Thalia Falcon prides herself on being real.
Thalia Falcon – You may know her from songs like ‘Gift Giver’ or if you watched her development as an artist you probably know her classics like ‘proud’ or ‘need to know. If the name Thalia Falcon is new to you then you’re probably in search of new music and in that case you’ve found a real artist.
The term real can be used in so many ways but for Thalia, it best describes who she is as a person. Away from the noise of social media Thalia opens up about her cultural background, dealing with mental health in music and most importantly being real.
Our interview started shortly after 1 am in South Africa.
Coming into the interview I didn’t know what to expect from Thalia Falcon as we began our conversation. The idea was to ask a few music-related questions and wrap up the interview in about 30 minutes or so. The main reason it was late and I was beyond tired at that point.
However, the interview lasted until 3 am and after the interview, it felt like I had known her for about five years. She was honest about herself and didn’t hide behind any persona that she had created to amass her 226.7 thousand followers on TikTok or 61.1 thousand followers on Instagram.
Instead, the Pop/RnB artist showed exactly why she has made a name for herself after releasing music during the middle of the pandemic. If you’re familiar with Thalia Falcon, you’ve probably noticed two things. One she has a few vocal similarities to Ariana Grande and two being that she has a personality for social media.
Her rise as an artist didn’t take the route of going viral off of one song and immediately getting signed to a major label. Her journey started in Cuba and Greece. Both sets of her grandparents decided to move to America for the benefit of future generations. Whether that be to live the American dream or even just the opportunities that America has to offer.
Eventually, Thalia was born into a household with Cuban and Greek cultures that were instilled into her from a young age. Her father also had a music career before Thalia was born. His music career was cut short due to the responsibilities of a father not knowing that a few years down the line his daughter would carry on his musical legacy
“My dad always said Thalia, you need to get a real job, one that is realistic. Where you are working behind a desk. Nobody knew that this can be real life for me. I still haven’t made it yet, I’m working very hard every day to make it there but right now it’s like a full circle moment for him seeing me do exactly what he was doing and going for it.
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Thalia’s first experience of a proper studio set-up was in her junior year of college and that was when everything began to become real for her. The possibility of actually being a music artist that thought not just some unlikely dream.
“My friend invited me to a studio when I was a junior in college, I went and I didn’t know what to expect. My dad had a home studio set up but it wasn’t anything serious it was just for fun. I remember for one of my birthday parties I had an American Idol-themed party where my dad let each of my friends record a song and they got to take it home on a CD! It’s just funny looking back at it now that all of these things added up and got me to where I am today”
After Thalia graduated college is when she started to take her music career seriously. Her current management team discovered her through a couple of songs that she had out online and the various covers that she did during her time in college.
“I didn’t realize that I was talented. I am a firm believer that there is always room for growth. I am in no way perfect at singing. My team made me believe that I can sing. They push me a lot. I started releasing music 3 years ago and since then I have just been focused on creating a strong fan base.
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Growing up Thalia was very closed off as a child. She wasn’t one to speak to her parents about deep conversations or even her emotions and grew up very reserved. Music is her form of expression. Thalia now wants to be the bridge between her fans across the world through her music and fan engagement.
“One of my biggest challenges has been caring about what people think. Just opinions of others, it’s hard to not care about what people, especially on the internet”
Thalia admits that she hasn’t gone through any hectic challenges but the one thing that she does struggle with is mental challenges.
“I still have a long way to go and I know that consistency is the name of the game. Social media is a full-time job. I am going, to be honest, I struggle from time to time with being consistent with my social media content. You have to be consistent for it to work. There are times when I have been consistent and seen the results.” She adds.
For more on Thalia Falcon read our interview below:
This interview has been lightly edited for the purpose of clarity and context.
Daniel Young: What is one piece of advice you would give to younger Thalia?
Thalia Falcon: My younger self? I would say that anything is possible. I don’t have to be realistic. I would never tell myself that I need a back-up plan in life. Anything is possible, the world is your oyster.
Daniel: Do you plan to release a EP or are you currently working on an album for next year?
Thalia: I haven’t recorded in a year because I’m so focused on TikTok. I will probably go back into the studio December just to record a few songs. I’m actually sitting on about 10 unreleased songs now that I think about it. My main focus right now is content creation and getting my story out there so people can see who I am as a person so I highly doubt that I will be releasing new music soon. I feel like if I release too much music people can get lost in it and don’t always see who you are as a person. I’m just at that point where I am building my foundations as an artist.
Daniel: Who is Thalia Falcon?
Thalia: That is a good question! I was just telling my manager today that I am weird as hell and sometimes I feel like it doesn’t reflect in the music… Not every artist us going to be their music to a T. There is so many layers to me. I always wanted to help people. I would describe myself as very caring. Just seeing my music help people is what motivates me. I love making people laugh, I always want to be around good and genuine people. I’m the type of person who is family centred besides my career of course. I love my family so much and I want to change their lives through my music.
Daniel: How has going through traumatic experiences, affected your mental health?
Thalia: While those experiences (losing loved ones) were traumatic and changed my life I must say that positive things also came from that. Coming to understand that we are not invincible and that in this short life we have to go after what we want. The experience of losing three loved ones back to back really tested my faith and made me question what all of this is for? What is the purpose of life? But what saved me is that I was even more determined to make those that I lost proud.
Daniel: How would you describe the current state of RnB and Pop music?
Thalia: I feel like things are starting to mesh together. There isn’t really any rules anymore which I think is cool. I love how there is a lot of Latin influences in pop music. There is a lot of crazy talent that is finally being heard. I think that now is the time that people are starting to break through and talent it taking the forefront.
Daniel: What is your motto in life?
Thalia: Your mentality is very important. I look up to Kobe Byran and watched a lot of his interviews. My manager has really trained me to have the mentality of Kobe Bryan. No excuses. Another thing that my manager has taught me is that success is the ability to control your emotions. You have to control your emotions because your emotions control mind-set.
Daniel: What is one thing that you would change about yourself?
Thalia: One thing that I would change about myself? That’s an interesting question. I would probably want to be more free, not being scared to fail. A part of being an artist that is successful you have to fall many times in order to be successful and learn what to do.
Daniel: Would you say that you are happy?
Thalia: It depends on the day, there are days when I am happy and other days I am down. But the important thing is that I continue and try. Whatever you want in life you have to visualize what you want to achieve, nobody else is going to do it for you.
“My family came from Greece and Cuba to give their future generations a better life, I feel like now it is my time to take those qualities from my family and do the same, working towards a better life. When I say better life I mean the culture of love, the culture of food and history.”
