Juls Tarango: Being Your Own Team As An Independent Artist

Image by Leah Martinez

For as long as she’s known her ABCs, Juls Tarango has known her love for music. The realization that she wanted to be a performer came to her on a warm summer afternoon in her kindergarten classroom. She had written her first song – which she looks back on with a chuckle – about the excitement of summer break and had planned to sing it in front of the entire class. Once it came time to sing, her tiny hands clammed up, and fear washed over her like a tidal wave. Instead of performing as she had imagined, another classmate stood up and stole the spotlight. She went home with her head bowed, mind racing about what-could’ve-beens.

Though it seems trivial now, for her 5-year-old self, the regret that followed was enough to motivate her and realize that performing was something that she’d always want to do. “This was the one and only time I’ve ever had stage fright in my life,” said Tarango.

Performing in front of a crowd looks a lot different for the now 23-year-old. Tarango is a Hispanic independent artist who credits pop girl group Fifth Harmony, Latin pop rock group RBD, and even rapper T-Pain as her early musical inspirations. Her diverse music taste is reflected in her own original songs as she pulls a little from both her current and past favorite artists. She earned her associate degree in fine arts with an emphasis in dance with applied sciences at Scottsdale Community College.

The school provided her with some of her first real performing experiences. She describes the feeling as “ecstatic.” The adrenaline rush that follows the stage lights coming on is an incomparable feeling for Tarango. The drumming in her chest isn’t due to fear, but excitement. Putting on a performance is no longer the hard part; it is instead the reward for the strenuous work she puts in during rehearsals for each show.

While her history with music stems all the way back to childhood, her career is only just beginning. When Tarango released her debut single "TIP-TOE” almost two years ago, the fresh and bouncy blend of pop and hip hop became a self-love anthem for her and her listeners. But where is the follow-up?

Being an independent artist comes with numerous struggles. While Tarango notes being grateful to have creative friends that are willing to lend a hand whenever they can, she is still essentially her own team; her own songwriter, creative director, stylist, and manager. There is no major label funding her releases, which makes it more difficult to get her music out whenever she wants.

She said, “I have the songs. It’s just about paying to get things mixed and mastered, then sitting down and doing the cover shoot, and then doing the videos, and thinking about marketing strategies.”

Being an independent artist means “learning to wear as many hats as possible,” Tarango said. She dedicates her time to researching and taking in as much knowledge as she can regarding each position from music distribution to the legalities of the industry so she can pursue this career despite the lack of support.

That isn’t to say she doesn’t dream of one day signing to a record label with a team looking out for her. But she doesn’t want to have to wait for that day to get the ball rolling. She’s even gone as far as developing a clear vision for her future debut album with its title already solidified.

While the debut album remains under construction, Tarango has big plans for this year and next, including a six-song EP aimed for a fall release. The EP will discuss her struggles with learning to let things go as each track correlates to a specific person or situation that she has held onto for too long. For this reason, the EP puts a play on the term “hoarder.”

“I feel like the EP's a good sliver; a good introductory, little pre-album,” said Tarango. “Still being like, this is really Juls, but just a little teaspoon,” she added.