through thousands of reps of looking closely and deciding what works. A photographer’s honest answer on how taste gets built.

Silhouetted figure leaping from a sea cliff at sunset, committing to one coherent personal brand identity

You make a personal brand more coherent by naming the identity underneath it, distilling a one or two word through-line, and bringing the four layers into agreement. The full path, in order.

About the Blogger

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

NICK'S STORY