What’s the dream, Xandra? My Music Career Goals

Book me, theme parks!

A year ago, I made the biggest wish for my music career I could see as possible: to perform at the Hard Rock Edinburgh’s 50th birthday party. In 2047. 

2047! That’s how long I thought it would take to legitimise myself enough for the Hard Rock stage. But no! One year later, here I am, performing a 45-minute solo set of Taylor Swift cover songs, the night before I see the Eras Tour here in my hometown. 

I am essentially opening for Taylor Swift. At my number one dream venue. 

I may be the one person on the planet who wished for this specific thing, and it just shows me that these wishes are divinely guided. I believe: If everyone followed their niche dreams, the world’s needs would be met. 

How did this happen? 

I think they booked me on vibes? There was no audition. I just said I wanted to, and also posted about Taylor Swift on my Instagram because that’s what I like doing, and they noticed and reached out. All I did was express enthusiasm. Learn this from me folks: do not underestimate enthusiasm! They didn’t even ask for my resumé or music qualifications, although I am very qualified. I can sing and I have trained. But that hasn’t always been enough. More on that in a moment; read on. First, I want to explore: WHAT NEXT? What’s the dream? What’s the plan? I’m 24 years ahead of schedule!

What do I want to DO? I want to live my life as one big art project. 

I want to keep questioning the perceived ‘path’, and just DO things, rather than holding off. It is a MYTH that you have to have MADE IT to call yourself an artist. That you have to have a degree and qualifications, etc. All that matters is that you show up for it. Practice every day. Perform now, not later, when someone gives you permission. I thought that I’d have to go record an album and put it on Bandcamp before the HRC would even consider me. Not so! Just tell people what you want! It might just be available to you now. They might be looking for YOU. 

So I made a wish list of my niche music career dreams: to perform as my own magical self, whether it’s on stage or at my writing desk or when I’m folding the laundry or riding rollercoasters. 

My Venus in Virgo speaks up for the quotidian pleasures of the mundane: sing while you sweep the floor, and let that be magical! Just as I was wrapping up this list though, my Virgo Sun spirit guide totally called me out on playing small:

And I realised, I can celebrate the mundane, and play big venues. why not both?

sweep the floor and let it be magical AND play big

✨XANDRA’S MUSIC CAREER WISH LIST✨

I want to sing my Rollercoaster Songs at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Alton Towers!

I want the rollercoasters to hear me sing the love songs I’ve written to them 😭! I want to perform outside, loud as a B&M’s roar. I want to perform in the Forbidden Valley, for the goddess Nemesis. And in ‘Germany’, to dear sweet Alpengeist. I want to play the Alton Towers garden stage to a field full of thoosies. As a theme park priestess, I want to sing at the opening ceremony for a new rollercoaster, and offer a blessing. let the journey begin!

I want to sing at Freddie’s Birthday!

Montreux, Hard Rock Cafe, all of the above — please! I want to sing Freddie’s songs for his birthday in September. This year. Every year! I will bring A Kind of Magic. I have already begun to learn the songs on guitar. One day, though, I want to sing with an orchestra, and/or Brian May so I can also dance.

I want to sing Lover by Taylor Swift at a Swiftie wedding!

If you’re a Swiftie who wants an opera-pop cover of Lover, live at your wedding, it’s me hi! I’m the soprano it’s me. I can play acoustic guitar, sing a cappella, or, ideally, if you have an orchestra or string quartet lined up, great. Again, I am a singer, but I am also a priestess, and can lead rituals and offer marriage blessings. I want someone to be like “We hired a Taylor Swift witch to sing at our wedding,” and I will be that witch.

I want to sing my Jane Austen Pop Songs at JASNA and libraries and Usher Hall.

I have written an entire album of pop songs from the perspective of Jane Austen characters. They are so niche and nerdy. I got to do a set at Fandom Forward’s virtual conference in 2021, and someone commented ‘love the Virginia Woolf reference in your Pride & Prejudice song!’. THIS is my target audience. Book me, Janeites! I want to play libraries, where I can also have tea with the audience and chat after. I want to play at the Jane Austen Society of North America’s AGM and attend their procession dressed as a Regency gentleman. I want to scale my show to play in a big ol’ theatre like the Usher Hall, and fill it with Jane Austen fans.

I want to do a Swiftmas concert for Taylor’s birthday on 13 December!

I will sing through the entirety of The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection from 2007. No I won’t, but you should see your faces 😜. For real, I would sing Christmas Tree Farm + a wintery set of Taylor Swift songs, with plenty of evermore. I want to do this this year. I want a string quartet to accompany me and it’ll be like a woodland ball in a beautiful old Edinburgh building.

I want to sing Disney songs at kids’ birthday parties.

I used to want to voice a Disney Princess. The only way I used to see this happening was if they need someone to play Snow White on stage. I look enough like her to cast me for the high notes. I never saw myself as any of the Disney princesses because I was too Asian to play Belle and too white to play Mulan. Now we have Vanellope, but she doesn’t really sing. There could be a princess waiting for me to voice her, and I won’t rule that out, but in the meantime, I am living the dream of being my own Priestess.

I am real-life Witch, and how fun would it be to sing ALL the princess songs (and Hercules and Quasimodo and 4*TOWN) at kids’ birthday parties as MY OWN MAGICAL SELF. I want to exemplify, to every little kid, that showing up as yourself is normal and enough and the best.

I offer songs as blessings. My songs honour ritual and the passage of time. Music is more than entertainment or a thing you can be ‘good at’. Music is presence. My voice is strong because I am certain, I sing from my soul, I sing for my life, I sing for you, I invite you to sing along.  

LOVE, X

P.S. I’ve now seen Taylor at Murrayfield. I left the stadium thinking: I want to do a show that big. I walked up Arthur’s Seat the night after, and could hear her singing Cruel Summer from the hilltop and I thought: I want my voice to carry that far. Thanks Freddie.