From Los Angeles, California, Anika Erickson is a recording and production student at Lamont specializing in Jazz Voice. Besides music, Erickson was a competitive figure skater and children’s skating coach.
Many musicians have guidance and for Erickson, it was Maddy Brigham, an intermediate choir director from the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.
“She really just was so encouraging of all the people in our choir. I expressed to her that I had heard about some of the kids doing the opera and asked what I had to do to make that happen. She helped me get those opportunities, and I’m grateful for her,” Erickson said.
Originally, Erickson started out as a classical composer but later changed her emphasis to Jazz voice.
“I asked my teacher in the first quarter if I should switch to Jazz, and he said yes,” Erickson said. ”Lots of jazz structure influences our pop music today so much, and I think it’s really important that I’m in that program and I’m learning about people that paved a way today,” she said.
Her inspiration comes from the early 2000 pop music artists like Katey Perry, Rhianna, and Calvin Harris.
Erickson releases music on Spotify and Apple Music with 27k streams and 7.1k listeners. As she puts it, “The best is yet to come because I’m growing as a musician, learning about theory and music history, and being inspired by other artists, other music and people around the world.”
“Being able to fight your frustration and channel it into the music allows you to be more dedicated to your craft,” Erickson said.
Erickson worked on a song with Ben Klot, released on June 6, called Hollow.
“He sent me a track last year and I was like, ‘this is sick!’” said Erickson. In my dorm room in Dimond, I wrote and recorded the song and sent him the vocals.
“Hollow” represented a low point in Erickson’s life when she wrote the song. “It’s about not feeling needed or wanted by people you care about,” said Erickson. It’s kind of a sad song, but it’s a little bop.”
“I’m trying to embrace that and use my music as an outlet for my feelings,” said Erickson. “I try to keep my music somewhat light-hearted because I think sometimes the topics I address are a little bit hard to deal with, so I try to put it with a little fun beat that you can shake your booty to.”
