Autumn Dominguez’s Stories, Lessons & Insights

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Autumn Dominguez. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Autumn, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I am most definitely on a wandering path! I firmly believe there’s no “end goal” or “destination,” just years and years of learning, living life, and getting to know new versions of myself all the time. Rebuilding again and again, forever. I believe our sole purpose in life is to persevere.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Autumn Dominguez, and I’m a saxophonist, songwriter, and arranger based out of New Orleans. I moved here three years ago after spending the first 25 years of my life in Arizona. I have an original project that I started about 2 years ago and, though I’m not a huge fan of categorizing art, the genre of music I write is what I call, “sad girl soul rock.” Sad girl lyrics with rock-ish vocals over lush & dense chords, played by the baddest musicians I know. This new group is a pretty colorful bunch: myself on saxophone, lead vocals & synthesizer, two shreddy guitars, electric bass, drums, trombone, and background vocals. We just recorded a new single called “27 Club,” which will be coming out by the end of 2025!

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
First of all, wow, I freaking love this question. I think my learned belief that I’m not a worthy musician could be something to release. There have been so many times in my life, through so many different stages, where I felt like the worst musician in the room (I still feel it sometimes, and I think that’s healthy and even exciting!). But especially when you’re a kid – there’s so much to learn, and it can often seem like everyone around you knows something you don’t. There’s this dauntingly vast world of musical knowledge to catch up on, so you just keep practicing and keep racing to some sort of imaginary finish line thinking, “everyone knows something I don’t, I must convince them all that I know something before it’s too late. Then I’ll be worthy!” It’s bizarre. You find yourself, decades in, able to accomplish all the musical goals you had as an 11 year old, but you’re too tense and jaded to even bask in it. I think artists being hard on themselves does benefit them to stay motivated and do great things, but at a certain point you just have to accept that you’re great!

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Success could never teach me the depth of gratitude. That being said, I disagree with the typical definition of “success.” I feel “success” should be measured by how you handle/rise from failure!

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Obviously we all have parts of ourselves we are less inclined to show, but I try to be as honest as possible when being perceived online or in public interactions. What I’ve noticed since becoming more perceivable is the more “yourself” you are, the more people gravitate towards you and want to see where you go in life. Especially if you’re willing to share the darker parts of you because what human can relate to a filtered, watered down, or overly polished version of you? This is actually quite comforting to me. Since I was young I’ve been told I’m “weird” or “strange,” and I now take labels like that as a compliment. I still struggle with seeking validation just as much as the next guy, but the more I lean into “me,” the less I care about that.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
I feel a lot of people live their whole lives trying to impress others, or they try to be a certain way in order to feel accepted. It really comes back to the idea of being completely and entirely YOURSELF. It boggles my mind that people don’t think their individuality is worth expressing, or they believe they have to fit some sort of mold. This is a huge issue in the music industry, and obviously the industry itself fuels that fire; but if you look at all the greatest artists of all time, you’ll find that the ones most raved about are the ones who were nobody but themselves. When someone is being authentic and true, the world just can’t look away! So many of my kid students put pressure on themselves saying, “I wish I sounded like this other guy” or, “I don’t know if I have what it takes,” but we all have our own unique lens that is just as valuable as anybody’s. It’s funny, I was just talking about this just the other day at a bar with a musician I met from Wales, and he told me my perspective on this topic is very American, haha. I agree with him, and that’s why people move to America, right? Because they’re looking for a place where believing in yourself and pursuing your “specialness” is encouraged.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.autumn-dominguez.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autumndominguezmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acdominguezmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@autumndominguezmusic
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/autumncelia

Image Credits
(In order of upload)
Main photo: James Cook

Other 4 photos:
Miranda Rico
Sophia Rose
Noe Pierre
Sam Richie