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Anna Claire was 21 when she recorded her first song. Her journey has been a process to get where she is now. She said, “It’s really been tough.” She is carrying the financial responsibilities of pur- suing her recording career, working a full-time job while getting into the recording studio at night. Most people don’t see the process. “It looks fun, but people don’t see the struggle you go through. You’ve got all the photo shoots, the really great articles and hearing the recordings. It has been a struggle, but I have loved it.” Asked if she writes for other artists in Nashville, she says she has not done that yet, which is different from other songwriters in Nashville. Anna Claire said, “I just write for me. It’s so therapeutic to sit down and write. I don’t truly understand what is happening in my mind, how I am feeling until I sit down at the bench of a pi- ano and it just comes out. To me that is a vulnerable moment, so it would be so weird having someone with me at that moment.” But she hasn’t ruled out writing for others or co-writing in the fu- ture. Anna Claire’s faith is so important to her and directs everything she does. It influences her writing, but she considers herself a pop artist, not a Christian contemporary artist. She sees pop music as a gateway to have deeper conversations with people who have not been exposed to a Christian upbringing, who haven’t grown up going to church every day. She likes having the freedom to write a song that has nothing to do with her religion. But she absolutely lets her faith dictate her decisions for her life. Her lyrics show a glowing outlook on worldly matters and her driving desire is to understand the true nature of things and strip back a falsified reality. So, her music explores honest truths that may sometimes be difficult to hear. Her lyrics address the impor- tance of questioning your own beliefs, getting perspective from re- liable outside sources, and establishing yourself among the chaos. Anna Claire released a music video , “In the Morning,” in Octo- ber of 2019 and then released three more singles from the EP “Happy TV” Dec. 6, 2019, to March 27, The EP “Happy TV,” with all six singles, was released fully in April of this year. Anna Claire wrote this record to expose the multitude of realities in our lives, including the layers of technology, religion, philosophical theories and more. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Anna Claire was preparing to go on tour to several cities performing her songs to new audi- ences. Now the tour has been re-scheduled to the Fall. She doesn’t mind though. She says this time has given her some much needed down time and she gets to spend it with her family. You can follow Anna Claire Loftis on Instagram and Facebook. Download her music at Spotify and YouTube. n Find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter JUNE/JULY 2020 19