Make Belief with Calvin Nowell

Fifteen years after American Idol, Danny Gokey didn't need to change anything. The catalog was built. The career was proven. He signed with a new label anyway. In this episode, Danny sits down with Calvin Nowell to talk...

Tommee Profitt doesn't fit in one lane, and he's never tried to. He's the producer behind cinematic film and TV scores, genre-bending collaborations with artists like NF, and worship music that's reached arenas like...

This one’s personal. For a long time, I haven’t talked publicly about my weight, what it’s been like to live in a body that’s been judged before anyone knew my work, my heart, or my story. Today I’m changing that. In...

There used to be a system in the music industry that gave artists 2–3 years to grow before they ever had to prove anything. Labels funded that growth. They carried the risk. That system is basically gone now, and almost...

Calvin Nowell names something almost nobody in the creative industry says out loud: the Gatekeeper Effect. It's what happens when your talent spans more than one lane, and someone whose entire value rests on doing just...

For a long time I believed staying quiet was the loving thing to do. Turn the other cheek, don’t confront, don’t make waves. In this episode I get honest about what that silence actually cost me, in my business, in my...

Twenty five years in this industry taught me one thing about new technology. The fear always comes first, and the people who push through it always win in the end. In this episode I get honest about the moment an AI...

Nicholas John hid his Instagram account from his friends until it hit 100,000 followers. Today he’s past 1 million — and he’s never taken a single brand deal. In this episode, I sit down with Nicholas to unpack how he...

Making a podcast look easy takes serious work. In this special episode, we’re showing you the production side of Make Belief — the studio setup, the workflow, the tools, and the decisions that happen behind closed...

<p>Nia Allen went #1 on the Billboard Gospel chart three times — and she built it her own way, as an independent artist. In this episode of Make Belief, she shows how purpose and devotion beat the algorithm every...

Nia Allen went #1 on the Billboard Gospel chart three times — and she built it her own way, as an independent artist. In this episode of Make Belief, she shows how purpose and devotion beat the algorithm every time. Dr...

<p>Jordan McCullough turned down the producers twice. Then he said yes — and walked onto the American Idol stage as one of the most talked-about voices of his season. But the real story isn’t the audition. It’s the...

Jordan McCullough turned down the producers twice. Then he said yes — and walked onto the American Idol stage as one of the most talked-about voices of his season. But the real story isn’t the audition. It’s the shift...

<p>“Do I need a record label?” It’s the question every independent artist asks. And the honest answer isn’t what you think.</p><p>In Episode 4 of Make Belief, I’m breaking down what a label actually offers, what it...