Cherry Thomas Feature 

• Cherry Thomas

Finding yourself as a musician can take a lot of work. There's so much trial and error in the discovery process, until you find your voice and style. Ogden native Cherry Thomas spent years posting covers on SoundCloud, until she was able to find her sound and gain confidence in herself as a songwriter.

Thomas is a staple in the O-Town music scene, but often performs in SLC and everywhere in between. Like many artists, Thomas started out covering the greats like The Beatles and Elvis, and as she worked on her versions of her favorite songs, she realized what she could do with her voice. "I used to hold myself back a lot," she said. "Doing covers helped me realize that I'm capable of more than I thought vocally."

As Thomas began to build her skill as a musician, she realized how soulful her voice could be. Influenced by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child, she began to replicate an R&B/pop sound. "That's my safe space, [in] soul and R&B music," she said.

Finding a sound is one thing, but writing lyrics to go with that sound is certainly another. Thomas struggled to write for a long time—but that was before some good, old-fashioned heartbreak. "I needed to just not be afraid to face what I've been through, and use that in a therapeutic way," she said. "With the things that I went through when I was a child, music was really the thing that pulled me back in and helped me find myself again."

Once you've got the sound and you've got the inspiration, all that's left is to release the music. Easy, right? However, sometimes pushing that publish button is the hardest step.

"I still deal with this in a very literal way," Thomas explained. "The hardest thing I'm so worried about is what people are going to think about it. It's the only reason why I have [just] two songs out, because I focus hard and I make them as perfect as I possibly want them to be. But eventually you just have to be like, 'Okay, fuck it. Just go and release the song. It's okay.'"

"BARBEDWIRE" is a song we can be thankful Thomas finally said "fuck it" about. It's an incredible amalgamation of her love of early '00s pop/R&B and sheer talent. Her voice is made to sing soulful lyrics, with beautiful and dynamic vocals. Fans of Britney, Mariah and Beyoncé will be transported back in time, the song reminiscent of these great artists, while still feeling fresh for the modern day.

The same can be said for her other singles—"blue hour" and "Black Panther"—and hopefully more to come from Thomas. "At the end of the day, I'm doing this for me, no one else," she said. "I want people to like it, but it's who I am."

While writing music can be difficult, producing it is a whole other beast. Thomas said that she's very hands-on with the production of her music, and it's been hard in the past to find a producer she meshes well with. "I just found myself working with male producers that kind of just walked all over me in the artistic process of it," she said. "I feel like that's something that needs to be talked about more with women that are female producers, female engineers and female artists. It's a struggle sometimes to be a woman in the music business. It's really hard. And finding people that understand your creativity and understand your vision musically."

Luckily, Thomas has found producers that she meshes well with, so hopefully that means new music in the near future. "They know me as a person and know me as an artist, we just vibe off of each other in the best way. And they listen to my ideas, which I love."

Another reason Thomas has few releases to date is how much time she spends gigging; it doesn't allow much time for studio sessions, being out so many nights. "I love gigging so much. I love performing so much, but this year my goal has been to be in the studio a lot more so that I can create some magic and release it for people, because I've been holding myself back way too much," she said.

The future is looking bright for Thomas, as she sets out to put out more music and continue to play shows. The plan is that she'll give listeners an EP this year that they can dive into and enjoy. "I'm in the studio working, and they will probably be hearing from me soon," she said.