Mainstream music may crowd top-hit playlists and play repeatedly on the radio, but new up-and-coming artists from time to time break away from the norm, letting their creativity and originality shine. Patrick Shafer — a senior biology major who goes by the stage name Pat for Now — is a prime example.
“A lot of kids my age and just independent artists and people who try to make music in general tend to stick to the mainstream,” Shafer said. “They like to make what other people like to hear and they cater to (the) mainstream.”
Shafer strives to come up with unique songs instead of carbon copies of popular hits.
“All of the artists that I use for inspiration are like that in a way,” Shafer said. “They don’t really make mainstream [music]. They try to just stick to the art in themselves and their creativity and just use that. I feel like people interpret art and have different types of creativity.”
Shafer gets his inspiration from versatile artists like Mac Miller and Chance The Rapper. Both artists influenced his “Broke College Kids” debut mixtape, which was released June 23. Shafer described his mixtape as an “alternative hip-hop, alternative R&B project with a lot of good, melodic singing, combined with quick and seamless rapping flows.”
“I like to incorporate both into the music just so people can enjoy, ‘cause I love rhythm,” he added. “The themes of the tape are just about savoring your youth, enjoying growing up and coming-of-age in general. It’s about learning, making mistakes. But everyone at this age is doing stupid things, they learn from that, they make mistakes, they move on, they grow and that’s the heart of what the album is. It’s also just happy, go-lucky, have fun too.”
While Shafer may have loved music ever since he was little, picking up the saxophone in secondary school, his passion for music grew two years ago when he started researching how to produce music electronically, as well as how to record instruments. Shafer attended webinars and watched hours of YouTube videos in order to learn how to produce music.
This past year, he got in contact with the LA-based, multi-platinum music engineer Vic Cuccia, who has worked with huge artists like Ty Dolla $ign and Jake Miller. Together, they worked to professionally produce “Broke College Kids.”
“[Working with Cuccia] was awesome,” Shafer said. “He’s a really nice guy. He really liked the music that I pitched to him just because it was all good-vibes, very catchy, so he was very excited to work on it. He was a very understanding person. He catered to my needs whenever I wanted and, just beyond that, we really clicked just as people and lovers and understanders of music. I showed him song by song, and then we worked individually on each song.”
While Shafer and Cuccia met online, they quickly exchanged phone numbers and started sending each other audio messages.
“The best thing I got from that experience was the relationship I established with him because that’s a big connection right there, and also it was one of the most fulfilling experiences,” Shafer said. “When you produce a song, and you’re finished producing the song, it sounds good, but it’s just not really high quality, it’s not professional quality. Working with this engineer, he is phenomenal at what he does, so it was amazing and extremely fulfilling to hear all of my songs that I’ve been working on for months sound extremely top-notch and professional, like something you would hear on the radio or on a top-hits chart.”
After working with Cuccia, Shafer’s songs got placed on 30 Spotify featured playlists, including Mark Evans Chills and Vibes, RnB Discoveries, R and also B, Ambient and Study Vibes, Coffeed, Hip Hop Bars, Happy Life, Indie Mellow, Indiependently, Pop Rock Folk Hits and Quice.
While “Broke College Kids” is already out, Shafer plans on releasing three singles during the fall semester. His first single “License Plate” will be released Friday, Sept. 3, in the first week of school.
“(License Plate) is a very upbeat summer kind of song,” Shafer said. “It’s about savoring the present and just enjoying the summer.”
When asked what he would tell fellow students who want to pursue music, he said they should definitely go for it.
“It’s fulfilling. It’s fun. It helps you express yourself. It helps you stay creative. Also, it’s a good way to destress. You have nothing to lose,” Shafer said. “Music is subjective, so if you want to create music and put it out there, that's all power to you. One of the hardest things that I’ve had to overcome is promoting myself and putting myself out there. It’s a gift and curse because the people who love it, they give you a lot of positive feedback, but people who don’t like it, they give you that negative feedback. So, like I said, you’re putting yourself out there.”
Regardless of the positive or negative feedback, for Shafer, the magic is in putting a song together.
“When I have those moments when the juices start flowing in the middle of writing a song or maybe at the very beginning — which is ideal when you first write a song — that’s the moment I live for,” Shafer said.
