For a while, we were wondering what happened to Josie of Candyland. We knew that the duo was no longer a duo, but we really didn’t hear much from her. Recently, Josie decided to tweet a long message that really made us feel good for her well-being and her skill / talent. She is back. She is back and better than ever. For her to talk about depression like that in an open is extremely brave. There is so much respect we have for her. We are ecstatic that she has found her way and her purpose and cannot wait to see what she becomes. We know she’s destined for amazing things. We’ll be here to watch. Here is Josie’s full message below!
I started Candyland when I was 16 after begging my mom to buy me CDJs for my birthday (bright ass yellow ones they were so ugly Id) but since that day my life was forever changed. Up until then basketball was my life, I had only seen California traveling and playing ball, it was how I was gonna pay for college, it was how I was making my family proud. I broke my knee in a summer game and those dreams were over., after that I was so lost. Going through the typical high school ‘what am I gonna do with my life’ phase. I can honestly say music saved my life. My passion for sharing music with my friends only grew when I started to DJ. I had played many instruments my whole life but this was different, dance music was new to me. It changed everything. I like finally knew how to communicate with people (if you’ve met me in person you probably know how shy I am) but music let me get out of my shell. And I met Ethan and things got serious. It wasn’t just my passion but a career.
With Candyland I got to travel the world and meet the most amazing people, and meet you guys, we got to share our music with all of you. It changed me as a person, let me get out of my bubble that was Santa Barbara. Words cannot describe how much that has meant to me. So for that I thank you.
But I need to apologize for the silence. Last year I felt like I was in high school again. Not knowing what I wanted to do. Felt like losing my best friend in this journey made it seem pointless. I was burnt out, struggling with depression and I had felt like I lost everything. I took time to figure out what I wanted to do and it the more I started traveling and performing again made me realize that that I’m doing this for all of you. Sharing music is my purpose.
So with that all being said I’m back. I have so much music to give you guys I literally cannot wait. Next week kicks off my return with a single on one of my favorite labels Monstercat. With another release with them in September and so so so much more I can’t even talk about haha. When I first started Candyland I was still a child and you guys basically got to watch me grow not just as an artist but as a person. That was practice and now it’s game time.
— Josie