Key points and milestones
2017 - Getting into the groove of things
As she continued to find her footing, Harpsona accumulated over 2,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel by April. That number began to skyrocket after covering “Merry-go-round of Life” from Howl’s Moving Castle. This was her first video to achieve over 1 million views on YouTube.
2018 - Reaching outside of YouTube
This was an exciting year for Harpsona as she performed her first solo concert at Friday Afternoon Tea in Seattle, was interviewed by Overclocked Podcast, and began to distribute her music more consistently to various platforms like Spotify and iTunes/Apple Music.
2019 - Going viral, gaining confidence, and exploring genres
This year started off with a bang as her short cover of “Moonlight Densetsu” from Sailor Moon went viral on Twitter. Soon after, she created a full version which became her second video on YouTube to reach over 1 million views.
At this point, Harpsona was finally feeling more confident in her arranging skills and is still particularly proud of her harp and cello cover of “Dearly Beloved” with Israfelcello to this day.
It was also in 2019 that she first collaborated with Michael Staple (MaxieDaMan) to create a lo-fi chill hop version of “National Park” from Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal.
In Halloween season, her cover of Gruntilda’s Theme was officially recognized and shared enthusiastically by the original composer, Grant Kirkhope.
To finish off the year, Harpsona performed onstage with comedian and actress Jenny Slate at the Neptune Theatre, providing mood-setting original harp music to accompany passage readings from Jenny as part of her “Little Weirds” book tour. Photos in the Gallery.
2020 - Getting more ambitious with video
In 2020, Harpsona broke out of her comfort zone and began producing more complex videos. Her cover of “Gate of Finis” from Octopath Traveler in particular was a new challenge as she recorded sounds using extended technique on the harp, including drumming and sliding along the harp for percussion.
Her annual Halloween cover, this time of “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, was the most ambitious yet.
She also released her first original track for charity called “Breathe”, with hopes of helping others in the Black community take a moment to relax given heightened stress surrounding continual murders and media attention.
2021 - Collaboration and playing amongst the stars
Within the first half of the year, Harpsona had the opportunity to play alongside Supergaint Games composer Darren Korb as part of the incredible large-scale collaboration concert “Line Them Up! A Paper Mario: The Origami King Concert” for VGMtogether.
Through the concert, she met other musicians in the Video Game Music (VGM) community who were interested in collaborating. One of whom was composer and vocalist Jillian Aversa, who reached out to collaborate on a harp and voice rendition of Great Fairy Fountain from The Legend of Zelda series. With this collab, Harpsona filmed outside for the first time ever!
In addition to collaborating and recording for others, Harpsona continues to create solo harp arrangements. Her rendition of “Lonely Rolling Star” from Katamari Damacy was recognized and shared by the director of the game, Keita Takahashi, and was also featured by the YouTube Gaming Twitter account.
2022 - Year of Soundtracks
Though a quieter year in terms of cover videos, Harpsona spent more time than ever recording for soundtracks in 2022!
Harpsona (credited as Nile Wilson) recorded solos and supporting parts for all episodes of the Netflix limited series Thai Cave Rescue, co-composed by Austin Wintory and Susie Benchasil Seiter.
In the realm of video games, she recorded for the Commonplace OST, composed by Max Miller. Harpsona also recorded for another game soundtrack that is still NDA.
2023 - Game soundtracks and GRAMMY nomination
At the start of 2023, Harpsona was busy recording a books-worth of leading harp lines for the GRAMMY nominated STRAY GODS soundtrack, composed by Austin Wintory. The harp prominent throughout the “charming (green)” path in the game features her performance.
In the summer, both this game and Disney Illusion Island (which she recorded for late last year, composed by David Housden) were released.
Soon after release, Harpsona recorded for another game soundtrack (currently NDA).