Body Art Challenge

Hey! My name is April Gregory (or Solaire), and I'm a songwriter. I've been writing music since I was in grade school, or more specifically trying to write my first album. With what little experience I had, it had taken me almost 5 YEARS to put together, and I was in the late stages of recording it all to soon release it to the public.

With what looked like only 2-3 months left of work, everything appeared to be in order and on schedule, until about a year and a half ago when my car was broken into, and my bag including my songwriting journal, my flashdirve, and most importanly my laptop with all my recordings on it was stolen. When I walked back out to my car after dinner, I realized my window was shattered and I fell to my knees. Everything I had worked for for so many years was gone just like that. There were no cameras, no one saw it happen, and there was no trace of where it might have gone. I was completely devastated and lost all ambition to replace the lost music. I had lost the most important thing to me, and it felt like I lost myself.

Fortunately, even though had completely given up, I was lucky enough to have an amazing support group who still believed in me. To my surprise, Because of my friends, family, and even people I had never spoken to who had heard me sing my songs back in school, a GOFUNDME had reached $800 to buy me a new laptop, and all of my inboxes were flooded with people telling me that I couldn't give up on my passion! They told me my voice and ideas needed to be heard, and that they all wanted to help me make that happen. It was the most overwhelmingly heartfelt thing I'd ever experienced.

I didn't want to let them down, and most imporantly I didn't want to let myself down and regret never trying to write again. I spent almost every day of that following year starting over, and writing a completely new project. Except this time I knew what I was doing, I knew what I wanted, and I was filled with burning motivation. Suddenly it felt like everything I was writing was better than before, and I felt better than before.

Just before I had completely finished recording the new songs, I wanted to make a promise to myself that no matter what happened I would make sure that I got the songs out this time, and that I would be proud of myself for making it happen despite all the hardships. So I decided to get my first tattoo of the album tittle; to commemorate both my first musical release, and my first time reinventing myself.

February 14th 2020, My debut EP "Heart Eyes and Heart Aches" hit all streaming services. I had finally done it, but not without the help of so many other wonderful people. It was such a fullfilling feeling to hear that all the people who had helped me get here liked the music, and that so many others who were new listeners liked it as well. Now all I want to do is write music for the rest of my life, and get a new tattoo for every new project I release.

As many tattoos as I may fill myself up with as I continue writing, I'm not sure if any will carry quite the weight that this one does.