CSUN student Jesse Corti is about to release his debut CD after four years of hard work.

Music has been the fuel and outlet for this communication major’s journey.

“It is one of my proudest moments,” Corti said. “This is as close as I can get to delivering my own baby because all the songs are mine.”

Coming from a family full of characters, especially with Broadway actors for parents, Corti said the art of performing is a creative outlet in itself.

He said the dynamic of his family is strong, crediting his sister for her comedy, his mother for her loving ways and his father for his wisdom, without which he wouldn’t be the person that he is today.

“We critique each other, constructively, most of the time,” Corti added. “They’ve been very supportive. They enjoy the music, and they can’t wait to hear more of what I do.”

The journey for the CD started back in high school for Corti when he performed the first song he ever wrote at his high school talent show. He lost, but in that performance music became a passion with a twist of competition and compassion.

He said he was competing against a friend of his who had also at the time become the new school sensation when it came to performing, because he wrote all of his own songs.

Corti said something inside of him knew that if he was going to win, he too had to write a song of his own, something he had never done before.

But the compassion facet of this part of the artist journey came from a muse, a girl that Corti has known for a very long time.

“She had a lot of hardship in her life,” Corti said. “I felt it was the best way I could honor her, and win another talent show. But he (the other guy) still won.”

Corti said the loss of a prize he had won before the previous year didn’t shatter any hopes or dreams, but opened a new door for him as an artist because now, he was a songwriter.

From that day on, Corti said he did not stop writing his own music and after four years, his work is complete.

“Through the four years I wrote song after song after song, leaving certain songs out because they didn’t fit this album,” Corti added.

There were numerous stagnant points throughout the development of the album, but Corti’s band got through them, he said.

“One day everyone in the band talked about how they wanted to record these songs, and so we labored over our mutual love of this music,” he said. “What you hear is all passion, love and sacrifice.”

The journey to the Nov. 23 release date has been an artistic one for Corti, who gives credit to the influence of his family as well as his musical influences of Brian Wilson, the Beatles, Radiohead and Bruce Springsteen.

“Another facet of our family is that we’re all about the best. So we listened to the best music, watched the best films, and developed the best arguments on what decision is best over another,” Corti added. “Whether it was staying up late to watch Seinfeld or what’s the best solution for the current economic crises — we’re all about the best.”

With that dynamic and artistic flow in Corti’s genes, he said the music he is about to deliver to the world would be among the best he’s ever done thus far.