“I want to be a revolutionary artist,” says Andrea Davidson, the sunny young singer from Louisville. “I want to be a connecting point. I want to sing songs that are full of love, and hope and honesty. And sometimes they’re dark, but I want to use the music and the shows to connect people with other people.”
Over the past couple years of touring, she has done just that. Davidson has an optimism that is completely contagious. Listening to her sing and watching her get lost in the music, it is clear that she truly believes that life is beautiful, and that there is good in the world. Isn’t that what we all want to believe?
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“I know there’s a lot of darkness out there, and there’s a lot to expound on in relevance to all the things that are going wrong, but I don’t think that’s the direction that makes sense for me. What makes sense for me is to see what can be better, and to put that energy out there—to be positive,” she says. “In any scenario that we experience in life, no matter how painful, we always have the option to step back and look at the gift of it.”
And she has always been good at making the best of bad situations. Growing up, Davidson knew she wanted to be on stage. Initially, she says, she thought she would be an actor. In junior high, when she had to be in band or choir, she chose choir, but only because her mom couldn’t buy her an instrument for band.
“I wanted to play the drums really bad. The problem was that we grew up with very little money. By default [I was] in choir. I thought it was so lame, but in choir, that’s when I tried out for my first singing solo and got this big response. It’s amazing what people can do to lift you up and boost you into feeling confident enough to believe in yourself—because at that point, I didn’t believe in myself at all. I just had enough people that I loved around me that did.”
Having a strong support system helped fuel her musical career. She has been playing her acoustic guitar and singing about love, life and nature for a while now, but recently began playing the electric guitar. This has given her sound more diversity, and even given growth to her creativity, she says.
“I’ve been writing like crazy. What’s interesting about it is it’s got this fresh sort of pop/soul kind of sound. But what I love about it is it’s coming from such an honest place. It feels really authentic. And that’s something that I’ve always strived for as a writer and as a performer—to really just convey what I feel. And I feel more confident about the stuff I’ve been creating recently than ever before.”
Davidson is thrilled to be performing at LouFest, and plans to try out some new songs there this weekend. She’s been following her passion for some time now, and she can’t wait to continue her journey.
“Most of my time is music. It’s more than just a job. There is no backup plan—there is nothing that I want to do more than write music, share music, utilize music to make the world better in some way,” she says. Then after a pause, she adds, “It’s big. What my vision is and my dream is, is big.”
And this talented, high-spirited artist has nothing but great opportunities ahead to help her achieve that dream.
Andrea Davidson performs on the BMI Stage on Sunday September 8, at 1:45 p.m. For more info, visit our LouFest Guide, or go to loufest.com.
