- April 25, 2024
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As a kid, Julien Collins recalls watching his brother produce music on their mac desktop.
Like many younger siblings, Collins was intrigued and excited by what his brother did, and would often be spotted peeking around the corner trying to see what his brother would come up with next.
Now at 22, Collins is producing his own beats, and recently released a hip hop EP consisting of seven tracks titled "Weird Kid." Why the name? It's a way for the Ormond Beach resident to express that it's OK to be considered "weird."
“It always stuck with me because when people — bullies or whatever — would call you that, they use it in a negative connotation, but to me that’s something positive," Collins said. "There’s a lot of people who are too afraid to express themselves, in whatever manner they think. So I took that negative connotation and made it positive.”
But he wouldn't be where he is today without Daytona State College's music production technology program, an avenue he didn't know existed until he was already in college pursuing a psychology degree.
Music has always been a passion for Collins, even while he was a student at Flagler Palm Coast High School. He used to record songs in a small room in the library.
“It was a great way to vent, you know?" he said. "Because a lot of people in my life, everyone is usually going through stuff so it’s hard to get certain feelings out, so that was like my way of expressing those feelings. I’ve been through a lot, so being able to express those, it’s vital, to everybody.”
Years later during his freshman year of college at the DSC campus in Palm Coast, one of his professors caught wind of his love for music and told him of the school's music production technology major. Collins was taken aback — he didn't know that was option. He always figured producing music was something you learned and did on your own.
“If I would have known that my freshman year of high school, I would have taken school way more serious, because it would have been something I actually liked," Collins said. "I know so many kids who make music and do all this stuff who aren’t aware of this, and it’s like a waste of potential to not know about that.”
So he took a semester off, moved to Ormond Beach and got to work.
His advice to people wanting to produce music? Keep going and don't give up.
Inspired by his mother, brother and his professor, Christopher Velazco, whom Collins said is always trying to open new doors for him, Collins said he hopes to continue working on his music. Next year, he will serve as the president for DSC's music industry club. As he gets older, and has produced music with his brother, it's given him a chance to reflect on the experiences he's lived through.
“You start becoming aware of things around you, so you look inside and all that internalization that you didn’t know how to express hits you," Collins said. "Making music was fun at first, but it really turned into something that changed my life, and made me a better person.”
Listen to "Weird Kid" at https://soundcloud.com/thatboyjules
