Artist Spotlight: Camille Calderon

If, at some point, you happened to be in the quad during lunch back in November, there’s a chance you caught a performance by Yodieland. The band (consisting of seniors Camille Calderon, Travis Jackson, Liam Luevand, Julian Korsten, and J.D. Cunningham) put on a performance of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon and caught the attention of a rapidly growing crowd. The band’s lead singer, Camille Calderon, sang with what could only be described as a specific passion for that very moment.

You can assume that she’s been at this for a long time, and Calderon confirms this. “I’ve been involved with music since as long as I can remember really. Since I was old enough to talk I picked up guitar and sang my heart to whatever I heard playing on the radio.” Though she may have been inexperienced, Calderon says she was music-oriented for a long time. She joined choir in third grade, and has been involved ever since – 9 years total.

Yodieland, as previously mentioned, is a student-created band. Like all art, it had to start somewhere. Calderon describes the band’s creation to be on a whim. At that point she had started doing solos for choir her junior year, and had the thought that it’d be cool to get a band together and perform live. “I knew some of my friends were pretty talented music-wise so I began reaching out to see who would be interested. I was so blessed to have found the people that I did because they are honestly some of the coolest, talented people out there.” Calderon says Yodieland plans future performances with an entire set list for everyone.

Those of us that have a passion for the arts, or anything that requires us to harness our creativity and focus it, may have experienced what some may describe as a total burnout. Demotivation as a result of prolonged determination is not something that’s unheard of. “No matter what passion you have it is 100% normal to have feel unmotivated or discouraged,” Calderon says. “You have to look back in hindsight and value yourself. There are belief systems that make you believe that you cannot achieve what you have a passion for. I’ve had my fair dose of discouragement…there’s always going to be someone that tells you- you can’t achieve what you set out for and that is 100% false. What you work for, what you set yourself up for, what you put the time and effort in will happen. If you think you are meant to do something in this life, a lot of the mindset is confidence and I cannot express that enough. You know you have that you have that greatness inside of you-act on it. I overcome the feeling of discouragement with confidence.”

In pursuit of our passions, we sometimes reach a crossroads or a plateau, where a lesson must be learned in order to keep going. Calderon’s admirable and ambitious pursuit of a career in music is in part fueled by what she said previously – not giving up. “The music industry is a shark tank, a lot of people fail trying to pursue a music career and give up because it simply gets hard. Of course it will get hard, of course there are going to be people who don’t believe you are going to achieve what you set out to achieve, of course there are going to be things that come up and it seems impossible to get over- but once you come over those things and really fight to have what you want- you can rewrite your story and this can happen by putting yourself through hardship. Nothing comes easy.”

We find inspiration in our surroundings, in ourselves, in people, in our problems and our resolutions. Calderon says she has a handful of artists she admires, so choosing would be difficult. “I do have to say Adele has to be one of the main ones. She’s faced so much criticism not for her talent but for her body and she never cared. She knew she had a talent and she put herself out there and that to me is one of the most admirable qualities about her. She became an inspiration to me for that reason- she is so authentic and so genuine.”

As an artist, Calderon’s method of capturing her creativity is when she’s alone. In her own thoughts, as she describes, whether it be outside or in her room. “I love the peace of mind and having the world be silent. Between balancing personal life and other matters, I love to sit down and really allow myself to feel.” Calderon says that her emotions is mainly where she finds it to express her creativity. “ I allow myself to feel and I allow myself to create.”