"Liv Miraldi Embraces Lorain Roots While Writing Songs in L.A."

by Kelly Boyer Sagert

Liv Miraldi literally grew up along the shoreline of Lake Erie in Lorain, Ohio, so it isn't surprising that she found—and continues to find—inspiration from being near water. When she was in elementary school, she sometimes imagined that she'd use her inspired creativity through acting or as a ballet dancer.

By the time I was in middle school, though,

Liv says,

I knew I wanted to focus on music. Living in Lorain was really helpful because of the diversity of music that I heard and enjoyed while growing up.

This led her to study songwriting at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University in Nashville. There, a school project led to her collaboration with Jonathan Timberlake, Justin's younger brother, on "Poison in the Blood." This song was featured in the New York Post, Elle, Marie Claire, E!, VH1, InStyle, and more.

"Through that experience," Liv said,

I realized how much I really enjoy the writing part of music.

So, after spending several years in Nashville, Liv moved to Los Angeles in September 2019, under contract with Altadena and Warner Chappell Music as a songwriter.

Liv writes songs—both lyrics and the melody—for artists to record on their albums. She also records a demo of the song, then adds instrumentals over, so the artist can decide whether to record that particular song. For example, that's what she did with "Wish You Well," by Famba, a song that became a Canadian Top 40 single.

"The way it works," Liv explains, "is that I'm given the name of an artist and the type of song that's needed —say, an up-tempo dance song that's radio-friendly. I take that blurb and try to meet their needs for their record or for a television show."

Photo provided by Liv Miraldi

If, for some reason, a song ultimately doesn't get recorded by an artist, it still can be pitched from Liv's catalog to someone else.

She's on track to write about 200 songs this year. "Each week," she says, "my goal is to end up with one song that I'm proud of or excited about."

She leans towards writing pop songs but is also getting more into R&B.

When asked what advice she has for people who want to write songs, Liv says to,

Practice a bunch. Get your 10,000 hours in and listen to feedback and try to apply it. Make sure you're really passionate about this because you have to love the art, love the writing. You have to write what excites you because these are the songs that will usually resonate with other people, but you also have to think about the business side of it and write what's being asked of you. You have to realize that you're going to get a hundred 'no' answers, but those one or two 'yes' answers can change your life.