No Time To Waste

Some believe death is what gives life meaning, realizing that life can end or change in a moment. Tyler Schonauer knows this all too well. The 20-year-old musician and college student has faced real life-threatening challenges that changed his perspective on life and helped shape his debut album. Schonauer, who goes by the stage name Schoney, released his album, “Time Is Now” this past December. The album dives into not taking life for granted and realizing how short it can be. Schoney said the main message of the album is that he wants listeners to take life into their own hands and that nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. “You don’t have time to waste, life is so precious and you gotta make it yours,” Schoney said. He explained that this idea originated from when he was a senior at Mentor High School and was unexpectedly diagnosed with Soft Tissue Sarcoma.Schoney explained that in his senior year he was committed to play football for Walsh University after he graduated from Mentor High School, but everything changed after he was diagnosed with cancer. This led to Schoney not playing football for Walsh University, and he ended up going to Kent State University where he studies special education with a dual license of mild to moderate to moderate to intensive K-12.

Luckily, Schoney overcame the cancer and says that he is fine now, but still goes to get a checkup every six months. “That is what made me mature as a human being in general,” Schoney said. He explained how he did not think that he was going to survive the cancer and after beating it, realizing that there is no time to waste.

With the COVID-19 pandemic going on for a year now, many artists have used this time to bunker down and let their creative juices flow. Schoney precisely did this when the pandemic started. Schoney said he already had a few songs working towards an album and with COVID keeping everybody inside he decided to finish up his album. “For that purpose, COVID was kind of a blessing in disguise,” Schoney said referring to getting work done during the pandemic. “It’s what I love to do, and I had all this time,” Schoney explained. From being locked in his house at the beginning of the pandemic to coming back to Kent for the fall semester and finishing up his album. He said that it took him a solid year of hard work while still juggling his normal life in between.The album “Time is Now” consists of fifteen tracks that were all produced by Schoney himself. He has two features on the album, KiNG and Nick Samac, with KiNG appearing twice on two different songs. The sounds on the album range from fast paced hip-hop to slow and peaceful alternative melodies. Schoney wanted to show his versatility in this album by having songs on his album that sound like different genres of music. For example, the song CHEETAH would be looked at as more of a rap song, but a song like Better Off Instead and Half of My Heart are slower and have more alternative sounds. Time is Now by Schoney is available for streaming now on Spotify and Apple Music.