Living your dream is something most try to achieve, but it is never as easy as it sounds. Senior psychology major and fine art minor, Whit Lindquist, has made it sound easy by becoming an established musician, getting married and getting ready to graduate from WSU Vancouver before the age of 22.
Growing up in Blaine, Washington, Lindquist got her GED diploma at 15 and decided to move away from home. She eventually made her way to WSU Vancouver, which she explained is, “pretty cool,” although she prefers big cities.
Lindquist’s love for big cities is rooted in their fashion scenes, Seattle being her favorite.
“It’s just big. Like I love, love a really big city. That’s why Seattle is the best,” she said. “And if you’re gay, they like automatically love you in Seattle. And Seattle is the well-dressed gay people, where they care a lot, and I fit in with that because that’s me,” Lindquist said.
A passion for big cities is topped by music for Lindquist. She owns her own record label, Lindquist Records, and writes, sings, performs and produces all of her own music. She explained that she has been a musician since she was 14 and released her first album when she was 15.
Lindquist uses Spotify to release her albums. She currently has five albums under the name, “Whitney Lindquist.” Her most recent album, “Honey,” was released in January of this year. Lindquist said that “Honey” is her favorite album so far, calling it “cute as hell,” and “so much fun.”
When it comes to making her music, Lindquist does everything by herself. This makes performing, which Lindquist does by request only, difficult. Lindquist compared her performance style to artist Halsey, explaining she either plays acoustically or connects to Bluetooth and sings along to the background music. Performing is not the favorite part of her job, though she does enjoy doing it, she said.
The process of making music and the creativity that goes along with writing songs is Lindquist’s favorite, preferring it over performing.
“The part of my musicianship that I actually appreciate the most is the arrangement of instruments,” Lindquist explained. “How it’s recorded, and because I am a one man band and do all of it myself, I can’t showcase that. I don’t like to do just an acoustic guitar and my voice because that’s not actually my music.”
Lindquist plays eight instruments. The first she learned to play was the violin, which she took lessons for. Besides violin and the flute, the rest are self-taught. Her instrument of choice is the piano.
After seven years of making music, Lindquist offered advice for aspiring musicians.
“Don’t do covers, they’re bullshit. Write your own music. That is how you’ll be noticed,” Lindquist said. “And if you can afford to, it’s $40 to put out your own independent album label from a site called tunecore. This isn’t a plug. I don’t get paid for saying that, but you can own your own label, release from your own label and it’s really freeing to try and not get signed. You don’t need to, you can do it yourself. If you have access, then definitely do that.”
Lindquist uses a Tumblr account to connect with her fans. One of her favorite ways to interact with her fans is by reading their zodiac birth charts.
When Lindquist is not working on music, she has a variety of other hobbies that keep her entertained. She particularly enjoys her two cats, Wednesday and Minns.
Summer 2020 will be Lindquist’s last semester at WSU Vancouver. She explained her time at WSU Vancouver impacted her life in a positive way. She hopes to be a college adviser after graduating.
Lindquist will miss her favorite professors after she graduates. “Dr. Kimber Saville is my personal angel and straight from heaven into my life,” Lindquist said. She said she will also miss professors such as Mike Morgan and Nanette Thrush.
She also met her wife, Chelsea Clarkson, on campus. “We didn’t ever have a class together,” Lindquist explained. “I saw her in the hall. We had a class that passed each other.”
Lindquist and Clarkson were both on dates with other people when they saw each other at Gay Skate, a gay-friendly event put on by Oaks Park. “Then, the next day we ran into each other on campus,” Lindqust explained. “Which was fate because we hadn’t seen each other in like months at that point. Then I got her number.”
Lindquist plans to continue making music, though her next album release date is unknown. Her current releases can be found on Spotify under Whitney Lindquist.