Calgary’s new R&B artist, Jared Daniel ushers in some smooth, soulful and raw music.
While sharing his life experiences and heart with the world he also hopes to provide a place for his listeners to be honest with how they feel and be true with the situations they’re faced with.
On his upcoming EP, Don’t Worry About Me, which will be released this month, Daniel depicts a difficult season in his life where he went through myriad emotions, from anger, hurt, and forgiveness; however, finding hope and joy at the end of it all.
“The first song, called Don’t Worry About Me, was really learning a lot about the anger I felt inside of me,” the artist says. “And how to really feel things that are happening in my life, instead of, grazing over them. I think all emotions are useful to feel in the moment. But I don’t know how useful it is to permanently camp on an emotion.”
“The next song is on themes like forgiveness and letting go and opening myself up to the reality that everyone is human, having experienced lots of different things that lead them to decisions they make, including myself. And learning to have that perspective — while letting go of bitterness and experience genuine forgiveness.”
Jared has the ability to turn his life’s journey into music —which he shares has been a form of therapy for him. In a way, the composition of the lyrics he writes, and his guitar have become a place to confide in and express what’s really going on in his soul. It certainly takes courage to share that with the world.
“Music allows me to revisit and explore situations and emotions that I’ve placed on a shelf whether good or bad. It’s given me the opportunity to dig deeper and know myself better,” he says.
But this way of life isn’t new to him. At an early age, Jared was exposed to music and different musicians, since his dad Dean Clark was a musician himself. Growing up around his father and his father’s artist friends made a positive impact on Jared’s early journey with music.
“As a really young kid just seeing adults play music, and witnessing grown men sing — I think that’s a rare experience for kids. And so young people usually don’t do things if they’re nervous or think they’ll look weird or dumb, but if you’ve grown up seeing adult role models doing it then it’s a normal thing,” Jared shares.
“Then I kind of grew up, not scared to fail and I felt free to express myself through singing and making music.”
However, the comfort of singing and making music shifted after getting involved with peers who he considered more high-level artists at the time. For a while, the belief that he didn’t sound as great as these artists dissuaded him from continuing with his music.
Thankfully because of Calgary’s own Café Koi, he connected with his music and different artists whom he felt were on a similar path. This inspired him to host a monthly house concert in Bowness called Fireside, which was a collaborative of different artists enjoying and sharing their music together in community.
“Witnessing different people perform on different levels was liberating and gave me courage to be like, ‘Oh wow, whether I think I sound bad or good it clearly doesn’t matter. Here these people are just comfortable expressing themselves musically and so there’s a safe place for me to exchange that.’ From there, I was able to gain confidence and come to a place in 2020 where I released my music publicly and it just grew from there.”
This last year and a half of making music, Jared shares has been an incredible experience. He’s been blessed to work alongside and collaborate with different musicians and producers in the city and around North America which has helped him grow and create quality music.
“But it’s also been super fun. I’m always looking forward to that moment where a melody matches with lyrics, and these cohesive sounds come together. It’s like feeding an addiction and I’m constantly chasing after this dragon.”
Jared is looking forward to releasing this EP and sharing the season he last experienced, while conveying the message of hope, healing and joy on the other side of whatever hardship you’re faced with. There’s always gain after growing through the pain.
“Summer Baby, the last song on the EP, is my favourite, not just because of the way it sounds but because of what it’s about — which is looking forward to the great things to come and the light that is always on the other end.”
