Everyone has something that separates him or her from the rest. For some it’s athletic prowess, for others it takes place in heated debates, but for Johnny Rivera, junior criminal justice major, music is where his passion lies.
Rivera, who goes by Johnny Riv to most, showed a love for music from a young age, whether it was performing Boys 2 Men for his mom as a kid, singing in choir throughout school and today, writing and creating his very own music.
As he developed his musical talents in college, Rivera found that his love of music only grew.
“I learned what it means to truly and deeply love music. For some people it’s sports, for me it’s writing music and expressing my feelings through harmonies and notes,” Rivera said.
While in college, Rivera has been able to develop that love for music, where his genre tends to be Pop and R&B. With a love for music by artists like Usher, Jay Sean and Jessie McCartney, Rivera found an area of music he could relate to. As he works on developing as a songwriter, you can expect to find his songs revolving around what most college aged students can relate to: love, relationships and a having a good time.
“All of my songwriting has come from some experience, dreams or thoughts that I’ve had. Sometimes I want to tell the story of someone else and other times, I like to use my own feelings to write a song,” Rivera said.
Reaching for ones goals may seem difficult, especially with the expected ‘haters,’ coming through, but Rivera has believes that by having faith in yourself and putting in hard work, you can prove to others what your made of.
“My words of advice to anyone trying to pursue their dreams are to never stop, and when it gets hard, work even harder. No one can ever hold you back and you are the sole person that controls how hard you work and how bad you want it,” Rivera said.
Speaking from his own history, Rivera emphasized that while others didn’t always support him, proving people wrong is the way to turn a negative into a positive. When it comes to the “haters”, Rivera said that it’s the haters that light the fire under most musicians and other artists.
“The best way to deal with haters is beat them with success. Hating is a form of jealousy, so keep doing what you’re doing,” Rivera said.
Where can you expect to see this musician in the next five to ten years? If it’s up to Rivera, he will be making a salary off of creating his own music and working with people who have that same passion.
“In the next five to ten years I hope to be under a music contract with either a publishing company or a record label,” Rivera said. “Music will always be a part of my life but if things don’t work out, you can probably see me in the police uniform patrolling some town up north!” he added.
Rivera urges students to always follow your dreams because life is to short not to try.
“Think big, dream big, and love hard. That saying is off of one of my new songs called ‘She’s A Star’ and I feel it’s what we should all strive to do,” Rivera said.
To check out this ISU celebrity, you can hear his music streamed live for free off of his Facebook fan page, on YouTube, and in the fall, he will be releasing an EP, which fans will be able to get their hands on.
Go check out this campus celebrity for yourself, see what you think and shoot him a tweet with Her Campus love!
How to find Johnny Riv online:
His website: www.JohnnyRiv.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnnyRiv2571
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Johnny-Riv/328195290175
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheJohnnyRiv