Meet Olivia Millerschin | Singer/Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olivia Millerschin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
What makes me most happy is connection and communication with others via similarities (and also differences). I think oftentimes music, and other art forms, allow us to speak to and understand each other in a gentler and more empathetic way. I often find myself making sense of people and occurrences in my life through music and art that reminds me of them. For me, live performance has been a particular source of happiness and a connector because the face-to-face aspect allows dialogue and directness with a diverse group of people.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My music and musical career has been a winding road. I’ve been fortunate enough to explore every aspect of this career, from writing/composing to live performance to engineering/production work. I would say the one challenge yet strength I have is that my music is not a project to me, it’s just me. That has, at times, made it difficult to not take every little thing personal, but as I’ve gotten older it has gotten easier. Ultimately, I think it’s a strength that allows me to appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds who want to be seen for exactly who they are, fears, failures, wins, and in-betweens. I really love and listen to all genres of music, but I, myself, am solidified in this sweet, introspective songwriter genre, and that’s fine by me. I want the world to know that whatever you are and whatever I am is totally good and fine and worthy of sharing with others.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have been the luckiest ever to tour the entire United States, and many countries outside of them, but I love, love, love Detroit. If I had a friend visiting for a week, I would focus on exploring our many parks (a few of my favorites: Belle Isle, Quarton, Riverwalk, Capitol) and markets (Eastern, AA Art Fair, Berkley Art Fair, the many Farmer’s Markets), as well as take them up in the thumb to swim in Lake Huron, my favorite Great Lake and those beaches are particularly less-crowded. As far as food and drink, I would take them to the many INCREDIBLE places we have: Mabel Gray, Vecino, Bella Piatti, Chenin, Voyager, El Barzon, Kamper’s, Cacao Tree, TwoBirds, Vesper, Collect, Bronx Bar, Leila, Alpino, Takoi, and Wright And Company, to name a few. As far as shows and live music, I would love to hit Cliff Bell’s, the Masonic, or an outside concert at the Aretha Franklin Ampitheatre.
Our city is one of the most culturally-beautiful and diverse places I’ve been and I’m honored to be from here and show it off to friends and visitors!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are tons of individuals worthy of a shoutout for making me into the person and artist I’ve become. On both the personal and artistic sides, my Grandmother Isabelle is responsible for booking my first gig at a Caribou Coffee. I felt so overwhelmed and underprepared at the time, but she inquired about their booking of live music and they graciously booked me. The performances there turned into a weekly occurrence, forcing me to better my playing and writing crafts, communicate with an audience, and gain confidence.
Coincidentally, Isabelle’s early-life studies of opera and classical voice are what inspired me to begin my vocal training at 7 or 8-years-old.

Website: https://www.oliviadear.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviadearmusic/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OliviaDearMusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/OliviaMillerschin

Image Credits
All family-taken.