After spending the last four years as an Idaho football player, Micah Hamilton found a new passion — music.
Growing up with his mother, a music teacher, he was encouraged to get into music. However, he put football first.
“She always said that I had a good voice, but I never really did anything with it,” Hamilton said.
But in November 2017 Hamilton approached Reuben Mwehla, a former Vandal football player who makes music, and asked if he could create a song with him.
“It kind of just started from there,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton bought some voice equipment and has been making music ever since.
Now that his last season of football is complete, Hamilton said he is dedicating more time to his music.
Alex Brizee | Argonaut
Micah Hamilton edits his music on his computer April 23.
As a broadcasting and digital media major, Hamilton said music is just a hobby right now, but he would be happy to make it into a career one day.
“It’s cool when I can scroll through my phone and see my song on iTunes or Spotify,” Hamilton said. “I kind of just make music for myself. You know it’s up to my friends and people out there if they like it.”
With his music playing on platforms like Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and SoundCloud, he has the ability to reach a wide variety of listeners. But without a label pushing him or an endorsement, people still might have difficulties finding his name.
Mwehla connected Hamilton with another musician, Sherman Ewing, who taught him everything he knows.
To create his self-described R&B genre, he has to pick the right beat — which can take him anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours, he said.
“I have friends who send me beats and like, ‘Hey, man, listen to this one (beat),’ and I’m like, ‘This isn’t me,” Hamilton said.
Other than knowing he enjoys the sound of a guitar, Hamilton said he simply knows a good beat for him when he hears it.
Once Hamilton has found his beat, he begins to hum the melodies, records it and then starts to write. The process can take as long as four hours to two months for him to make a song.
“I start putting words on paper. Sometimes I write, sometimes I don’t,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes it just kind of comes to me as I go.”
Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @alex_brizee