The Work of Warriors

Kim Rapach (07:19.978)
Hi Lucy.

Welcome to the work of warriors.

Lucy Cloud (07:26.342)
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to meet you and talk about this more.

Kim Rapach (07:31.685)
I'm so happy that you're here. Thank you for your patience with the technical issues. appreciate it.

Lucy Cloud (07:38.411)
yeah, no worries at all.

Kim Rapach (07:40.468)
So are you still in Nashville?

Lucy Cloud (07:42.768)
Yes, I am. just graduated from Belmont in May. So thank you. Yeah, I'm in Nashville trying to figure out the whole post -grad thing. It's been a little weird, but I don't know. Taking it day by day.

Kim Rapach (07:47.168)
Congratulations.

Kim Rapach (07:57.068)
Yeah, so if you just graduated, then did you start? So you started in like 2020, 2021?

Lucy Cloud (08:04.626)
Yeah, I started during COVID 2020. So yeah, my freshman year didn't really feel like an actual college experience. The year was shortened. We had to go home. We went home for Thanksgiving and didn't come back till January. So it was very strange. But yeah, now I'm here somehow.

Kim Rapach (08:06.856)
Okay, yeah.

Kim Rapach (08:23.211)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (08:28.372)
Yeah, you made it through. Good job. You had a few extra challenges along the way, I'm sure. But I'm so happy that you're here. Now, were you born in Nashville? Are you from that area originally anyway?

Lucy Cloud (08:43.794)
No, I'm actually from LA. Yeah, so I was born and raised in LA and then I wanted to do music and so thought that like Nashville would be the spot. And then once I looked into Belmont, it looked like exactly like what I wanted to do. So yeah.

Kim Rapach (08:45.631)
Okay.

Kim Rapach (09:00.79)
Yeah, probably met some amazing musicians, I'm sure.

Lucy Cloud (09:04.914)
Yeah, definitely a lot of inspirational people here and just like even my friends like that I've met through the program are just so incredibly talented.

Kim Rapach (09:16.032)
Yeah. Now were you at Porter's Call this week? Or not Porter's Call, I'm sorry, an evening of stories?

Lucy Cloud (09:19.875)
No.

No, I was not.

Kim Rapach (09:24.63)
You have a visitor?

Lucy Cloud (09:26.616)
sorry, it's my cats. my god. They keep opening and shutting my door. Sorry, let me shut my door just so that... Ladies! Get out of here. I'm so sorry about that.

Kim Rapach (09:29.406)
I just... I just... no worries, okay.

Kim Rapach (09:42.777)
It's so funny because I'll edit all this out, but about a half an hour before our call. So I have a little Shih Tzu. have three dogs. I have two big doodles and a little Shih Tzu and the little Shih Tzu has a recently diagnosed seizure disorder.

And right at like 1230, she had a seizure and I was like, God, what do I do? And I know what to do, but sometimes it takes like an hour. And what's really, really strange is for about 15 minutes, she's a little like, where am I? And then all of sudden she gets like this burst of energy. She's starving. So I brought her in here and she was just circling around my office, which she never does. Usually she hops in her bed and she's like, good night, have fun at work. And the worst is like hearing her snore.

Lucy Cloud (09:59.503)
no.

Lucy Cloud (10:09.124)
Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (10:22.441)
my god.

Lucy Cloud (10:26.726)
Ha ha!

Kim Rapach (10:29.344)
But I could just see her circling behind me and I'm like, okay, I'm so sorry, you have to go to your crib. So I had the exact same issue.

Lucy Cloud (10:33.092)
my god. She's having the zoomies. Yes, I understand. I'm like, y 'all? God, like, and we have two, so I have a cat and my roommate has a cat, and so they love to just play all the time. I can still hear them like outside of my door right now, but I, anyway, sorry about that.

Kim Rapach (10:38.706)
When I saw your door open, I'm like, I know that's an animal. It's either that or a ghost.

Kim Rapach (10:56.844)
No worries, it's cute. My doodles, I can't have them in here when I'm working because the golden doodle especially, once I start talking, he's like, I want to talk to you and he'll climb up and get in my face and he's, you know, 55 pounds.

Lucy Cloud (11:08.39)
Yes.

Kim Rapach (11:13.278)
So you're in Nashville still trying to figure out post -grad. so I'll just fully confess. I heard your song crash and learn. Absolutely love it. And it is just so much in alignment with the work that I do in the industry. And I was wondering if you would just tell me a little backstory about how you wrote the song, what it was inspired from and maybe even, you know, why.

Lucy Cloud (11:24.818)
Thank you.

Lucy Cloud (11:39.11)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (11:42.73)
You said yes to the work of warriors today.

Lucy Cloud (11:45.958)
Yeah, of course. Well, first of all, I was like so off guard or I don't know, I was just really cool when you reached out to me because I was like, wait, she wants me on her podcast? feel like I'm still like, figuring things out. But yeah, so I thought that that was really cool. And I think that the work that you do is really impressive. And I think especially nowadays, like mental health is so, so important. And so I think

It's just really important to talk about it. And that's like why I do music is to, you know, have a way to express my, my mental health and, know, all the emotions I feel. So specifically with Crash and Learn, it was my freshman year at Belmont. And I had recently gone through, a friendship breakup with kind of like my friends from high school.

And so I was starting college with only a few friends from back home. And so it was kind of, it felt very like isolating and it was also like during COVID. So it was just kind of a hard time overall. then every, like every write that I had had been about this, but I couldn't get like exactly what I wanted to say, you know?

Because I was kind of writing about the different stages of kind of grief. Like, the person didn't die, but they were a part of your life for so long. And so for that to just switch all of a sudden, it's kind of hard to go back to doing what you were doing in your day -to -day life. And so, yeah, I wrote the song with Seth Mosley and Justin Morgan.

and it was my first co -write in Nashville. I was pretty nervous. I walk in. I know I walk in and there's like Grammys on the wall and like, what am I doing here? I'm like, I don't know. Like, am I in the right place? Are you sure you guys want me to be in here? But they were super nice. Really, really cool, genuine guys. I loved, I loved working with them. And I just, we just kind of like had like our notes app out or something like that.

Kim Rapach (13:42.592)
That's a big co- write there's some big names.

Lucy Cloud (14:09.318)
and I was just kind of talking to them about the situation. And I think that's kind of the best way to start a write, at least for me, just because like, once you get to know the other person, or they get to know you, and you just start writing things down as like they're talking, and you don't even realize that like some of the things that you say could be lyrics. And so that was really cool. Because I was just like talking about like things that this friend had said to me.

you know, and how it was just like, well, like, there's nothing I can do at this point. I've, I've like, apologized a certain amount of times, like, you know, there's, comes to a point where there's not much you can do. So I was just like, let me just try to write about it. And Seth had this idea. He was like, crash and learn. I was like,

That's a really cool idea. Cause you always hear crash and burn, but you never really hear crash and learn. And so we were just kind of like sitting on that for a little bit. And then I feel like the writing process came so like effortlessly. I feel like the more I just like opened up to them, we were able to just get things out. And like a lot of the lyrics are very personal to me. Like,

Kim Rapach (15:11.296)
Mm

Lucy Cloud (15:37.046)
if I'm, whenever I like perform Crush and Learn, if you know me, you know that I'm like a very anxious person. And so like my hands shake a lot. So there's this one lyric in the song that's like, even if my hands are shaking, like something like that. So sometimes when I perform, I'm like, and even if my hands don't shake, can, you know, just like funny stuff like that. But I don't know the song. It was like the first time I made a song where I felt like

okay, this is really cool. This is what I want. This is like the sound that I want. This is the meaning of the song was coming across the way that I wanted. And I was really, really excited about having like, I kind of wanted like a Gossipel choir, but it ended up just being the three of us recording to like make that choir happen. And so that was really, really cool.

Just kind of standing away from the mic and standing in different parts of the room. And so yeah, it was truly like such an amazing first writing experience in Nashville to be able to write with such incredible people. And just like for them to just hear me out, I was like 19 at the time, you know? They're like, we don't really know this girl. But yeah, was really definitely healing to write that song.

Kim Rapach (17:04.096)
Well, it's healing to listen to it as well. You should know that. So I've got a few decades on you and it even touched me in my life. So thank you for that. And thank you for bringing your gifts into the world. And, know, you said you were taken aback a bit because, know, you, would want you on the podcast. And I think there are plenty of podcasts where.

Lucy Cloud (17:06.226)
Thank you.

Kim Rapach (17:27.552)
there's well -known celebrities and famous people and high profile personalities, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. But I think we need a space for people who are starting in their career, people who don't want to be famous. my whole intention with this podcast is to debunk this idea that

Lucy Cloud (17:42.812)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Kim Rapach (17:53.33)
If you're famous and if you're successful, then you'll finally be happy because that's what a lot of people are chasing. And I want to help artists stick to their art, whatever that means. And there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to be famous. I just want people to enjoy that and enjoy the whole process, the ups and the downs, you know, and I think if you only have people on your...

podcaster on your show who are well known, think that exacerbates the problem.

Lucy Cloud (18:24.816)
Yeah, that's a really good point. Because you want to, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you.

Kim Rapach (18:27.05)
And that's the, no, no, that's okay. I was just going to say that's, that's the opposite of what I want to communicate. I want to communicate that every artist matters. Everybody has something they bring into the world and you don't have to be well known to have worth in value in this world.

Lucy Cloud (18:34.759)
Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (18:46.291)
I really appreciate you saying that because it gets really hard, know, especially in Nashville, like being an artist where there's so many more artists that are like a lot more well known and I just graduated, so I'm just trying to figure this thing out. And I feel like sometimes with the business side of music, they don't care as much about like the artist or the artist development. And so I really appreciate what you said because I think it's really important to

show the artist any stage of their life, you know? Whether it's just in the beginning or if they just had a song that just took off or whatever. So I think that's really cool that you do that.

Kim Rapach (19:26.358)
Well, thank you. What I look for when I'm going through social media is not who has a million followers. It's often what they're talking about and what they're singing about, what they're writing about. And so obviously the lyrics to crash and learn like, you know, it was like head turn like, wait, what? Plus you sound amazing. There's that. But also the lyrics, when lyrics stopped me in my track, I just thought, okay, that I want to talk to that person.

Lucy Cloud (19:38.566)
Mm

Lucy Cloud (19:44.146)
Thank you.

Kim Rapach (19:53.418)
And sometimes people respond and sometimes they don't. So thank you for saying yes.

Lucy Cloud (19:57.146)
Yes, of course. I was so excited for this. It's like my first ever, like, I don't know, my first thing like this, so I don't know. I was excited.

Kim Rapach (19:59.498)
Okay.

Kim Rapach (20:04.778)
Awesome. Well, I'm super glad to have you. Do you want to say a little bit more about whether it be your own experience, your own adversity, or just why it's important to you? Maybe it's your values. Why mental health is so important for us to be talking about? Because on the podcast, I really want to normalize the conversation. And you said something about music is a way for me to express all the feelings that I have.

Lucy Cloud (20:33.17)
you

Kim Rapach (20:33.616)
And I love that so much because we're still in a time in the world where people think that if they have painful emotions that there's something wrong with them. And if you're human and you're fully alive in your life, you're going to feel all of the emotions. And I love that you just normalized that. And I would love for you to say a little more.

Lucy Cloud (20:51.164)
Mm -hmm.

Lucy Cloud (20:56.91)
Yeah, of course. when I was younger, I struggled with anxiety and I've kind of struggled with it like my whole life. I never really knew like what to do about it. And then I started writing and I was like, well, if I just like write about how I feel, it feels like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And then once I started like getting into songwriting more,

The first song I ever wrote was actually about, I was in like seventh grade, I think I was 12. And it was this kid that told me that he was depressed and I didn't really know how to deal with it at the time. So I wrote the song about it and I shared it with him. And it was just like, I want you to be okay. And like, you know, I didn't really know how to handle the situation. So that's how I handled it. Because that's how I knew to respond, I guess.

And

Kim Rapach (21:56.362)
What was his response?

Lucy Cloud (21:58.918)
His or s I don't even -

I think he was...

I think he appreciated it, but he was also just like...

Kim Rapach (22:11.358)
In seventh grade.

Lucy Cloud (22:12.59)
Yeah, in seventh grade, so like nervous that I would like, you know, tell a teacher or something. So, yeah. But, yeah, I've always, I've always been the emotional type, the overthinker, all that. But I think it's so important to just talk about that. Like all the like artists that I find inspiration from, you know.

They talk about their lives. They talk about their struggles. They talk about obstacles that they've been through. They talk about like religious trauma. think that's really interesting. They talk about, I don't know, like being a woman in this society, like just a bunch of things that need to be talked about, but are often, I wouldn't like maybe like look down upon. I don't know if that's the right word to say, but.

Kim Rapach (23:07.894)
Well, maybe topics that are still somewhat taboo in our society. Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (23:10.628)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so when I was younger, kind of for a while, I didn't feel like I had a voice. And so now I'm, you know, becoming more of who I am. And I want to be that voice for others who feel like they don't have a voice. And I want to help people like find the strength to stand up for themselves. And you know, because

I had a lot of people tell me like, you have to speak up, you you have to do this and that like when I was younger. So that would just make me retrieve back into my little shell. And then I don't know, like a bunch of stuff happened in high school that had to kind of shift my perspective about life and just who I am. And I don't know, I just think that like,

Expressing your emotions, I feel like is the only way to move forward, you know? Because if you're just keeping it all inside, you're going to be miserable. You're not going to want to talk to other people. You're not going to be like living your living life to its like fullest potential. So I just think, I don't know, I really, I just want to make music for the people that felt like how I

used to feel and sometimes still feel but I don't know it's a journey for sure.

Kim Rapach (24:47.188)
Yeah, yeah, being human is a journey for sure. Yeah. Well, again, I appreciate that you're normalizing the entire human experience as opposed, you know, there's there's eras that we've gone through in our world. And we're still very much in an era where we're trying to run from our pain. And we're trying to numb out and there's so many convenient ways to do that. And what you're saying, as a young artist is the only way

Lucy Cloud (24:51.686)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (25:16.692)
to return to yourself. The only way to live your life fully is to go through those emotions and not try to escape them.

Lucy Cloud (25:25.308)
And it's hard, like I'm not gonna sit here and be like, yeah, it's so easy to just talk about my emotions. No, it's taken me time. I've definitely learned a lot. I've definitely had moments where I'm like, I just feel like I'm in a rut and you know, it's just hard. But if you just keep moving through it, like that's the only way, that's the only way to do it is to just go through it, you know?

Kim Rapach (25:54.282)
Yeah, I love that so much. So I mean, I'm a coach and I used to be a therapist. And so I don't have it all, you know, tied in a nice little bow either. And it's more I think the process and the tools, you know, the definition of a warrior for the work of warriors is someone who fights for themselves first.

Lucy Cloud (26:00.678)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (26:16.754)
so that they can show up for the rest of the world. Whereas we live in a world that says, take care of everybody else and have a servant heart and put yourself out there and work hard and hustle and people do all of those things and then they find themselves miserable. But when we reverse that and we say, let me start with me. What do I need?

Lucy Cloud (26:27.989)
Mm

Kim Rapach (26:41.248)
You know, am I hungry? Am I thirsty? Am I tired? Let's just start with the basics. And then figure out what I need. And like you said, go through it. And when, you know, when life throws us those curve balls and we all have them, right? To be on this, you know, on this earth, you're going to go through adversity and you know, you're going to go through the ups and you're going to go through the downs, but going through it, like you said, is the only way.

Lucy Cloud (26:44.284)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Kim Rapach (27:10.536)
And so for me, I know in my past, I've shared that I've had a lot of experience with just darkness and depression and trauma. And it is that every day showing up and not necessarily like discipline, but like a commitment, keeping a promise to myself. So I know what works for me, but I would ask you.

Lucy Cloud (27:31.012)
Mm -hmm.

Kim Rapach (27:36.982)
How do you go through it? Like are there daily non -negotiables that you kind of come out of the gate with? Or are there things that you do when you hit those darker days? Can you share some of that?

Lucy Cloud (27:50.411)
Yeah, think honestly like I'm still working through it, but sometimes I just

Okay, often when I write, I don't mean to be a perfectionist, but I'm like, if it doesn't sound a certain way, I have to delete the whole thing or whatever. And it's like, sometimes you just need to sit at your desk, write whatever you're feeling, don't judge it, just get it out, word vomit, before you like actually write something good, you know? So sometimes I just have to like force myself to sit down and write, but.

Also, I don't want writing to become like a burden, like something I have to do. So I also have a lot of other outlets, like creative outlets that I like to do. I'm really into like drawing and painting and like my roommate and I have gotten into like making little magnets, like with clay, just like little stuff like that, that like keeps the creative juices flowing, even if it's not like.

directly writing a song. I also really love collaging. I would love to incorporate some of my collaging as like artwork for my music. I think that would be really cool. But yeah, I just kind of.

Like take a deep breath, put everything in perspective. And then it's like, okay, I have a bunch of different outlets of like creative outlets that I know can help me feel better. So I'll just do those. I'll just listen to music. Sometimes I'll have like a comfort show on or something. And then I'm a really big like walker. I love to walk. I love to be outside.

Lucy Cloud (29:39.122)
Unfortunately, it's been like 100 degrees in Nashville recently. So I haven't been doing as much walking as I'd like. But even just like getting outside and just walking around your like neighborhood or wherever you live just can like help you feel so much better. And I don't know, like I'll be home and I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing with my life. Like it'll just be one of those days. I'm like, girl, like just go outside, listen to some music, walk around. Like, and then I'm like, I feel better.

And then sometimes, you know, sometimes I'll journal. I would like to journal more. I don't journal every day, but I should. think it would be cool to like look back on because I have a lot of journals, you know, from throughout my life that I've looked back on. it's like, wow, I was in that stage and I was feeling this like that way. And now I'm feeling so much better. Or just like, I don't know. So it's kind of cool to like reflect.

I feel like this year I've probably done like the most reflecting on my life than I ever have before, just because it was like my last year of school ever. And so I was like, well, after this, I'm just going to have to figure it out. And so I don't know. But yeah, I think finding things like healthy habits and

like creative outlets can be very, very helpful when you're feeling just, when it's just not a good day for you, you know.

Kim Rapach (31:16.214)
You've named some really powerful mental health tools from breath work to creativity. I always tell my clients have things to do that are creative that have nothing to do with giving them away to anybody else. They have nothing to do with, with your craft, with your music. And then nature is magical. And so, you know, those are, mean, three top mental health tools that I think we should all put in our pocket. what are your.

Lucy Cloud (31:28.902)
Mm.

Lucy Cloud (31:35.558)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (31:47.428)
I'm thinking of the, you know, the idea of a warrior, someone who chooses to take care of themselves chooses to fight from the for themselves. Usually they've already been in some kind of dark season, and they don't want to go back. Right. And I'm wondering for you, what is it about you or your values that make it possible to fight for yourself because some people don't even have that right, they don't know that they're worth fighting for.

Lucy Cloud (31:59.026)
Mm

Lucy Cloud (32:15.59)
Hmm.

Kim Rapach (32:17.438)
And so how did you learn that?

Lucy Cloud (32:22.238)
let's see. would, I mean, I'm very lucky and grateful to have like such a good support system. Like my parents, my friends, my boyfriend, you know, they've like always been there for me. So I think that's something that's been like, I don't take advantage of that for one second, because I know there's a lot of people who don't have that. And I feel like I, I definitely need.

people around me to either like keep me accountable or just, you know, help me out on those days that I just don't believe in myself, you know? And also my dad is a psychologist and therapist. And so I think I learned a lot from him just like growing up that I've kind of used in my day to day.

life. I don't know that answers your question.

Kim Rapach (33:25.952)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you said, I wanted to say thank you because you said, on days I don't believe in myself. And I think that's so important for us, again, to normalize that, that we all have those days.

Lucy Cloud (33:42.053)
Mm

Kim Rapach (33:45.224)
And it's not the end, right? It's not the end of the story. It's not even necessarily the end of the day. But we all have those days where we doubt ourselves. We're questioning, why did I decide to do this again? And I don't know about you, but with, you know, I mean, I've struggled with anxiety too. And, you know, I just laugh because I think if we're honest, there's days where.

Lucy Cloud (33:56.583)
Mm

Kim Rapach (34:06.772)
We're like, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna chase this big dream. I'm gonna do this. And even the podcast, right? I was like, I want to podcast me amazing. We're going to talk to artists. And I had this big plan in the first interview. was like, shaking in my shoes. And you know, it like all red and so anxious. And then you question yourself, like, why did I agree to do this? Why don't I just go work at Home Depot or something? am I putting myself out here like this?

Lucy Cloud (34:15.75)
Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (34:30.0)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (34:33.54)
and I just so appreciate that you said on the days I don't believe in myself, like that's just normal. Thank you for saying that.

Lucy Cloud (34:40.954)
Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's just the way it is. And I think it's really important to normalize that. Cause I feel like it's, it's hard. I don't know. I don't want to say like, it's hard being a songwriter. Cause obviously there's so many other jobs, well -respected jobs that are very hard, but I just mean the fact that like, I'm just like, my songs are just me, you know, it's like the most vulnerable version of myself is what I'm giving to the listener. So.

It's, yeah, it can be overwhelming, because it's like, how much of my life do I want to share? Or how do I want to word this certain experience that happened? I think I'm kind of still figuring that out a little bit. There's definitely a few topics that I want to write about, but I haven't.

written about them in song form yet. I do also like to write poetry and like short stories. And so I think that can be really helpful to just free write. And then if I'm like looking for inspiration when I'm like songwriting, I can like look back on those. But yeah, I mean, not like it's hard and in the songwriting program, they, you know, they told us this, they were like.

The music industry is rough. Like not every day is going to be sunshine and rainbows. You're going to have your hard days. And so I think to know that that's the reality, you just have to accept that. And I think it would be worse if I was just expecting every single day to be perfect. you know, then, cause then I wouldn't know how to face like the hard days. And sometimes the hard days, even though they're like super rough to handle and you

feel like you're just like melting into a hole, you know? That is what drives the inspiration. That's what drives songs like Crash and Learn, for example, because you can be so down feeling all this type of way. And then once you start talking about it a little, expressing it, you're like, wait, I can make this into a song that could potentially help other people and...

Lucy Cloud (37:05.978)
I thought that I was just alone in this experience, feeling this by myself. But that's one of my favorite parts about music is you can be able to relate your experiences with other people. Even if it's not the exact same experience, music can be interpreted in whatever way you want it to be. And so I think that's really special and really important.

yeah, sorry. I feel like I just keep going on tangents and getting like laws.

Kim Rapach (37:40.55)
I love listening to you. It's making perfect sense to me. know, the songwriting process when you said, what did you say something like the the most real version of myself is what I'm giving to the listener. And you know, the word vulnerable came to mind for me, like it's so vulnerable. And

Lucy Cloud (37:44.324)
Okay, that's good.

Lucy Cloud (37:56.602)
Mm

Lucy Cloud (38:02.491)
It really is.

Kim Rapach (38:05.388)
So much of what you're describing as a songwriter and as a musician, I think applies to the human condition. Right? You were talking about, there's still things I want to write about. There's parts I want to share, but I'm not sure. And I'm like, me too. I'm going to be 53 this week. And I'm like, yeah, me too. I don't know. I still don't know. And that's okay. Because when I just think when we do our work,

Lucy Cloud (38:14.364)
Mm -hmm.

Lucy Cloud (38:21.094)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (38:32.042)
when we're honest about our feelings, when we have a strong community, whether it's, you know, through community mentorship or therapy or coaching, whatever it may be, when we're doing that vulnerable work on our emotions and our stories, like you said, that's where going through the painful pieces, that's where the inspiration comes from. And that's where the healing comes from. And then that's how we turn it back around and give it away in a healthy way.

Lucy Cloud (39:00.774)
Yeah, exactly. And I think that's so beautiful and magical.

Kim Rapach (39:05.802)
Yeah, and unfortunately, and sadly, there are plenty of artists who give their gifts away, but sacrifice themselves first. And it's so tragic because in one, you know, in one sense or another, we end up losing them. And so again, that's why I think these conversations are so important to hear how an artist processes not only how to write a song and how to bring it into the world, but how to stay upright in a world that's hard.

And in, know, messy relationships and pandemics and just, you know, the whole human condition. So it's very inspirational to, to hear that. And again, I think your song, and I know you have lots of beautiful songs, by the way, that's not the only one, but it is admittedly my favorite descriptor of, of what it's like to be human, that you have to go through that in order to come out on the other side stronger.

Lucy Cloud (39:39.057)
Mm

Lucy Cloud (39:54.886)
Yeah, no, thank you.

Lucy Cloud (40:03.322)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Kim Rapach (40:04.04)
It's not about avoiding the crash, right? It's, how do I go through this and come out with more strength and resiliency?

Lucy Cloud (40:07.428)
Exactly. It's gonna, yeah.

Yeah, I think something that my dad taught me when I was younger that I definitely like have used throughout my life. cause I used to, I used to like get anxiety attacks and not know what it was cause I was so young. And then once I kind of like got a little older, my dad started to explain it to me from, you know, the like psychologist point of view, like what it actually, like what's actually happening and all that. I was like, this is crazy. But like, how do I,

How do I deal with it? And he was like, okay, what you have to do when you feel the anxiety, you just have to let it, you just have to feel it. You just have to let it, but don't let it consume you, but just feel it and then just go through it. You know? And I get really anxious about, I don't know, just random things, meeting new people or having a right with someone or just whatever. it makes, it forces me to

be uncomfortable. And I already kind of feel like I'm in kind of an uncomfortable stage in my life because like I said, I'm post grad so I'm figuring that out. So I think it's kind of been.

I've been trying to...

Lucy Cloud (41:32.508)
just put myself out there more because I can't let my anxiety control me or else like then what am I doing? Then like what is the point of all the songs that I've written and like all the progress that I've made in my life if I'm just gonna let anxiety control me. So.

Yeah, I just lost my train of thought, but that keeps happening, sorry.

Kim Rapach (41:59.209)
Okay.

Lucy Cloud (42:05.328)
Yeah, I don't know. It's really, it's a day by day thing, but it's also like, you have to push through it. You have to persevere. It's like the feeling of anxiety, it'll be there, but it depends on like your reaction. Are you gonna let it consume you? Are you just gonna stay in your room all day? Or are you gonna face the anxiety and be like, okay, yes, I'm feeling anxious.

whatever, I'm gonna still go grab coffee with a friend. So I think that's been something that I've been trying to work on more.

Kim Rapach (42:48.214)
So can I ask, were you anxious coming on the call today? Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah, I do too, yeah. And I can, I don't know about you, but I confuse anxiety with excitement. Sometimes I really have to stop and dial in to myself and go, wait, are you anxious or are you just really excited? Sometimes they feel very similar.

Lucy Cloud (42:51.908)
A little bit, yes. Yeah, but I think that's normal, right?

Lucy Cloud (43:02.384)
Hmm.

Lucy Cloud (43:08.848)
Yeah.

That's very true.

Kim Rapach (43:13.546)
Yeah, you think about things that we get the most anxious about, at least for me, are things that I've asked for and things that I've worked for and things that I've prayed for. then I step in, I'm like, why did I want this? Anytime, you know, I'm speaking publicly or whatever. I'm so excited until like about two days before. And then I'm like, why do I keep doing this to myself?

Lucy Cloud (43:24.807)
Yeah.

Yes.

Lucy Cloud (43:35.696)
I know exactly what you mean or it's like, finally get a band together, we're gonna practice my songs and then it's like, wait, are my songs even good? Do you guys think I'm actually good? Am I just like, know, imposter syndrome is definitely a big one that I have to deal with.

Kim Rapach (43:48.054)
Yep.

Kim Rapach (43:52.458)
Yeah. Well, Lucy, I would ask you if someone were listening to this and maybe having a hard time, maybe experiencing a lot of anxiety or, you know, those darker emotions or even maybe even feeling like giving up, whether it be on the industry or themselves, and they were listening to this, what would you say?

Lucy Cloud (44:16.636)
I would say it's hard. I've been there, but there is another side. You can get through it. There are a lot of different ways of coping. And I think whether you're a creative or not, I think it's important to express those emotions. And even if you don't feel like you can talk about it with somebody, just write it down.

just at least get it out of your system. Because the more, like when you're just like going through that cycle of just dark thoughts and depression, it's really just like an endless cycle. But I feel like once you kind of get it off your chest a little bit, whether that's talking to someone, whether that's writing it down, whether that's literally talking to yourself in your own room, like talking to your cat, talking to your dog, whatever it is.

it can be really, really helpful and eye -opening to just say everything out loud. I think, I don't know, I'm, like I said before, I'm an introvert and I'm often an observer, like of other people. And so for like most of my life, I kept a lot of what I was thinking like inside. But then once I started just,

letting it out is when I started to feel better. And I'll go through this all the time. Like, I'm like, I'm gonna write, I don't know what to write about. I just feel like bad, whatever. And then once I start writing it, it feels like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulder. So yeah, I would say

Even when it doesn't seem like there's hope, there always is, you just really have to push forward and it's gonna be hard and it's really good to have people around you if you can. And if you can't, you know.

Lucy Cloud (46:35.652)
music, it's always just come back and listen to Crash and Learn. Just, just because yeah, I mean, I'm not trying to like promote myself, but it just that song specifically. That song specifically has just like, it's really cool. It's helped a lot of people. I've gotten like a lot of DMs and people are like, you know, people from all different ages and all different parts of their life, I think can relate to it. And I think that's really,

Kim Rapach (46:40.886)
There you go.

Kim Rapach (46:48.074)
Okay if you do, I'm promoting it.

Lucy Cloud (47:05.114)
very special and it's something that I want to continue to do.

Kim Rapach (47:09.664)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you're probably familiar with, you know, this idea of like external validation. And it's hard as a creative to not want it right or to not depend on it. But what I hear you say is you have that internal validation. And that's, you know, I think that's evidence in not like the popularity of your music.

Lucy Cloud (47:19.246)
Of course.

Lucy Cloud (47:23.632)
here.

Kim Rapach (47:38.014)
But in those DMs that say, hey, this, I mean, that's why I reached out to you. This song is powerful. This song relates to what I think collectively all of us experience on a regular basis, at least at some point in our lives, but probably on a regular basis. And, you know, to use that as validation to know you're doing what you were put here to do and that, you know, just to remind you to keep going.

Lucy Cloud (47:45.191)
Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (47:54.802)
Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (48:03.634)
Yeah.

It's a journey for sure. And I'm only 22, so I feel like I'm just beginning the journey, but sometimes I feel like, my God, I've lived a life. But you just keep moving through them.

Kim Rapach (48:18.863)
Yep. And then you wake up and you know, you've you're 50 and you're like, I've had a life. And guess what? You just keep going. Trying to make an impact and keep using your gifts and keep bringing them into the world.

Lucy Cloud (48:24.26)
Yeah.

Mm hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, because the best part is hearing back from other people, like hearing that I've actually helped another person with a song that I like made in my room, you know? And for someone to reach out and be like, hey, like this song really resonated with like me and my situation and I just want to thank you. I'm like, that's when it like hits and it's like, okay, this is what motivates me to like keep doing what I want to do. Yeah. Thank you.

Kim Rapach (48:41.002)
Yeah.

Kim Rapach (48:55.882)
Yeah, well good work.

How can people find you if they want to hear your music, if they want to follow you, learn more about your story or book you? How can people find you?

Lucy Cloud (49:09.936)
Yeah, so you can find my website is lucycloudmusic .com and then all of my like, acts are at Lucy Cloud Music on Instagram, Twitter, I guess X is what they call Twitter now, but Facebook, all that. I've been trying to use TikTok more. And I've been, I kind of want to start like a new series of just like post grad life and show

kind of the reality of it and just like how I'm coping with it every day. Not every day, like, I don't know. I'm thinking of doing something like that. But yeah, it's just at Lucy Cloud Music. I'm gonna be updating my website soon. So keep an eye out for that. And yeah, I'm working on some things and yeah, I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Kim Rapach (50:07.052)
Well, I look forward to watching what's coming for you. I know it'll be special. Thank you for being here.

Lucy Cloud (50:10.553)
Thank you.

Lucy Cloud (50:14.524)
Thank you so much for having me. feel like this is like, this is exactly why I do music, you know? So I'm so happy that I saw your DM and that we could figure this out because it's really special what you do and I'm glad that I got to be a part of it.

Kim Rapach (50:30.476)
Well, I think I reached out to you back in the day. I was in Nashville doing in -person interviews, and I think I invited you and you were actually going to be on tour. you in London or something? I feel like you were in Europe.

Lucy Cloud (50:39.036)
No.

Lucy Cloud (50:48.37)
I haven't been on tour, but I have been to Europe. Maybe it was for something else. I'm not sure.

Kim Rapach (50:56.7)
Okay, maybe I just made that. It's like I'm gonna be in Europe. Made that assumption. So and that was even before I had the podcast. So it was a while ago. Yeah. Yeah, period. Yeah. Very fun. All right. Thank you for being here. I really, really appreciate it. And we'll make sure to share all of your information in the show notes. And I look forward to keeping in touch.

Lucy Cloud (51:01.307)
Yeah.

Lucy Cloud (51:06.807)
wow. my gosh, and look how far you've come. Crazy.

Lucy Cloud (51:21.778)
Yes.

Thank you so much for having me. I really had such a great time.

Kim Rapach (51:28.318)
Awesome, it was great to have you Lucy, thank you.

Lucy Cloud (51:30.524)
Thank you.