Every issue, GRAZIA USA highlights 17 Game Changers, who inspire, educate, and celebrate individuality, beauty, and style. Meet Trevor Daniel, the singer-songwriter who wants to manifest positivity.
I’m a big believer in manifesting and just speaking positivity. Throughout 2020 and a lot of 2021, I had a really hard time doing that. But the last few months of 2021, I made it a thing that I did: If a negative thought came into my mind, I would ask why it was there and whether it was realistic. Even if it was realistic, I would make the choice not to sit there and think about it over and over. The more you give negativity attention, the more effect it has on you.
The title of my upcoming album, Sad Now Doesn’t Mean Sad Forever, originally was just an idea that I jotted down in my journal. It was something that I kept saying to myself when 2020 first started. It was kind of hopeful that things would get better, that things would improve. In 2020, it felt like overall it was kind of hard to be hopeful, because we were just being told all the time that it just seemed to be getting worse. A lot of stuff was going on, and that idea was something that helped me.
I wanted it to become the title of a project, but over time it’s become more of a mantra, a thing that I continue saying to myself and that I want to continue saying to friends, and not just with one project. When people listen to my music, I want that to be the world that they go to. That’s what they hear and that’s what they feel: Just because things are down now doesn’t mean it will always be that way.
If you look back six months, or a year, or five years, are the things that felt like the end of the world then still feeling like the end of the world now? Usually, that’s a no. How can you grow from that? How can we make change? There’s always the possibility for things to change, and there are a lot of beautiful things in this world. There’s bad and there’s good, and focusing on the good really does change a lot of things.
That’s the overall picture of music, for me: to bring that awareness that even though it feels like it will last forever when you’re in the moment, a couple months from now, a year from now, however long, things improve.
I think the main thing that I can do as an artist is make things that allow people to escape. People kind of create their own world when they listen to music — at least that’s my experience. So, when you go to a show, you see everyone is there for the same purpose. It brings people together. It’s really hard not to look around and get goose bumps. Wow, all these people are here for the same reason! Everyone’s singing along, everyone has that in common. They’re having the same experience. That’s my main goal: to let people know, on an individual level, that sad now doesn’t mean sad forever, and when everyone comes together, I think that’s the best thing that I can do. Hopefully people see that.
People are looking for a sense of connection, so what they want to listen to comes down to feeling now, versus a specific favorite genre. If you ask someone their favorite musical genre, most people now will say some random subgenre most of us have never even heard of, and that’s because you can just blend anything. People are looking for something new, so it’s okay if you explore and you try things you’ve never heard. It will connect with people because they can tell that it’s genuine. Anything is possible.
— As told to John Russell
To read more Game Changers, pick up GRAZIA USA’s March 2022 issue on newsstands and email [email protected] to subscribe.
