{"id":1546,"date":"2022-06-30T19:32:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T23:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/?p=1546"},"modified":"2022-06-30T19:32:38","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T23:32:38","slug":"michael-martinez-shares-an-important-message-about-living-authentically-to-wrap-up-pride-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/michael-martinez-shares-an-important-message-about-living-authentically-to-wrap-up-pride-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Martinez Shares An Important Message About Living Authentically To Wrap Up Pride Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Samantha Colleran, June 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/WRaWXYoKI_31Oife-JMxLvMAAgnetyNa22_V8LpKv7iS0tMqzksW9uQdMgk1r0gzteDmssyVaFOsp0anuQugtou_-uf3T3h5zTLUrCACLpk1JOAcSSgfkFx1nXWMRwb84NdrGL94uA6NjDw-UA\" alt=\"\" width=\"646\" height=\"646\"\/><figcaption>\u201cfreedom within\u201d cover art, courtesy of Michael Martinez, edited by Max Embers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Martinez is a San Francisco born and raised singer-songwriter and Berklee graduate with a background in acting. He got his start in theater at the age of three and grew fascinated with how each song in musicals pushed a story forward, which drew him to major theatrical names in music such as Queen, Celine Dion, and Sara Bareilles. Other inspirations include SZA, Tom Misch, NAO, and Emily King, who Michael says inspired his stream of consciousness songwriting style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To celebrate Pride Month, Michael recently released a powerful ballad titled \u201cfreedom within\u201d, which has been in the works for a very long time. It was one of the first songs he wrote nine years ago, but at the time it felt too heavy and honest to put out in the world fully. It was written at a time where Michael was out to all of his friends and was taking his journey a step further by coming out to his dad. \u201cThe irony is that he definitely knew I was gay. He told me shortly after I finished the song that he knew. And he still loved me,\u201d Michael said about the song. Michael\u2019s mother passed away when he was 14, so the fear of losing his father by coming out weighed heavy on his mind. Having his father\u2019s acceptance eased his nerves, and it\u2019s a heartwarming moment hearing his father\u2019s voice ring through your ears at the start of the track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cfreedom within\u201d was put on the backburner for some time due to its heavy lyrical content, but when the pandemic hit and Michael was forced to put a pause on professional gigging, it put things into perspective for the singer-songwriter. After auditioning for a professional theater production and getting cast last fall, Michael was reminded of why he loves music so much; it\u2019s not about him, it\u2019s about what he can give as a songwriter to an audience eager to listen to his music and his message. Realizing that putting this song out could help people live their most authentic lives and become the best version of themselves gave Michael the final push he needed to share the song with the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The softer instrumentation allows the true message of the song to shine through, it also lets Michael\u2019s voice stand out as his fears tumble out in a beautiful string of lyrics. Michael begins singing after his father\u2019s voicemail, immediately kicking off with a hard hitting image of a young Michael struggling to express himself, \u201cA secret on my breath\/ A weight within my chest\/ I do my very best to act the act\/ Then make a pact to hide myself\u201d. We hear the pain in Michael\u2019s voice become more hopeful as he sings the lyrics, \u201cMaybe one morning I\u2019ll rise\/ I\u2019ll learn to begin\/ And maybe I\u2019ll wake up and realize I\u2019m not a sin\/ And maybe one day I\u2019ll find freedom within\u201d. It\u2019s an expertly crafted statement for LGBTQ+ people, a soft reminder that coming out is a process that takes time, but there will come a day you find freedom within yourself to live your life how you deserve to: authentically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coming out is something that many LGBTQ+ people avoid in fear of losing loved ones in their lives, but this song is a reminder that you are never alone and you\u2019ll find the people who love you for who you are. You\u2019ll also learn to love yourself, as Michael did. A lot of the sadness, pain, and anxiety surrounding coming out was something Michael was putting on himself, but writing this song and sharing it with a select group of people allowed those anxieties to subside and helped him be more open about his sexuality and inner fears he faced, which has in turn helped countless others move forward in their coming out journeys. It\u2019s a beautiful, powerful song perfect for Pride Month, and for any month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re in the SoCal and Bay Area in California, be sure to check Michael\u2019s show schedule and catch him performing \u201cfreedom within\u201d live, as well as other tracks! Be sure to follow Michael on Instagram, Twitter to stay up to date on his future releases, and show him lots of love on streaming services by streaming \u201cfreedom within\u201d on <a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/album\/freedom-within-single\/1627441738\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/album\/freedom-within-single\/1627441738\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/0yyzrau6aCMShvmsyEUi2Q?si=96z5twvASjqJigPyUUdf-w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, or any other service you may use! Michael has also been featured as an up and coming artist on SoFar Sounds, which features incredible smaller scale artists performing in unconventional venues, which you can check out below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DY1eDIgWH-Q\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DY1eDIgWH-Q<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Martinez shares an intimate and powerful track titled “freedom within”, where he shares his experience of coming out to his father in honor of Pride Month. Read all about the ballad in today’s new post!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"@michaeldoesthat shares an intimate and powerful message about the importance of coming out in a beautiful ballad \"freedom within\". Read all about the track in today's newest post, and congrats to Michael on the beautiful release\ud83c\udf08\ud83e\udd0d","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[322,323,49],"class_list":["post-1546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-song-reviews","tag-michael-martinez","tag-pride","tag-song-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/michael-martinez-freedom-within.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbTCvy-oW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1549,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions\/1549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibingonvinyl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}