Shennie Smith

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JASON MRAZ

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Jason Mraz was the first person who made an impression on me. He was on the first panel I went to at the convention, and he was talking about his creative process when it comes to writing music. He talked about how he could become inspired by anything around him, and how he believes that songs are there for the taking (or writing) if you are open to it. He talked about how he thought his hit song "I'm Yours" was just a silly song when he first wrote it, and he didn't want to put it out as a single. When he went to Sweden to do a concert, everyone was singing the lyrics to "I'm Yours", and that's when he realized that it actually appealed to a lot of people. I thought that was a cool story :)

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JOHN MAYER

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John Mayer spent a lot of time talking about how he got to where he is now in the music industry, and basically he said that he just kept on doing what he loved and worked hard just for the love of it, and he met the right people who wanted to work with him. He said that he believes that anyone can do what he has done and become successful, but it takes a lot of patience and dedication. He said that you have to accept the fact that you will grow quickly, and oftentimes grow in separate ways from your friends, which means that they won't quite understand you or that they might resent you.

He talked a lot about ignoring what others think and say about you, and work on music for your own sake and not others. If you do that, he said, you will enjoy the process of it and not just slave away to get to your ultimate destination. I loved listening to him speak because he is so down-to-earth and honest, and although he is perceived as arrogant, I believe that he is just confident and honest.

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LINDA PERRY

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Linda Perry is a musician and songwriter who has written, amongst many other songs, Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful". She is a bad-ass! Damn. She is very confident and seems to be somewhat a bitch, but I think she's just very confident and comfortable with who she is and what she does. She is definitely powerful and strong. Inspiiiriiiing...:) She basically said the same things as Mraz and Mayer, and she also emphasized the fact that if you think your song is great, don't change it for anyone else. She told us about how she thought "Beautiful" was completely stupid when she first wrote it, and she was totally caught off guard when Christina said she wanted to use it. She said that she's always open for different things, and that it's important to stay open for changes if you want to be in the music industry, because everything changes so quickly.

I have to drive my roommate to work right now, but I'm going to write more about the rest of the speakers and the event later :)