With everyone on the sidelines because of the pandemic, one Texas-born singer has found renewed inspiration during her isolation, including an inner voice this talented singer says she had never heard.
Olivia Kuper Harris, an ambitious young artist, apparently got frustrated with waiting around for the music industry to find her, so she took matters into her own hands.
The result is her first album, entitled “Juicy,” which debuted recently at #12 on the iTunes rhythm and blues list.
“I’m not waiting around,” said Harris, who before the pandemic was a vocalist in Post Modern Jukebox and was on the music industry’s up and coming “watch” list. The Event News Enterprise profiled Harris in 2018.
Having reflected much during the pandemic, Harris says she is today a different woman.
She said the same inner voice that convinced her to become executive producer of her own album awoke something else inside of her that she wants to now share with all women.
“When I started doing this work, I realized what it was for a woman to take on such a big challenge,” says Harris. “Now, I want other women to do the same.”
As a result, many songs on the album reflect her goal of inspiring other women to stop waiting around, to find their power and take control of their lives into their own hands.
“As a woman, most of the songs were written from a perspective of empowerment,” said Harris, who wrote all but two of the songs on “Juicy.”
“During the entire process, I grew in ways as an artist that I could not have imagined,” she said. With the album complete, Harris spend her time promoting her new work and is expected to announce a fall tour.
While on tour with PMJ last summer, Harris said she sheepishly shared a song she’d written with a male co-star last summer. “He not only liked it, but immediately said he wanted to help me record an album,” said Harris.
That gig was in Vegas and in that same hotel room, she said they produced a demo of the song “Oh Billy.”
Eventually, she said, “we took it to a whole other level and the rest is history.”
As executive producer, Harris said she coordinated the entire effort, even raising part of the money in a GoFundMe account and paying for the rest of it herself.
“I’m a big dreamer,” said Harris, sort of a chip off the old Texas block. Admittedly, she is the child of “Jewish hippies” in the Lone Star state, moving around a lot and sometimes living out of a van.
Harris’ vocal ability has thus far landed her many notable gigs on stage and starring acting roles in a couple of less noticed, but well received movies.
While “Juicy” is the title track, the gritty “Oh Billy” hints at what is to come for this relative Hollywood newcomer with such a big voice.
Although the album focuses on courage in the workplace, Harris said her song “Lady” is applicable to women and men, an ode to “not being afraid.” Harris plans to release the music video for another song, “The Only Reason,” this week.
Taking on such a massive project, she said, “is really hard to do as an independent artist.” Yet, Harris said she learned so much about her own work ethic, her voice and her unique style that the album was an amazing experience.
“I have had so many amazing collaborators,” said Harris. “This is really hard to do as an independent artist,” she said. Yet, Harris said she feels “super blessed.”
Hopefully, she said, the album will “spread love and inspiration” in a world that, now, needs as much it can muster. Her goal was to create music that injected songs about love and harmony in the world, said Harris.
“Everything is so ugly out there at the moment,” said Harris, including too many “ugly personal attacks against one another, left and right.”
“More than anything,” she noted, the year-long effort was “a creative learning process.” The female single turned Executive Producer even managed the business of making the album available on all major streaming services and took care of licensing. Because of the pandemic, she also produced a clever movie that became a “virtual launch” of the album.
“I’m trying to provoke someone to feel,” she said, “just trying to do my part; doing what I can to spread joy in the world.”
“I have been kissed by an angel,” said Harris.
“Juicy” is now available on all major music platforms.
Photos courtesy of Olivia Kuper Harris
