Thulani Smith describes himself as having always been a creative, and video was what he propelled himself into. From weddings, to Butler basketball promotional videos, to his professional career, Smith grew in the video field and began to find success. Smith was previously a video intern at the Harrison Center where he learned more about his practice, filming and editing videos for First Fridays, the Independent Music and Art Festival, studio visits, and more. Thulani explained that here, he learned to bring new ideas to the table rather than wait for an opportunity to arise, and through this has pushed himself to pursue new creative outlets and make the transition from video into creating his own music.

“Creativity has been a part of my life in all aspects,” Smith reminisces, explaining that his father played piano and he has been surrounded by music from a young age. In high school, Smith played jazz drums, learning how to improvise and giving him more creativity in his music making, which he says taught him to love music and understand music in a new way. Smith began creating music using Garageband, creating simple beats and loops in high school, which he then left alone until his junior year in college, where he created music for a friend’s podcast and eventually created his own EP.

Smith’s reintroduction to music occurred in February and throughout the pandemic, in which music was used as a creative outlet for him, a way to find himself again through stress and hardships. Smith’s new album, Better Days, was started amidst what he described as an “emotional rollercoaster,” through relationships, college, and the pandemic. He poured himself into his music, working weeks at a time, saying “time makes things better if you just work at it.” He recalled his biggest criticism was a friend saying his music was “cool, but I have no idea when I would listen to it,” and through this began to dissect other music to better understand what to add to his musical portfolio.

Thulani has experimented with several different genres and eventually landed on “alt-pop,” describing his music as being modeled after the band AJR. Focusing on form and theory in his music, Smith links lyrics and motifs from songs throughout the album into a single overture, much like AJR, tying the album together and emphasizing his musical knowledge. Smith explains that he had to “figure out how to sing again,” saying that he was critical of his own voice, but overcame this when he realized that “the message is what matters most.” Smith says about his music, “it’s crazy to know who you’re affecting. If you’ve affected one person, you’ve done enough.”

You can find Thulani’s music here:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4kn4UVq9JLa1jGLCPwNmro?si=XtDS8lkHRd6_qm8qI7iDbQ

Past Intern Update: Thulani Smith