She realized she was unfulfilled and unhappy with her inner creativity that wasn’t being unleashed to its full potential.
By Sarah Tomlinson
Julia Antimirova playing at one of her first live shows in Toronto on Sept. 23, 2020.
During a time where switching between full-time careers isn't ideal, singer-songwriter Julia Antimirova doesn't regret her decision. In fact, "I still think that this was the best decision of my life."
The Toronto-based Ukrainian artist said her love for music began when she started singing in front of her school. This combined with her father’s influence as a guitarist led to her taking formal classes and working in studios in high school. However, when she was old enough to choose a career path, she decided to pursue international economics.
“When you become an adult, it's very easy to choose not what you are actually passionate about, but something that you think should be successful,” she said.
Growing up in an Eastern European family, she said she was raised to prioritize money and stability. “That's understandable. Because my parents and grandparents faced those times when this was the main concern,” she said.
However, after working six years in international economics, her perspective changed.
Although she was working full-time, she still sang and painted on her own time and realized she was unfulfilled and unhappy with her inner creativity that wasn’t being unleashed to its full potential.
She started doing live streams and open mics to test out the waters of what life as a full-time musician would be like. With the support of her friends, she performed her first gig at the B-side Lounge, which she said was a success.“It was one of the best days of my life.”
Come February, she finally decided to quit her job. Although her family didn’t fully support her, she said it was something she needed to do.
“I think they were frustrated. They didn’t understand,” she said. “When it’s with family, it can be a little challenging. It’s like separating yourself and your identity as a human being in the way you express yourself.”
While it was difficult facing certain people’s reactions, Antimirova said it helped her build inner confidence, which she said is essential for artists to do.
“No matter what people are saying, the only thing that keeps you alive as an artist is how you feel about yourself,” she said. “So be very gentle and careful with yourself. Think about your creative flow as the biggest value of your life and try to protect it.”
Despite the resistance from her family, Antimirova said she was lucky to be surrounded by friends who completely supported her decision. "I think my friends are my biggest fans.”
In addition, she’s grateful for how her experience in economics has helped her with the business side of her music career.
Whereas many artists need to hire a team, Antimirova said that her skillset in business has been essential to managing herself. "I know there are lots of artists struggling with social media, promotions, creating content, and pricing issues. I have a lot of experience in that, so I think this gives me a lot of ground in the industry," she said.
Her past work experience helped her be strategic in her decision to quit with the planning on doing freelance online marketing if she were unable to make money from music during periods of her life.
Becoming a full-time artist brought on challenges on the promotional front as well, with many people instantly expecting her to become famous after a few months.
“People would say ‘you’re talented, you’re a star now. It takes nothing to become a star.’ No, it doesn't happen like that. It puts lots of pressure on me because I have to remind myself every day that it took five years to have a job in marketing, and I just started in music,” she said.
She said this mentality leads many artists, including herself, into thinking talent is the only thing they need to succeed. “Talent is wonderful, but it's dangerous. I realized that there are still thousands of things to learn.”
While everyone aims for success, Antimirova believes that it's a toxic idea to focus on and affects the way you go about creating art. "The second your goal is to become famous, you're crushed because there is nothing there. There is nothing about art."
Since the start of her music career, Antimirova competed in Canada’s largest singer-songwriter competition The Shot, which pushed her to release her first three singles. She has also done several live streams with other Toronto artists and released a music video for her second single “Diving in the Clouds”.
In September, she also had the opportunity of performing live shows in Toronto at the Redwood Theatre, The Boat, and at Tonight Bar.
Stream Julia Antimirova’s music below: