Amariani Garcia
Lantern Staff
Justin Lewis, a vocal music scholar, has left Butler to pursue his music career. Lewis had the opportunity to go on tour and travel the world. He arrived back home inspired and ready to start a new journey.
He became interested in the arts as a high school freshman.
“I started off playing the piano,” Lewis said. “I really didn’t sing at all or anything. Just one day I was making a rap song, and I realized I could be more serious about it. So I put my piano skills and my little songwriting skills together, and I’ve started songwriting ever since.”
After that, he started performing for his church, which gained attention from other church services and invited Lewis to perform. He also sang with friends, in hallways and empty choir rooms and later uploaded them to social media platforms.
Once graduating from high school, Lewis decided to pursue his music career and degree by attending Butler on a fine arts scholarship. “I really enjoyed the people I met at Butler,” Lewis said. “Although it did bring a lot of stress, there were a lot of music classes, which gave me anxiety and more stress.”
At the end of the fall semester, Lewis was invited to perform on tour the upcoming weeks for his single, “Midnight Pink.” He had trouble deciding whether to continue college or take a break for his music and travels would be appropriate at the time.
“It was a hard decision for me, and I had to make it in a week, so I spoke with all my music teachers to make sure I made the right decision,” Lewis said. ”I would either drop out and travel the world and make music or be with my friends and have a degree.”
Lewis did not fail to mention his highlights of tour and all of the new experiences he had.
“Everything in Canada is so expensive, but once you go in to a bar or club that’s it,” Lewis said. “They don’t card you and everyone smokes inside, everything seems legal. It was weird to get used to.”
As time dwindled down, Lewis was grateful for his time spent on travels and time spent exploring himself.
“I’ve never gotten to travel, so it was a humbling experience to be able to travel, all in 30 days,” Lewis said. “Things like that don’t happen to people of color and also coming from a small town where I was no one.”
Lewis’s music is on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Tidal and YouTube. His first official EP was released on Friday, April 19 releasing five new songs on his album “Mes Couleurs.” He can also be found on Twitter and Instagram @justinleewis.
