Episode 2
Meet singer/songwriter Gabriella Pasqua
Join us as we talk to Gabriella Pasqua about moving to Nashville, vulnerability, and song inspiration. After winning a national songwriting competition, Gabriella’s career as a recording artist began. Fall in love with her music, a mix of folk and Americana with old-school country influences.
Follow Gabriella on Instagram and TikTok. Her original music can be found on Spotify or wherever you listen to music.
Are you interested in being featured as a guest? Contact us through our website, www.moonpiperproductions.com, or email us at gpf@moonpiperproductions.com.
Connect with us on Instagram @moonpiperproductions, and until next time, let the sky be a reminder that dreams are meant to be chased.
SHOW NOTES
Music has the transformative power to bring us healing and connection. Welcome to the Moon Piper Podcast, where music is our love language. I’m your host, Grace Piper Fields. Are you trying to break into the music industry? Join us as we talk to songwriters, musicians, and other creatives in the entertainment business who are on a journey to share their gifts with the world. Hello! Thank you so much for listening to the second episode of Moon Piper Podcast. Today we will chat with singer/songwriter Gabriella Pasqua. Gabriella is originally from Southern New Jersey and is now based in Nashville. Her music is a mix of folk and Americana with old-school country influences. After winning a national songwriting competition, she began her career as a recording artist. Aside from writing and performing music, Gabriella has appeared in television commercials, films, and voice-over projects. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Gabby at Belmont University, where we are both in the songwriting program. Today we will hear about first impressions, vulnerability, and song inspiration. When I first found out that Gabby was from New Jersey I expected to meet a city girl, and I’m sure she thought I was going to be a country gal because I’m from Kansas. That turned out to be quite the opposite, so I clearly had a lot to learn about Southern New Jersey. We first met at orientation and sang Rolling In the Deep karaoke in harmony together. They say you never know when you will meet someone significant in your life, but from that moment I knew we would be great friends. Not to mention, Gabby’s musical talent continues to amaze me. Her songs have this old soul depth and a sense of nostalgia to them. I can’t wait to share this conversation with you.
GPF: What was it like growing up in Woodstown, New Jersey, and what led you to songwriting?
Gabriella: Growing up in Woodstown, New Jersey was definitely interesting because it’s not what a lot of people may expect, especially South Jersey. It’s very cornfields, soybeans, cows. So I kind of grew up in a pretty agricultural town, but it was a very good place for like my parents to have a family and bring us there. It’s a very nice place to live. But songwriting actually came a lot later because when you live near cornfields, there’s not a whole lot to do. So I’ve done music for many years and then seventh grade is where songwriting came into my life.
GPF: How has your genre been influenced by your upbringing and how has music evolved since you started?
Gabriella: We have a rodeo in my town and I’d always go to flea markets every Tuesday and Saturday. I think that kind of inspired the whole folk, country, Americana vibe of my music. Lyrically, I’ve grown a lot in my writing skills and the ability to like tell a story cohesively. At first, I was not telling stories to its full extent, so I think that’s gotten a lot better over the years.
GPF: I’ve listened to some of your older stuff and I definitely notice the storyline seems more in-depth, and also genre-shifting a little bit with some of your older stuff. So that’s been cool to see. When did you decide that songwriting would be your career?
Gabriella: So my mom actually signed me up for a songwriting competition in North Carolina without me knowing, we got into a car and drove six hours to compete, and I actually like won? So that set off a bell in my head where I was like, ok maybe I should take this a little more seriously, you know.
GPF: It’s interesting that you say that because a school contest that I did well in for songwriting was my first experience writing a song ever, and then I thought, oh maybe this is something I could do.
Gabriella: Yeah, it’s very eye-opening. That was really fun. That was a big turning point in my life.
GPF: Being from a small town, how did you find these opportunities to perform and be part of commercials and films such as Vase and Wetlands, and voice-over projects like on the game show Jeopardy?
Gabriella: So there weren’t a whole lot of opportunities in my town specifically for performing out and like gigging, except for like my own town’s fall festival and a winery down the road, Auburn Winery. So usually when I try to do gigs I would have to travel to either PA, Philly, or New York City. And then, acting kind of came in before the songwriting. I got an agent around like seven or eight years old and then I would go and audition in Philly and New York mostly. But that was a really fun experience. I loved acting very much.
GPF: it would be cool to see you in more films in the future!
“Lasso My Heart” by Gabriella Pasqua
Lasso my heart
Give me your last name
GPF: Would you say that your songs are more literal or metaphorical and what do you use as sources of inspiration for songs?
Gabriella: I would say they are more literal because I tend to write about things that I’ve experienced or I’ve seen other people experience. I usually draw from just kind of the people around me or that I’ve seen growing up, mainly like family or friends.
GPF: Songs are very personal to you and other songwriters also experience that. Many people create work but never share it with the world. How do you handle this vulnerability of sharing those stories and songs with everyone?
Gabriella: I was just talking to my mom about this actually like how to be vulnerable and share music. I think sometimes I will write about serious situations or something that happened with a person that’s close to me in my life. When I write a song and I work through all of it, I have worked through the emotions and everything else that has come with it. So by the time I’m done, I’m letting it go, like I’ve kind of made my peace with it.
GPF: Also helps you process those emotions through song.
Gabriella: It’s very much so like a process. Putting it out there is the nice part about it.
GPF: What’s a song that you are really proud of and why?
Gabriella: So I wrote “Soldier Song.” That’s the song I think I’m most proud of because it’s from the perspective of my mom when my dad fought in the Iraq war. I think I’m so proud of it because my parents really love it, and it kind of makes me feel like I did their story justice in a way. As well as, I think it’s an important topic to talk about, the people who’ve served in our country and I don’t think there are enough songs about that.
“Soldier Song” by Gabriella Pasqua
I got your letter
I’m glad you're okay
You’ve met your new brothers
And you joke through the pain
If only you knew how much I miss your face
Your writing will do but it isn’t the same
Oh and I’ll be
Patiently waiting
With open arms as
You walk through that door
There’ll be streamers
Hung from the ceiling
A banner with your name
Soldier welcome home
GPF: When was the first time your music was recorded in a studio?
Gabriella: So the first time I recorded a song was the one I competed with in the songwriting competition. That was called “Secrets” and I recorded that in Vermont actually, which was so pretty. I never released that song. That was the first moment where I was like, ok this like studio thing? I could be in here forever and not get tired of it.
GPF: One of my favorite parts of the process is when I can add even more creativity with layering vocals or more instruments come in. Even the experience of just going to the studio and working with the producer is so special. Since your first time coming to Belmont specifically was orientation, what was your first impression?
Gabriella: Everyone was very nice, the campus is beautiful. Yeah, I was just excited to kind of get into the whole songwriting program and see what was happening around here.
GPF: Me too. You’ve only been here a very short amount of time so far, but how is Nashville shaping who you are as a person and your music?
Gabriella: Moving here has taught me a lot about myself that I don’t think I really knew, and also it’s made me a little more confident about the path I have taken. When you are in the right place you are like, this is why I did all that work. Like meeting you, meeting a bunch of people has been really great. I really like it here!
“Lasso My Heart” by Gabriella Pasqua
We’ll buy a farmhouse just over that hill
Dance in the kitchen as rain hits the sill
Money’s still tight but we’re rich
Rich as we can be
GPF: My songwriting teacher this semester knighted us on the first day of class and was saying you are now Commerical songwriters. I know it was just knighting us with a lil’ expo marker, but it was validating. This is a career. This is a path that is possible.
Gabriella: Yeah and also being here I’ve learned this is very much so like a business. I’ve learned a lot about the music industry that I had no idea about before coming here.
GPF: Sometimes there are mixed reactions when you tell people that you are going to be a songwriter. It’s hard to not let that get to you. I think it’s really amazing that you just came to this city and set out on your path. So you have a writer’s round with The Get Up in Nashville. For our audience to know, will you describe the difference between playing at a writer’s round and just playing a regular gig?
Gabriella: Typically, a writer’s round is pretty much where you’ll have like four artists on stage, and you’ll each take turns playing original music. So it’s something you’ve written or co-written, a gig is more so you can play cover songs or kind of your own stuff, but a writer’s round is strictly original work.
GPF: And something I’ve noticed also about rounds that's so interesting is sometimes the performers will never have met each other before, and they’ll react on stage. It’s a more casual, intimate setting, where you can hear the stories behind the songs. Sometimes they are not even artists themselves and they are singing songs that they wrote that big people are now singing and have released. People will join in playing which I’ve noticed is super cool. They’ll just start singing, spontaneously! You think that only happens in the movies, but no it happens in writer’s rounds.
Gabriella: Yeah they are like, oh I hear that harmony and just start singing with the other artist. It’s crazy! The confidence to have to do that.
GPF: And in front of an audience like that, just to go for it.
Gabriella: Props to those people. Hasn’t been me yet, but I hope it will be one day.
GPF: Who knows! Well, what songs will you be playing at this round?
Gabriella: So I’ll be playing “Soldier Song,” the one I previously talked about, “I Gotta Go” that’s like kind of more like an upbeat country song, and then “Love Letter.” That’s a new one that I’ve written.
GPF: I love that song.
Gabriella: Thanks, it’s a new one, but I do really love it.
GPF: It’s an earworm. It just comes into my head all the time.
Gabriella: My mom was just texting me this morning, and she was like, um I hate you because I can’t get that song out of my head. And I was like that means I did something right, like that.
GPF: Yeah, absolutely. So what are your long-term career goals in the music industry?
Gabriella: I would say, hm, I would love to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. I really want to play at the Bluebird. I’d like to play a writer’s round at The Listening Room Cafe. That’s like the Nashville thing, so I need to do it at least once. Overall, I kind of just want a stable career in music and songwriting, you know. I’m not looking to be some big star. I just want to do what I love, be able to support myself, and make art.
GPF: Well, I think you have something very special that a lot of people feel moved by. I cry almost every time I hear one of your songs, so again just the ability to impact people like that is amazing. It takes a lot of courage to just move across the country and follow your dreams. Do you have any advice for others who want to find that same confidence in themself?
Gabriella: A, you only have one life to live. If this is something you are really passionate about, whatever it is, you kind of owe it to yourself to do it. I think if I didn’t move here or chose not to and not pursue songwriting, even though like you were saying it’s kind of a crazy concept to a lot of people, I would regret that for the rest of my life. Why not try? Like you have nothing to lose no matter what age you are. Just do it.
GPF: I was at this seminar and this guy was talking about how all of his friends that stuck around in the music industry and continued to try and put in the work were successful in some way, shape, or form. And I think over half the battle is just not giving up and putting yourself out there. Obviously being in the right place at the right time is helpful, but you have to put yourself in that position.
Gabriella: Yeah, and you have to like you said, work hard at what you do and hope that results come and keep hoping. I think that’s what everyone here is doing. I think that’s why you moved here, that’s why I moved here, you know, we are just doing what we love to do. Whatever creative thing.
GPF: So where can people find you and your music?
Gabriella: So you can find all of my old music on Spotify.
GPF: And eventually new music.
Gabriella: Yes it is coming soon. I’m recording a song in March and possibly another one, which I just found out this morning. So there will be new music soon. You can find me at Gabriella Pasqua on literally all streaming platforms and Instagram. TIkTok is @gab.pasqua.
GPF: Thank you so much for being on the podcast!
Gabriella: Thanks for having me!
GPF: I feel like I want to give you a hug.
Gabriella: I was just thinking that actually. Thanks, Grace. I feel so yay! I’m on Grace Piper Fields’ podcast, and you should be on it too. So you should check this out because it’s pretty awesome.
GPF: If you are interested in being on the podcast you can submit an interest form on my website moonpiperproductions.com. Be sure to be on the lookout for new music, other opportunities to hear Gabby sing live, and stay updated on all the exciting things going on in her life right now. Until next time, let the sky be a reminder that dreams are meant to be chased.