Music, Poetry, and Business 

 

Alden Gilbert is an independent songwriter and spoken word artist, paving the way for future recording poets. A student at Dark Horse Institute, Alden plans to graduate at the end of the year with the tools necessary to make the changes she dreams of seeing in the music industry. 

 

Having grown up in a melting pot of music, art, poetry, and business, Alden feels equipped for the world of entrepreneurship and innovation in which she's fallen into. Although advertising herself as a Nashvillian, Alden’s credentials began compiling upon entrance to her freshman year of High School. At Allen D. Nease in St. Augustine, Florida, her creative writing and speech classes birthed an undeniable love for storytelling and hard work as an aspiring wordsmith. Just before her family relocated to Music City, USA, circa 2018, she wrote and performed her first slam poem. 

 

Alden discovered Nashville’s Southern Word almost instantly. Led by Benjamin Smith, the non-profit organization has helped her develop her talents all throughout her remainder of high school and to date. Some of her milestones with them include her semi-final performance at the 2021 “Brave New Voices” international youth slam poetry competition, performance at Symphony Hall, paid fellowship with BMG, Nashville, and part-time position where she assists other students with their creative processes, as well as helps out behind the scenes with various presentations and events. 

 

Through workshops, Alden advanced from creative writing and poetry into other areas of study such as songwriting, music production, and business. Since, she has begun building an at-home studio, recorded three songs, developed her small recording entity Alden Gilbert Music, signed her first distribution deal, graduated from her songwriting and music composition course at Dark Horse Institute, and is about to release her debut (spoken word) single. “Falling Under” is destined to release to streaming services worldwide on February 4th.

 

In addition to establishing herself as a professional spoken word artist, Alden has a current Music Business and future Audio Engineering focus at DHI. Eager to find what inspires her the most, she juggles weekly performances, minor artist management, various business endeavors, consistent collaborations, class projects, and many studio hours. 

 

Unconditionally invested in spoken word, she tends to wonder what life as a full-time artist would look like. Taking her poetry and tapping into a variety of different musical genres, Alden defines her craft as forcing two-dimensional art into headphones. Borrowing unique lyrical devices from all of her favorite artists in hopes of making her emotions more tangible to others, she focuses on darker lyrics that accompany light beats and instrumentals, as well as intense effects and unconsidered sounds. All of these elements combine to give her music this heavily unique and borderline interactive feel that she plans on using to the advantage of changing times. In the future, Alden will continue to address abstract ideas and find new ways to make music, all in her unavoidable journey to better define her idea of spoken word in the music industry.