Melina Hazewood- Going for Gold.
Melina Hazewood is a 16 year old singer-songwriter who loves to share her voice and songs with the world.
The first singing competition that Melina entered was the Golden Voice Competition in Cannes (south of France) this was in 2022. She chose to sing her song ‘so the wind blows’ the first stages of the competition were online and Melina managed to make it all the way to the live finals. There were 40 candidates in the finals and Melina was part of the singer songwriter category. Melina described it as an incredible felling for she got to perform one of her own songs on a big stage for the first time. In this competition she won best singer songwriter and an extra prize called ‘Coup De Cœur Du Jury’ which means it was the performance the judges were most touched by. This translates literally to ‘hit in the heart for the judges’.
Last year she took part in a highly respected, international competition. ‘UKSC’ this was an online competition for 85 countries and there were many categories to add your songs to. Melina uploaded several songs which will appear on her up coming album. In the general song writer category she uploaded two songs ‘so the wind blows’ and ‘powerful’. In the teen category she uploaded six songs and in the unsigned category she uploaded two songs. In this competition all of her entries gained top ratings (5 stars) which means the judges felt the song is of fully professional level. Two of her songs ‘so the wind blows’ and ‘simple desire’ made it to the semi-finals of the teen category. Melina’s other songs all received either commended or highly commended entries.
Melina wishes to enter more competitions in the future and is planning on entering her songs into several competitions this year. She explained to me that it is a good way of getting exposure as people in the music industry will hear her songs directly.
Melina loves sharing her music and feels it is a privilege to sing in front of judges as they give great feedback and are very honest. Melina believes that its good to go into competitions looking for some feedback as you will not always win.
Melina says that if you want to get noticed you should enter as many competitions as you can. The aim of these competitions is not to win but to be heard by those who matter. She says to not let negative feedback set you back. The key is to never give up, no matter what the outcome of the competition was. Melina also mentioned that competitions shouldn’t be the only thing you do for your music career but they are an important part of the music industry.
Find Melina on Instagram @melina_hazewood.