Today we’d like to introduce you to Myles Maestro.
Hi Myles, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I started in the arts as an actor. Through high school theater programs, show choir, and broadcasting many opportunities presented themselves in my pursuit of creative expression. I moved to Los Angeles in January of 2018 to pursue acting out there and while signed to an acting agency, I only booked music video roles. Thus, through that setting, mutual friends, and personal struggles I developed the sense that I was pursuing entertainment in the wrong avenue. I then moved to San Diego and began working on music by writing songs and making beats while living on a 27-foot sailboat in the bay. After some time there, I found that my musical knowledge, even with prior choir experience, was very limited, so I moved back to Dallas. I began working on production around the clock, averaging 2 to 3 beats a day, for a couple years while bouncing around friends’ houses. Still struggling to find purpose, I found myself suppressing a lot of inner turmoil through various substances. In this time, I burned a lot of bridges, made a lot of mistakes, and ultimately found myself in a repeating cycle of self-destruction. Ironically, this began my journey of using music as more than a ticket to the top, but as an outlet. I stopped pursuing fame and began pursuing release, Freedom from the baggage I’d collected over the past years. After this self-discovery, I moved to Celina, started performing at local shows, and began writing original songs 24/7. From that point, I grew in confidence vocally and began to get a sense of who I was artistically. Through some connections I made along the way, I was even able to participate as a contestant in the 20th season of American Idol, though my audition was unaired. A couple years have past since then, and I’ve only just begun. I’ve released sixteen original songs across all platforms since 2019, countless more singles and EPs on YouTube and SoundCloud, and even more if you include production and features I’ve done for other artists. I just finished my first album, and I’ve already started the next one.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
“Smooth” would not be the word I would use to describe my journey. I think if anything, I’d say it’s been an “eye-opening” road. I’ve been taken advantage of financially and have passed on a lot of opportunities due to ignorance or insecurity, but I take every failure as a lesson learned. I heard a Lecrae quote the other day that really resonated with me in this sense, “Only L I took was lessons.” I believe having that mindset has forced me into a valuable position of looking at obstacles and challenges as milestones. I take pride in the fact that through all the struggles I’ve gone through like getting fired from a merchandising job on tour, living in a boat, then my car, then my friend’s dad’s house, then a roach-infested apartment, then back in with my dad, then losing friends, family, COVID-19, etc. It’s easy to get discouraged and give up, but I’ve found that my struggles are not my own. We all have problems, and I could have just as many while pursuing something I don’t love as much as I love music. It took a long time for me to find my drive, but without the struggles along the way, I believe I never would’ve found it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a songwriter and producer. I excel in bringing musical ideas/concepts to life. Over the past five years, I’ve worked in various side jobs to fund a growing career as a musical artist. Along the way, I found that the more I can do myself, the better off my work would be. I wouldn’t be so limited in my output. I play piano, guitar, bass, and a little bit of drums, though I’d like to think I’m a fast learner and can pick up anything. My first song, “Ghost,” became somewhat popular around the North Dallas area because it played on 97.1 The Freak, then it was known as the Eagle, but all thanks to Ben Rogers and Skin Wade, who’ve been massive supporters of my journey since I met them. Since then, I have released other songs and the most consistently popular is my song “One to Set Me Free.” That song is about my dire struggle to become famous at that point in my life and how I eventually realized that I was obsessing over that goal so toxically that I would’ve been willing to do anything. The concept of the song was that I stressed over this career so much that I would be “set free” from that burden if someone would only end my life and take away my problems entirely. Obviously, that’s a permanent solution for a temporary problem, and I have since grown in my appreciation for life.
I like to think that my ability to create musical experiences from scratch is what sets me apart from others, but there are so many artists nowadays it’s hard to believe I’m one of the few. In my experiences now, I believe what sets me apart is the subject matter of my songs. As a kid, I always wondered why things like materialism, sex, and drugs were highlighted so heavily in music. To this day, the industry is saturated with artists who have nothing meaningful to say. My music offers substance and a real sense of what it’s like to walk in my shoes, live in my head, and experience what I’ve experienced. I try to take every song and turn it into a poetic telling of the existential crisis that lies just below the surface of my smile. It’s getting more and more rare to find artists with a similar mindset and goal of excellence.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
So far, my career has consisted of many ups and downs. Throughout this rollercoaster, I’ve found myself desperately reaching out for lifelines to save me, mostly myself. The world has told me since I was young that everything I need to be happy is already within me if I’d only take the time to find it. This has sent me on a downward spiral to my biggest struggle of all, self-idolization. In many different ways, I was seeking to find peace through the ways of this world. I tried settling for unfulfilling relationships to cure my state of loneliness. When that didn’t work, I turned to my career in attempt to make them jealous or wish they still had me. I idolized other people in my life that I expected to be perfect and was quick to condemn them when they fell short. I failed to look in the mirror and realize how far I’d fallen short. I turned away from people who truly wanted to help me in exchange for people who were also searching for instant gratification. One night during the summer of 2018, I had an out-of-body experience where I thought I was gonna die. I had all these racing thoughts that told me I was nothing but selfish. I’d taken advantage of people just as they’d done to me. I sacrificed relationships with family for relationships with fake friends. I’d chosen temporary highs over people who genuinely wanted to see me succeed. In that moment, I felt hopeless and shameful. I was traumatized by fear, and I cried out to God to save me. I told Him I’d change if He’d only let me make it through the night. I wish I could say I found God, but since then, He found me. So today, I’m here telling this story to let every reader know that you are not alone. The world will try to tell you that you are a small speck in the ever-expanding void of the universe. The world wants you to think we have nothing to live for but status and dopamine chasing. I now know that my biggest downfalls led me to my greatest triumphs. God gave me a second chance, so my music is just the soundtrack to that story. A story that begins with my new album, “False Idols,” which is set to release this summer.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/mylesmaestro/
- Facebook: Facebook.com/mylesmaestro
- Twitter: Twitter.com/mylesmaestro
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mylesmaestro
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mylesmaestro
- Other: https://hyperfollow.com/mylesmaestro
Image Credits
Chris Reames
Bridge Coffman
John Otjen
Ryan Ranzer
Jared Forrester
