• August 2016

Where Can Music Take You?

Confucius said, “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

And really, who doesn’t like music? It triggers memories, calms your nerves, changes your mood, and scientists suggest that music can make you smarter. What’s more, upward of 28 million people in the United States play an instrument, according to statista.com — and odds are good that many of them have dreams of performing in front of a crowd.

So, fess up. If you’ve ever wanted to be a rock star, raise your hand.

Eli Lieb raised both arms when we asked our August 2016 cover boy about his journey to music stardom.

“Defying all the odds of being an independent musician has been tough,” he admits. “You’re basically told that you will never make it. To believe in yourself and not listen to anyone else’s opinion can be very challenging. You really have to be resourceful and figure out how to compete on a shoestring budget with people who have millions backing them. But this challenge can also be greatly satisfying if you actually do start to achieve significant success.”

Scroll down for more information about Lieb. And click here to read our Q&A with the rising pop star.

Also in this issue:

We leave you with this parting thought from Victor Hugo: “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”

Here’s to making beautiful music! — Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, Be Inkandescent magazine • founder, Inkandescent Public Relations • hope@inkandescentpr.com

Eli Lieb: The Making of a Musician

Eli Lieb is an American pop singer and songwriter. Hailing from Fairfield, Iowa, he began his musical journey in New York City, where he started working on his songwriting and performing.

Lieb released a debut solo album in 2011 and was soon featured in US Weekly, Out, and other national publications.

When his father died in 2012, Lieb took a sabbatical and returned to Iowa. During this time of reflection and regrouping, Lieb began recording covers of songs that were popular and meaningful to him and releasing them on YouTube, where the videos soon picked up a natural, organic following.

With a growing fan base, Lieb once again turned to his own songwriting. In 2013, he went to Los Angeles to work with other writers for few weeks and further his career. The weeks-long trip turned into a relocation.

Since then, he has collaborated with artists, writers, and producers, including Adam Lambert, Cheyenne Jackson, Hey Violet, Laura Marano, Forever In Your Mind, John Feldmann, Simon Wilcox, Crystal Bowersox, and Stacy Jones. He was even featured in the 2014 Grammy Awards during the presentation of nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album.

In July 2013, Lieb released his original song “Young Love.” Music blog Idolator called it “an instantly catchy, uplifting pop/rock anthem that sounds like a cross between Katy Perry and Bruce Springsteen.”

The song’s theme was a bit of an autobiographical story of a young man coming out as gay. The song and the video struck a chord with many people, thanks to its instantly catchy pop hook and the message of being proud of who you are. Within a year, Lieb’s “Young Love” garnered more than 2 million YouTube views.

Later that same year, Lieb was inspired to record a cover of Wrecking Ball after hearing it only once. He recorded an acoustic version with just his voice and a lap dulcimer. Within two hours of posting it online, it went viral and was promoted in social media by singers Lambert and Lucy Hale, and celebrities Rosie O’Donnell and Bob Harper. Lieb once again received immediate press support, appearing on CBS’ “The Insider” (formerly “omg! Insider”) twice, YouTube’s “What’s Trending,” and other shows. Lieb’s cover of “Wrecking Ball” reached a million views in under a week, and in less than a year, the video had been viewed more than 3 million times.

When Lieb was approached by the Leo Burnett advertising agency to write an original song for Allstate Insurance’s #OutHoldingHands campaign, he wrote a song called “Safe in My Hands” that accompanies an animated short film of the same name. Released in June 2014, the song and a dance remix are both available on allstate.com/lgbt. The feeling and message of the song got the attention of the producers of ABC Family’s “The Fosters,” where it was featured as the closing song for the second season finale.

With more than 30 million YouTube views, and verified status on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, his personal interaction and presence as an independent artist keep him moving forward.

Click here to read our Q&A with Eli Lieb.

What Does It Take to Be a Rising Pop Star?

Be Inkandescent magazine asks a dozen questions of musical phenomenon Eli Lieb. Enjoy! — Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, Be Inkandescent, 2016


Be Inkandescent: Tell us about the first moment you remember knowing that you wanted to be a musician.

Eli Lieb: I remember when I was 16, I picked up my brother’s guitar, sat on my bedroom floor, and taught myself how to play. As quickly as I learned guitar, I started writing songs.

Be Inkandescent: Did you think you’d make it as a professional?

Eli Lieb: Actually, yes. I have such a deep connection to music that I knew it was going to be the thing I would do for a living. I’ve never had a “plan B.”

Be Inkandescent: What was the moment when you knew you had “made it”?

Eli Lieb: Well, I don’t really know if you ever have those moments. For me it’s been such a gradual incline over the years that I don’t really think I can pinpoint a specific moment. It’s been a series of great moments that keep on allowing me to do what i do.

Be Inkandescent: What do you consider your greatest success to date?

Eli Lieb: I honestly think it’s seeing how much I have helped people in their lives. I have always been very open about who I am, and I think that has given a lot of people the strength to do the same. It’s a part of my career that I never saw coming, but has been the most gratifying.

Be Inkandescent: What have some of your biggest challenges been?

Eli Lieb: Defying all the odds of being an independent musician. You’re basically told that you will never make it. So to believe in yourself and not listen to people’s opinions can be very challenging. And in general, being independent is much more of a challenge. You don’t have the resources or money that a major company has and can offer. You really have to be resourceful and figure out how to compete on a shoestring budget with people who have millions backing them. But this challenge can also be greatly satisfying if you actually do start to achieve significant success.

Be Inkandescent: Much of your work is in the LGBT community. Tell us about that passion, and some of your big successes in this area.

Eli Lieb: I wouldn’t as much call it a passion as it is just who I am. I have always been a very big advocate for living your life as authentically as you can and never being afraid of who you are. I feel fortunate that I have created a big enough platform to be able to affect the LGBT community in that way. I’ve never shied away from my sexuality, and I’m glad that makes others feel more confident with theirs. I’d say my biggest success on the LGBT side of things would have to be my campaign with Allstate Insurance. They approached me about teaming up for a campaign showing their support to the LGBT community. I wrote a song for the commercial and was also in it. So, I became the face and voice of that campaign.

Be Inkandescent: You also were approached by the Leo Burnett advertising agency to write an original song for Allstate Insurance’s #OutHoldingHands campaign. You wrote a song called “Safe in My Hands” that accompanies an animated short film of the same name that was released in June 2014. Tell us about that experience.

Eli Lieb: Funny, I didn’t know the next question was about Allstate! It was a great experience. Allstate really knew what they wanted and I’m glad I was able to give them that. It was wonderful being a part of an LGBT campaign on such a big platform. We spent quite a lot of time developing it to get it to the place where it really was a manifestation of their initial idea.

Be Inkandescent: What would you advise young kids to do if they aspire to grow up to become professional musicians?

Eli Lieb: Always, always be authentic and never create something only to be the way you think someone else wants it. All great pieces of art always come from a place of authenticity, where you are making it because you love creating, not because you are trying to please someone.

Be Inkandescent: What suggestions do you have for teens and adults who are hoping to break into the music business?

Eli Lieb: I think you really need to understand that you are going to have to be as much a businessperson as you are a musician. I can’t stress enough how important understanding that is. There are so many talented musicians in the world trying to make it, but a lot fewer who really understand how smart you have to be about it all and really look at yourself as a business.

Be Inkandescent: Who is your role model in the music industry?

Eli Lieb: Honestly, it was a friend of mine who has become a very successful writer. I continue to learn so much from her. She has really helped me understand so much about songwriting that I never understood before.

Be Inkandescent: You also have been meditating for much of your life and, in fact, worked with the David Lynch Foundation to promote the Transcendental Meditation (TM for short) movement. Tell us about this practice, and what it does to help keep you centered and grounded.

Eli Lieb: I’ve been doing TM since since I was 5 years old. Was born into it, but that’s usually around the youngest age they teach you. It’s really the backbone of who I am and how I live my life. It just connects you deeper to yourself and makes you have a better understanding of the things that really matter. It has helped with my creative life, my personal life, everything.

Be Inkandescent: What are your big dreams and goals for the future?

Eli Lieb: My main goal is just always to be able to create and sustain a happy existence. I’m truly not doing this for fame or praise. I just want to be happy and fulfilled.

When I was younger I thought success was being a star, driving nice cars, having groupies. But today I think the most important thing is to live your life with integrity.

– Ellen DeGeneres

An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.“


– Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries

The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. The greatest failure is to not try.”

– Debbi Fields, Mrs. Fields Cookies

I can’t go back to yesterday—because I was a different person then.”

– Lewis Carroll

Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them!”

– Madam C.J. Walker

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.”

– John F. Kennedy

This is the age when magical technologies make more and more radically fun ideas plausible, even easy. You’re only limited by your creativity.”

– Martha Beck

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

– Thomas Edison

As each woman realizes her power, she transforms the world.”

– Patrice Wynne, WomanSpirit Sourcebook

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another.”

– Charles Dickens

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in your room.”

– A wisdomism

I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.”

– Thomas Edison

No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth.”

– Martha Beck, from "Leaving the Saints"

Do not be afraid of mistakes, providing you do not make the same one twice.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

– Joseph Campbell

There is little success where there is little laughter.”

– Andrew Carnegie

What is the point of having free will if one cannot occasionally spit in the eye of destiny?”

– Jim Butcher, White Night

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”

– Lao Tzu

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

– William Butler Yeats

It is to no purpose to turn away from the real nature of the affair because the honor of its elements excites repugnance.

– Carl von Clausewitz, On War

Do you have the desire to create something new; the strength of conviction to believe your creation will be successful, and the reservoir of energy necessary to thrust it into the marketplace?”

– Steven Schussler

Don’t follow your dreams. Chase them.”

– Richard Dumb

Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never even knew you had.”

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We are all of us born with a letter inside us, and that only if we are true to ourselves, may we be allowed to read it before we die.”

– Douglas Coupland

The gem cannot be polished without friction; nor man perfected without trials.”

– Chinese proverb

Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask, and that’s what separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.”

– Steve Jobs

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”

– Bob Dylan

If you were independently wealthy and never had to work a day in your life, would you still choose to spend your time attempting to become a successful entrepreneur?”

– Steven Schussler

Of course there is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.”

– Arthur Rubinstein

Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what nurtures creative thinking.”

– Anita Roddick, founder, The Body Shop

The awakening to the mystery of life is a revolutionary event; in it an old world is destroyed so that a new and better one may take its place.”

– J.J. Van Der Leeuw, The Conquest of Illusion

When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.”

– Henry David Thoreau

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”

– President Calvin Coolidge

Women once had the goal of being Superwoman; I think most of us now simply strive to have a super day.”

– Author, Activist Lee Woodruff

Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.”

– Noela Evans

The quality of your life is directly related to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with.”

– Tony Robbins

Education is an admirable thing to have, but it is well to remember that nothing worth knowing can be taught.”

– Oscar Wilde

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. 
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.”

– Mary Jean Irion

Do not say, ‘why were the former days better than these,’ for it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”

– Ecclesiastes, 7:10

I may not be able to change what takes place, but I can always choose to change my thinking.”

– Michelle Sedas

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

– Mary Oliver

Success is about finding a livelihood that brings joy, self-sufficiency, and a sense of contributing.”

– Anita Roddick

Never never never never give up.”

– Winston Churchill

A man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.”

– Chinese Proverb

Death is to lose the earth you know, for greater knowing; to lose the life you have, for greater life; to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving; to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth.”

– Thomas Wolfe

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.”

– Leo Jozef Suenens

Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better.”

– Edgar W. Howe

If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business there’d be millions of no-brained, harebrained individuals quitting their day jobs.”

– Bill Rancic, "The Apprentice"

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.”

– Buddha

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

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