Meet Julian Bennett: Music Artist & Creative

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

Hi Julian, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
For me it’s always been about expressing myself. I feel like everyone expresses their creativity in one way or another. Growing up, I never really found an outlet where I was able to do that. It wasn’t until my later years in high school when I realized that I had a gift for writing lyrics. I’ve always been a good writer and even though school was always uninteresting to me, English was still my favorite subject. I mean like I would write a paper in 15-20 minutes and get an A on it, so that was natural for me. Once I started making songs and showing them to people, seeing their amazed reactions kind of lit a fire in me like “Ok i can do this for real”. Pursuing my career in music was really a no-brainer. I’ve always done the opposite of what I felt like society wants me to do, so the traditional route of going to school and picking a job I have no interest in was never really appealing to me. I feel like life should be much simpler than that. Like just go with your gut on things and don’t listen to the outside world. 

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Music is everything to me, and it’s taken a lot for me to get to this point. I’m still growing and learning new things every day, so I’m nowhere near my final form; but it’s honestly just been a lot of trial and error, especially on the recording side. You have to know who you are and what your identity is as an artist. It took me a while to fully understand my brand and what I wanted to be. I think most people mess up because they try to imitate what they see out there or try to give off a persona that they themselves don’t even identify with. My life has always been the opposite. I spent years trying to run away from the label of being the “black sheep”, until one day I realized that, that was the thing that separated me from everyone else. The moment I stopped looking at it as a flaw and saw it as an edge was when I figured it out. I am the black sheep, and now I embrace that everywhere I go. You hear a lot of elements of that in my music especially in my new EP I just dropped called “Hell on Earth”. It’s my proudest moment as an artist so far because I really immersed myself in the music and took my sound to a whole new level. I’m excited for people to hear it!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If somebody is visiting Houston for the first time I would suggest starting your day out at “The Breakfast Klub”. It’s a black-owned restaurant in midtown and it’s so good I wake up dreaming about it sometimes. Seriously, it’s that good! If you’re ever in the area and just drive by there in the middle of the day you’ll see a line around the corner. After that, you’ll probably want to chill for a little bit, a good spot I go to hang out sometimes is this park in downtown Houston called “Discovery Green”. It’s always an event that’s going on there especially on the weekend, but for the most part it’s just a cool spot to hangout. If the park gets a little to relaxed for you, you can always hit one of the best malls in the country, “the Galleria”. They have every store you can think, including high end designer stores like Louis Vuitton & Saint Laurent. If you’re in one of those you might bump into a celebrity or two. There’s so many things you can do in the city so it’s really just whatever you’re in the mood for.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family has been very supportive in my endeavors. Maybe not quite at first, but I think the moment they saw I was serious with music, they’ve been my backbone. My mom has been my #1 fan since the moment she heard my first song. Every chance that she gets to tell anybody about me she does. Haha…I really love her for that. My father is the person that probably sparked my interest in music without even knowing it. He’s quite the renaissance man. From classical to disco, to Barry White, he listens to it all. Even when I was younger he tried to get me to play just about every instrument you can think of. Come to think about it, my family is definitely the reason I am who I am.

Website: www.jbodyssey.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jb.odyssey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jb_odyssey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbodyssey
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-MbKvenJtwC-QGi8CWlTQ
Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/julian-bennett/279891283 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3lhRyyT8oVgheKS6udBE49l Tidal : https://tidal.com/browse/artist/8695374 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B08QXGV9RC Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/julianbennett

Image Credits
Photo 1: Photographer – Mike Jaja Photo 2: Photographer – Mike Jaja Photo 3: Photographer – Mike Jaja Photo 4: Photographer – Noah Dawlearn Photo 5: Photographer – Noah Dawlearn Photo 6: Photographer – Noah Dawlearn Photo 7: Photography Company – ShortStop Phodeos Photo 8: Photographer – Mike Jaja / Edited by – Tobe Mokolo