Meet Shelby Taylor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Taylor.

Hi Shelby, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
So, for 20 years, my only real goal in life was to be an actress. That was it. I did my first musical when I was nine years old and I never wanted to do anything else. That was it. I did theatre all through middle school, high school, and I studied theatre in college. I never graduated. I ran into some health problems in 2014 and had to drop out. I re-enrolled for a semester, but at that point, I was 26 years old, I wasn’t getting any younger, and you don’t need a degree to act. So I dropped out to finally pursue my only dream. I was finally gonna do it for real. I started taking acting classes and I had no issues with driving an hour and a half to get to them. I started attending workshops with casting directors, agents, and other actors regularly. I auditioned for anything and everything I could… and it didn’t take very long for me to crack under pressure. Acting just wasn’t for me. I didn’t have thick enough skin. I didn’t have the “look” or “brand” that casting directors or agents seemed to want. I didn’t have the attention to detail necessary to take on a job as stressful and as ever-changing as acting. I was screwed. I had no idea what to do. I went back to school. I went toe-to-toe with a scary new mental health diagnosis (PTSD.) I was depressed. I was stressed. I was hopelessly lost and absolutely miserable. My psychiatrist pointed out that some of my depression was probably stemming from the loss of my only creative outlet, and she was definitely right.

I’d always wanted to try comedy. I’d done stand-up twice when I was 19 years old, and both times I did just… so poorly. Absolutely bombed both, although the second time went slightly better than the first. I decided that stand-up was not my thing and that I was better off just sticking with comedic acting. Crazy how it managed to come full circle. Anyway, I decided that stand-up was really daunting, but that I did want my new creative outlet to be in the wheelhouse of comedy. YouTube is a difficult and intimidating platform to start out on, so I settled on Tik Tok. I could try out jokes on Tik Tok, and if they bombed, I could just delete them. After a few weeks of posting on the app, my views began to friggin skyrocket. I went from getting around 1000 views on a video to getting hundreds of thousands of views on my videos. And the feedback was mostly positive. So I kept posting what worked. I would tell funny (and sometimes exaggerated) stories on Tik Tok, and I started building a nice little following on the app. I owe a lot to Tik Tok, honestly. It got me out of my comfort zone.

So let’s skip ahead to February 2020. I was woken up in the middle of the night by an idea. The conversation I had with myself is as follows:

My Brain: Hey, Shelby, I got an idea.
Me: It’s 2 am, what?
My Brain: What if you wrote a song about a girl from high school trying to get you to join her pyramid scheme, but she’s a girl who hated you?
Me: Ok, yeah, that’s kind of funny, but I don’t know how to write music?
My Brain: Well, you’re gonna learn.

The next day I had the first draft of my first song. I spent the next few days tweaking it, tightening up the jokes, and trying to figure out just how the hell to write a melody. After about a week, I showed it to some people in my circle, and the responses to it were overwhelmingly positive, so I decided to take it out to a comedy open mic…It killed. It absolutely killed. For the first time in months, I felt like maybe I was onto something. Maybe I’d found something I could do... and then the pandemic shut everything down…

In a way, the timing was nice because it gave me time to focus on writing, and I did. I wrote several more songs, I released an EP, I played countless (virtual) open mics. I’ve played a couple of small gigs here and there, but for the most part, I’ve been at a standstill. Livestreaming has been a really useful tool during the pandemic. I’ve been broadcasting on YouNow, and that’s been really nice for meeting other creatives and getting my silly songs out there. I received my second Pfizer dose a little over a month ago and the light at the end of the tunnel is SO reassuring

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
NO. It has not. It’s been super bumpy. Obstacle after obstacle after OBSTACLE. So first off, art is hard to pursue. Acting was hard to pursue. Comedy is hard to pursue. Music is hard to pursue. A lot of my stress is attributed to the fact that everything I’m good at is SO HARD to do professionally. Borderline impossible.

Secondly- I struggle big time with my mental health. I’m still not 100% sure what’s happening in my brain, but it’s a chaotic dumpster fire, literally always. I’ve been through so many different diagnoses. In 2019 we finally pinpointed PTSD as one of the main culprits. I never thought I had it because I don’t act like how PTSD is portrayed in the movies but turns out it doesn’t have to. If any sexual assault victims happen to be reading this and aren’t talking about it in therapy, you should talk to a therapist about it. Trauma scrambles your brain and it’s good to see someone who can help you un-scramble it. This year we finally landed on PTSD and ADHD as the official diagnosis, but who even knows? I finally went and got a full psych eval and it’s confirmed. I have Combined ADHD. It’s a struggle but I’m SO glad I finally have an answer.

Third is just that creative block is really hard to deal with. I’m working on a few things right now, but they’re coming after months of not being able to write anything even remotely decent. I stress about it a lot. I always think that I’ve already written the only decent things I’m ever going to write. Fourth has to be the money issue. Being broke suuuuucks.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a comedian and I specialize in musical comedy. I play the ukulele and I’ve taken a liking to more of a spoken word style in my songs. I have an EP on Spotify, Apple, etc. right now called “Taylored World,” and I’m hoping to release another one late summer/early fall.

I’m definitely most proud of the EP, but if I had to pick a favorite song on the EP, it would have to be my song, “Fairy Tales.” It took a long time to write, and I’m glad that it got such positive reception. I think what sets me apart is that I’m just in such a niche category that it’s hard NOT to stand out. I’m almost always the only musician at comedy gigs, and I’m almost always the only comedian at music gigs. It’s kind of nice, honestly.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Literally, just do it. Embarrass yourself. Post the cringey Tik Tok. Bomb super hard at the open mic. Fall on your ass (can I say ass?) Everyone sucks sometimes. You’ll get better with time and practice.

“Sucking at something is the first step towards being sort of good at something”- Adventure Time.

Contact Info:

• Email: shelbytaylorexists@gmail.com
• Website: https://beacons.ai/shelbytaylorexists
• Instagram: shelbytaylorexists

Image Credits
Callie Mitchell, Charles Kelly, Marco Robinson