Meet Melissa Lycan | Nordic Daughter Vocalist, Keynote Speaker & Leader

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Lycan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I actually never thought I would pursue a career in the arts. My parents always thought I would be a doctor or a lawyer. I am ambitious and curious and I loved school. My singing and poetry were character building for my family rather than an option for building a life and career. I spent my 20’s in corporate sales and the first half of my thirty’s helping other people make their dreams a reality. I never imagined that the thing that gave me the most joy could be a career. Until one day I recorded my first song. The engineer was impressed with my ability to adjust my pitch on cue and told me I was a natural in the studio. I mean, picking out top talent and singers had never been a problem for me. Having worked with and managed artists like Rachel James, Novus Folium, Random Hero and No Fair Fights, I just never thought I would be the one on stage. Then we debuted at the Oriental Theater(The O) in 2016. Hooked! Not by the recognition but by the big sound and the energy from the crowd. It was like sharing the universe with each other. They filled me and I filled them, like a cycle of appreciation and love. The recognition is still a bit uncomfortable for me. So I pursued this because it felt like a legitimate place to give back my gifts to the world and inspire others to be the best versions of themselves. I had a fan reach out to me after we released that first single and she told me that she had been contemplating suicide and that the song “Fly Away” had helped her to look at life differently, with hope. This was the spark for me. I began teaching students a few months later and I knew that giving back was the only way forward to a happy and successful career in this. Don’t get me wrong I have people that do not appreciate what I do. Some of them see their own reflections of desired fame and fortune and assume my motivations are theirs. Jealousy is an ugly creature. This is a labor of love and a career that continues to grow because we put our best foot forward. I don’t anticipate being rich and famous but if my songs impact people to grow and blossom then I am successful in this career. My balance comes from creating a living wage and the ability to see the world and help others.

What should our readers know about your business?
Musicians are plentiful in todays world and the talent I see around Colorado and the world is insane. I think one of the things that sets us apart from other musicians is the fact that we market ourselves. You can put a ton of money into the production of the music, but if you don’t put the money into the market of the product it’s just a great product that no one ever hears. This is where many of the artists I know fall short. I’m not telling you to buy likes, I am telling you to marketing your music to fans globally. Do not be afraid to push your art over seas, into odd markets like Africa, Asia and Europe. South America and Australia have been some of our largest supporters. I’ve had other artists that just don’t understand our growth and think we buy fans. This is not the case, I have fans from all over the world because I am not afraid to market to them. Music is one of those things that, if the songs are universal and timeless, then people can appreciate and love it no matter what language they speak or culture they come from. Also, It is much more expensive to market to fans in America. Why? Everyone in the US is doing this. I will gain American fans through touring and performance, but online marketing doesn’t reach 1/100th the people here and is 20 times more costly to acquire fans, it’s a waste of the marketing dollar. The only budget I allot to the US is market specific when we push an event to a specific locale. I can see where my music goes and we gain hundreds of followers every month simply based on the way we market. I want to tour outside of the country because I want to see the world and experience every culture I can before I go. I learned the hard way not to trust Spotify promoters. If you can’t see where the spins are coming from they aren’t coming from anywhere. It is best to target slow growth and build your brand with genuine fans on every platform you market on. Don’t try to spread yourself too thin. Also Youtube has changed its algorithms, so advertising on this platform doesn’t translate to royalties. They do not count ad minutes toward monetization. It was a hard lesson to learn. You must push your videos outside of this platform in order to receive monetization. Basically our Nordic Daughter brand is successful because we have a catchy product, a marketing plan and a budget. Don’t skimp on any of these three areas and you can also accomplish what you want.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well it depends on the time of year in Colorado because summer is so lit, but the winter is COOL too, LOL! My favorite place to eat breakfast is definitely The Universal in the highlands. They have the best breakfasts hands down and they use Make Believe Bakery for their gluten free bread and Tender Belly for their bacon so they support local businesses. Outdoor activities are so plentiful! I would entertain them with paddle boarding in Buena Vista’s Cottonwood Lake, Skiing Loveland and A-Basin, Hiking or snow shoeing on Rocky Mountain National parks East inlet trail, Rafting the Arkansas through the gorge, camping in Lost Creek wilderness area or backpacking the lower Chicago Lakes. Depending on the time of year we would attempt one or two of these incredible journeys. If we were to go out on the town in Denver, Pandemic pending, we would visit one of the many venues in town for original music. Hermans Hideaway, The Venue, Antero Music Hall, the Gothic Theater. If it were summer we would try out Levitt Pavilion. After our jaunt around town listening to the local talent we would catch a late night snack at either Petes Kitchen or Jerusalems. I love both of these places for a good meal at 2am. There are so many wonderful thing about Colorado from the festivals and fairs (Palisade Peach Festival, Bohemian Nights, Sonic Bloom) to the farms and orchards and the art and culture (Denver Art Museum, MMA, Nature and Science) it is hard to fit it all into one week. If it were harvest time I may suggest a farm to table dinner or a visit to one of our local small farmers to grab some sustenance. Unfortunately many of our local restaurants that have become a staple and household name have shut down due to the Pandemic and lack of funding. During the fall we have an influx of plays in the theater district all featuring top tier talent. The things to do in Denver when you are ALIVE are plentiful and as long as I get to absorb life I am game!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family has stood by me through it all. Jason Lycan my husband & confidant, my daughter & best friend Aislinn Lewis and my son & advocate Bjarne Siverson have been my greatest champions. I have been incredibly blessed to be gifted such a family. My parents, sister, brothers, and niece are not exempt from this blessing. We do this thing for every single birthday for everyone in our family where we do a gratitude circle. We go around and everyone toasts the birthday person with glow! These are my pillars of strength in everything I do. I also have to thank the core of my band. So many of our members have changed due to personal lives and the continued motion of the universe, Jason Lycan of course is my Guitar Player and Co-writer he starts all the melodies and makes my heart soar! But Tracy Stokes came into our lives during a huge transition in the music and added so much love to the style on her keyboard. We also have three violin players that have tugged on our heart strings: Haiden Davis, Mia Asano, and Michael Young, all have their own styles of playing but bring such dynamic to the music. We are so grateful for each of them. In addition, we have been through 2 drummers, Daniel Esteban Fuentes and Johnny Reggie Romer, all different, all fabulous. Bass has been one of the areas we struggle to keep but the one that deserves recognition is Evan DeGrasse. He played bass for us for over a year and toured with us on our second tour. During this tour our drummer had to drop off last minute and he stepped up and played drums for us one the three newest songs. These players have allowed us to continue to grow and adjust with limited alterations to the the operations of our business. We could not have maintained our momentum without them. Outside of this foundation, I couldn’t have done any of this without a few key people that pushed me to greatness, who motivated me and helped me create the art that you hear and see. Ahrue Luster of Machine Head and Ill Nino, produced our first two albums and he has been one of the best friends we could ask for, he is a true friend and confidant. Haven Yates helped us book and complete our first tour and continued to support us by recording the first three singles on our third album, he inspires me with his enthusiasm and heart of love. Selvoy Fillerup is our friend and attorney, he has been a supporter in everything that we do and continues to represent our interests personally. My girlfriends, Nicole Linne (Attorney), Khursha Sheik (NP), Christine Roybal (Realtor), Veronica Love (Six Sigma), Nicole Arnold (Valkyrie), Raven Ventura (Photography), and “Sirenity Stone”(Publicity) are my girls group that continue to build me up and encourage me weekly. I could go on and on, but these are the people that have continued to push me and love me and build me up every week of my life. I couldn’t do this without them.

Website: https://www.nordicdaughter.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nordicdaughter

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nordicdaughter/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nordicdaughter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nordicdaughter

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/nordicdaughter

Other: https://www.bandsintown.com/nordicdaughter https://music.apple.com/us/artist/nordic-daughter/1234720488 https://tidal.com/browse/artist/8753688 https://music.amazon.com/artists/B0719B5GMZ/nordic-daughter https://open.spotify.com/artist/4rDydOYVgiuL2gu0B1vEZg?si=FFNr1J4cTpO3lOcegctnpw

Image Credits
@Underexposedphotography for the first image of us performing!