Ji Nilsson - PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the pop artist, Ji Nilsson, shares how she prepares before stepping on stage. You can check out her rituals below:

I’m incredibly nervous when I’m going to sing live and that’s why I’ve performed very little. When I was a child I was always the first to sign up for solos in the choir and took every opportunity I could to get on stage and sing. I didn’t prepare at all then, I just threw myself on stage. But in my teens something happened and I became terrified. The fear isn’t about being seen in front of a lot of people—I’m comfortable with that—but I’m so afraid that my nerves will prevent me from performing as well as I want to.

This has gotten better for me recently, and I think it’s because I’ve been practicing it more. I understand that I have to put in my 10,000 hours on this, just like I have with producing and writing songs, to get completely comfortable with it—and I probably have quite a few hours left when it comes to performing live. What helps me get back on track is eating at least two hours before a gig; I don’t want to be too full. I need to have room in my body to take deep breaths and calm my pulse. But the most important thing for me is the soundcheck. I want to have at least an hour to get the sound right and take in the venue. It gives me a sense of control and makes me feel calm. After that, I want to sit by myself and the person I’m playing with somewhere secluded and just recharge for the gig. However, it’s not always possible to get away depending on where you’re playing.

When I had my release party for my new album Nordic Noir last Friday, there was nowhere I could “hide.” We were at a club and I was sitting there munching on a halloumi burger when all the guests arrived. I had dressing in the corner of my mouth when people came and wanted to buy my merch haha. It was probably the worst thing I could do before such an important gig. But I just had to go with it. The strange thing is that no matter how high my heart rate is before a gig, it always goes down once I’m on stage. It’s like the music calms me down. All the thoughts before are much worse than what it’s like to actually stand there. When I feel the audience’s presence and love, that’s actually the best medicine for stage fright.

I feel a lot more excited about playing live these days, and that’s really big for me.

Keep up with Ji Nilsson on Spotify and Instagram.

source https://www.digitaltourbus.com/features/ji-nilsson-preshow-rituals/