Let’s explore spirituality, creativity, and healing. My name is Cha Wilde. I’m an artist in Seattle. I teach yoga, make music and paint with happy colors. Practice with me online and maybe one day we’ll cross paths at a music festival or at one of my live events. If you’re excited to dive deeper into my world and support my work, come join my Patreon or OnlyFans. That’s where I build relationships and create custom content for my beautiful community all around the world. If you’d like to work with me directly, I offer private yoga healing and artist coaching sessions online and in my Seattle studio.
Getting to know Cha Wilde
Do you have a cherished childhood teddy bear or other stuffed animal sitting on your bed at home?
Yes, I have a couple bears. I still hug them and talk to them on my dark days. They’ve always been there from the very beginning.
Would you rather be the one in a movie who gets the hero/heroine or the baddie with all the good lines?
I’d rather be the baddie. I spend so much of my daily energy on self improvement, enlightenment and creating more space in myself for love that when it comes time to create art I want to let out the dark shit. Art (music, acting, writing, etc…) is the safe, healthy, wonderful outlet for the nasty stuff inside humans. If we let it out on the stage then hopefully we’re processing through it and we won’t let it out accidentally and inappropriately on the people we love. So in a movie, play, or musical, please give me the worst terrible characters so I can get it out of my system.
What’s your most expensive piece of clothing?
I have a lot of sparkly costumes that I wear at music festivals and they’re so beautiful you would think they’re the most expensive but in actuality, it’s probably my snowboard jacket.
Which are cooler? Dinosaurs or Dragons?
Dragons. They’re like dinosaurs with magic and wisdom. Way cooler.
If you could learn any language fluently what would it be?
I love the way Portuguese sounds and feels in the mouth. I started learning it years ago after I spent a summer in the mountains of Portugal. If I could snap my fingers and be fluent in it right now, that would be satisfying. It’s not the most useful language but it feels yummy inside the mouth; lots of round sounds. Italian or French are next in line.
What about your music is rebellious, unconventional, or unusual?
I swear and sing about sex and spirituality. I enjoy being extremely vulnerable and raw and bringing emotions to the surface that are often pushed down and avoided. When creating art, it’s exhilarating to bridge the gap between what feels beautiful and what feels ugly. It’s all a part of us and equally deserving of attention. I feel rebellious when I reveal secrets in my lyrics or produce sounds that are scary and deep. I think of my parents who enjoy happy light songs, and I imagine them hearing my music and getting a glimpse into the hidden parts of me, the dark stuff I don’t share with them directly. I like being cheerful, colorful and uplifting on the surface, and then diving into the depression, perversion and existential crisis that is brewing beneath the human surface. They get to exist simultaneously and they compliment each other. I’m blending genres — folk, EDM, soul, a little hip hop, yoga chanting and whatever else I feel like dropping into the mix. I’m having a lot of fun creating music that celebrates the multiplicity of our minds.
What do you enjoy most about being an artist?
It took a long time to call myself an “artist.” I was shy to wear that label at first, and over time, I’ve embraced it as an identity that gives me freedom. When I’m at a party and I introduce myself as an “artist,” people always lean in with curiosity. It makes it easier for me to connect with people on a personal, emotional, and intellectual level when I let them know that I’m on this planet with a mission to create. I’m oozing creativity. If I’m not making music, I’m painting, writing, dancing, doodling, decorating, cooking, or playing dress up. I believe all humans are innately creative and can call themselves artists. Being “an artist” goes hand in hand with being a conscious being. We’re all creating something whether we’re aware of it or not. When we heighten our awareness, the creation game becomes more fun because we grab the steering wheel and live with intentionality. As conscious artists, we have the power to transform the mundane into the beautiful. What I most enjoy about “being an artist” is that I have given myself permission to interact with the universe as a co-creator. I have a lot more control over how much I’m enjoying life and how I’m contributing to the world. I get to wake up in the morning and wonder what will exist by the end of the day — what will I bring into being that is brand new?
What draws you to your preferred genre?
I’m a bass head. I love feeling heavy vibrations rattle through my body and beat into my chest. I love jumping and bouncing on the dance floor. I love expansive vocals that oscillate between open throated pop anthems and gentle haunting lullabies. Wrap all that together. Whether I’m creating or consuming music, I’m choosing sounds that are as smooth and clear as possible so the physical vibrations are literally soothing my body. I feel very sensitive to the shape of the audio waves and, when they’re carefully crafted, the music is therapeutic. I grew up listening to singer-songwriters because I loved the thought provoking lyrics and the relaxing acoustic guitar or piano. When I was a teenager I heard EDM for the first time on the radio (it was techno) and I thought it was terrible, disturbing stressful music. I didn’t get it. As I’ve matured and explored music festivals and raves, I’ve come to appreciate the power of these electronic sounds. I feel unlimited with EDM music. Every part of my body is touched and my brain is intellectually stimulated. I’m most drawn into the epic soundscapes, where music is guiding me to explore my imagination and inner world. Instead of singing about everyday feelings (which is usually what I find in folk, singer-songwriter, country, etc…), I like playing with the monsters, explosions, sensuality, time travel and psychedelia that I find throughout EDM and all this magic is most potent with female vocals in the mix.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
I go do something else. I never stop creating. If the piano notes aren’t flowing out my fingers, then I’ll pick up a guitar or turn on my DJ controller. If I don’t feel like writing lyrics, I’ll just write a short story in my journal or a thank you card to someone who recently helped me or gave me a gift. If I don’t feel like creating music, I’ll listen to music and visa-versa. It comes in waves; input and output. When I’m working on a project, I set aside a large block of time each day, usually 4 hours. The first two hours are warm up and the second two hours are invention. It takes discipline to get through the warm up and to stay focused but I’ve done it so much now that I trust the breakthrough is always coming. Just keep going. It’s totally fine to spend hours creating what feels like useless uninspired material because eventually the brain will piece something together on a subconscious level and a genius idea will pop through to the surface. The most important thing is to just show up. Show up every day and do the practice. Embrace the boredom and resistance as part of the process and look forward to the moments of playful joy. Runners understand this — you have to run until you hit a wall and then you keep running until you break through to the other side and bliss runs through your body. Writer’s block is only a block if you’re focusing on it. Look elsewhere and keep moving. I think of it like water flowing down a river. When the water comes up against a rock, a log, or the riverbank, does it feel blocked? No, it just moves around it and keeps going. We don’t need to fixate on the obstacles. It’s more helpful to focus on the movement of any kind.
Would you have any advice for would-be artists or songwriters wanting to follow in your footsteps?
When you’re creating music (or any kind of art) are you doing it because it makes you feel cool and you think you’re impressing people? Are you trying to be a badass and prove yourself? On my journey so far, I have walked through these mindsets and they only weighed me down. For years, I was obsessed with how my Instagram account looked and I poured so much energy into my branding, my bio, my mission and trying to somehow articulate in words what I stood for, what I represented and who I wanted to inspire. This energy poured outward because I was trying to make a difference in the world and feel important. I wanted what I was doing to have meaning and I wanted to believe that I was here for a reason. All of that just got heavier and heavier. One time, when I was feeling discouraged and stressed out about my music career, my mom reminded me that winners don’t care if they’re in a race, they just love to run. I realized I could spend my whole life striving to win the music race, to get all the spotlight attention, but I would kill myself in the process under a pile of stress. The alternative was to simplify my mindset and prioritize joy. I decided to make music because it was fun and the creative process made me happy. I let go of my big shiny dreams, accepting that they will either happen or they won’t, and it wouldn’t matter either way so long as I was enjoying myself along the way. If I spend my entire life having fun playing DJ in my living room, that would be enough…because I had fun. People want to see you happy and having fun. They buy tickets to watch you on stage as you show them what freedom and joy look like. So whether you’re in your bedroom, your garage, a small stage, or a big stage, make sure you’re having fun and the music you’re creating is bringing more joy into this moment of your life.
