Junior Liam Sheridan, who recently performed in the commons during spirit week, is releasing his first song called “Lost” on January 31st. Here is the man behind the mic as he breaks down the entire process of recording and releasing music.

What inspired you to write your song, “Lost”? 

Well, I was just kind of tired of the pretend of living a great life, and I think that’s what really inspired me to start. Artists like Noah Kahn talk about mental health issues and stuff that I thought no one else was going through, and I thought it would be really cool to write a song about that.

Were there any artists or genres of music that influenced your song?

This song, I feel, is unlike my past. A lot of my brand is very country-like, but this one’s very pop-rock. It’s not even close to country, which I really like. It’s exactly how I envision the song to be. I wanted to experiment with different things; artists like Lizzy McAlpine, Noah Kahan, and the lyric writing of Zach Bryan helped inspire this song particularly.

What was it like hearing your song fully produced for the first time?

It was crazy! I actually remember the morning. The first time I went to the studio, all we did was record guitar and vocals, and then my producer would send that to me. We would add a couple more parts while I was there, and then my producer, Danny McMurray, who is also a drummer, played the drums and piano on the track. He put those in along with the other parts we recorded, but it wasn’t quite there, yet. I remember waking up on a Saturday morning, and I saw a message from Danny from 11:30pm last night, and I opened it up, and put my AirPods in; I couldn’t help but smile. I heard it, and it was crazy. I never imagined it could sound that good.

From start to finish, how long did the entire process take you to bring this song to life?  

Officially, I had my first studio session in October, so it was a while ago. I feel like it was a very unusual schedule because I would only go in once a week, due to time constraints like the fall play, so I would go into the studio for about three hours at a time. I had an idea of what the song would sound like in November or December. It was just a matter of getting it to a point where it was Spotify ready.

Who was your biggest mentor during this process?

I’d probably say my producer, Danny. He taught me an incredible amount from this process alone. He knows how to teach, but also produce. It was almost like taking music lessons. He has just been such an inspiration.

What do you hope listeners will take away from this song?

I hope people are able to relate to it. I wanted to put myself in a vulnerable position, by talking about situations that I’ve been in, and I wanted other people to know that they’re not alone in that. It was a little bit of a leap the first time playing it live because I didn’t know how people would react to it. That’s always how I test out new songs—I’ll throw them in, and I won’t say they’re my own, and see how the crowd reacts so I can gauge if it’s a good song.

What advice would you give someone interested in releasing their own song?

I would say, make sure you have a song written, and I would encourage you to write more than what you’re planning to release. For example, before I wrote ‘Lost,’ I had written ten or eleven songs, and even that’s a little shallow. According to the industry standards, you should write twenty songs so you can find the one. But I really liked ‘Lost.’ Also, if you’re thinking of recording a song, going out and playing live is a great way to prepare for the studio and make some money for the studio time. You want to make sure you’re very confident in playing before you go in. I remember the first time I ever got there, I was so nervous. My producer told me that this is a space where you can mess up because you can always go back and re-record.

Do you have any plans of releasing more music in the future? 

Yes, I do! I can’t officially say when, maybe sometime in the future. I definitely want to release more music. For now, I just wanted to release a single so I could see if everyone likes it before I continue.