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

Hi Claire, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
My closest held value is sincerity. By nature, I am warm and outgoing, with an unabashed curiosity about myself and others. That being said, socially I usually opt to find humor in tough situations, as opposed to emotional displays. What I love about songwriting is it’s just me and the paper – no one is watching or waiting for the humor. Actually releasing my music is a different story – it’s like publishing diary entries, that’s how exposed it’s felt. It can be pretty terrifying to even initially share my demos with my trusted friend and producer, Warren Ko. Still, I’ve never regretted it. It simply wouldn’t make any sense to me at all to write songs that don’t reflect how I truly feel.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a singer-songwriter and musician, which means I sing lyrics I’ve written, and I compose the parts for each instrument on the song more or less. I am super proud of the music I have released so far, I think it sounds amazing, and you wouldn’t think we had recorded it in bedrooms and garages. I’m proud of myself for finding the courage to share my demos with trusted friends, and I’m proud of my friends who tracked instruments, mixed and mastered our projects because we’re all just learning as we go. I am also so excited to release new music in 2024, design artwork, and learn to mix independently. What’s usually unique about me in the San Diego music scene is that my day job is working in a biology laboratory. While strict lab work is pretty starkly different from creative expression, I do find that my pursuit of biology and song making converge on the interest in story – how something or someone works internally.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There’s so much to do in San Diego! We’d walk along La Jolla Shores. We’d do yoga and climb at Mesa Rim. We’d go to Taco Stand for tacos, Mama’s Bakery for Mediterranean food, and Tajima for Ramen. We’d check out open mics and karaoke in Ocean Beach, and North Park. We’d have to check out the dog beach in Ocean Beach obviously. We’d get charcoal vanilla gelato at Bobboi. We’d also have to hit up Sunset Cliffs to watch the sun set and people cliff jump!

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?
Shoutout Warren Ko! We transform my dinky little demos into high-quality, well produced records. When I bring a song to him, I can always count on him to be encouraging, straightforward and patient during the recording and production process. He always has great ideas to make a song really sparkle. He recently released his own song on spotify (and everywhere else!), it’s called Payroll by Warren Ko!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maybear.wav/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCN1IQo0EtKWA2R_CBaeAXQ

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ARrNCm60UmAQXoSMzOH7X?si=_ILmkjVkTx2wrweP1SFRdw

Image Credits
Nahla Valdez, Ben Guenther

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