"Take me as I am/Even though I'm tongue tied/I'm unlike any other." - Golden Days
With a voice that's been compared to that of Hayley Williams (Paramore), Miley Cyrus, and Alison Sudol (A Fine Frenzy), it's amazing that Toni Baldwin is just now bursting onto the music scene. Starting initial work on music, Toni began writing songs in the 3rd grade. "It's funny, I still remember the first song I ever wrote. It was called 'Toys For Mics'. I can't tell you what it was about, because I just don't remember. It included me being on American Idol, pickles, and the year 2057 though. It was one crazy song," Toni says of her first ever song.
Learning to play guitar in just 2 weeks and piano in 3 weeks after writing over 400 songs, singing was unavoidable for Toni who's loved music since she knew what music was. Always loving to write, writing songs for what once was her debut album was easy for Toni. "When I was writing for That's Just Me, it was easy. I just wrote what was going on in my life. Unfortunately, I was rejected by my classmates. They didn't like the fact that if they did something to me, I was going to write about it. If I liked a person, I wrote about it. They couldn't understand it," says Toni of late 2008 and early 2009 writing sessions. Toni's album was hand-made for anyone who wanted it, not selling a single copy or having any promotion. Having barely any support, it didn't keep Toni down. "I though, you know if this album didn't do well, oh well. I'll make it an acoustic EP instead of my debut album and bring out the big guns!" Which meant studio time, a whole batch of new songs, and nothing but promotion which leads us here. April 2012, recording for Toni's debut album.
Golden Days is currently being recorded by Toni and will be released on her own label, Fine Mess Records in September. But this wasn't always the case. "I had no intention of even going back to do an album after everything that people did to me at school, I had hate websites made about me." explains Toni of her journey to come back to music. Instead of quitting she decided she'd give it another go, and started back writing. "I wrote over 100 songs for this album, but in the end the ones I chose mean the most to me." All the songs on the album 4 years in the making written all by Toni herself. "I felt that it was important that I wrote every single song on the record, it made this record literally my diary. So my fans can know what it's like to be me, or they can relate one of their own situations to it. This record is really my life in music, the booklet in pictures. It's the 'Don't Give Up On Your Dream For Anyone Handbook' because if I can do it, ANYONE can."
With the musical influences of Metric, A Fine Frenzy, States, and Emily Osment you KNOW Toni's going to have a fierce debut. The album will be available for release in late 2012. "I think I love the artists I do so much is because they didn't have it easy. People think oh Miley had her dad, Demi had Disney. Not the case, it's not easy and I commend them for powering through it and being where they are today." says Toni of her musical influences.
As Toni plans on a debut album for 2012 there are many other things she's planning such going on a tour to meet her fans and helping artists out there who want to make it in the music industry. As said by Nick Jonas, "2010 is the year of no fear", and Toni is definitely FEARLESS! "I'll know I've made it when I sell out somewhere. Even if it's just like a place that seats 150 people. I'd love to sell out The Wiltern, The Roxy, or any House of Blues. 2012 is definitely my year," says Toni. Don't look away, because Toni's here to stay.
Check out Toni's personal biography & more here.