Introduction
This feature is part of a series where we decided to bring the stories of accomplished singers and artists to our young singers on Smule who aspire to succeed in a music career. These life experiences of some young successful Smule featured Artists from the US and elsewhere are very insightful, how they all fought and are still fighting their careers in the very competitive music industry. The success for these singers as you going to see is self-made efforts and the opportunities that came their way are no different than presented in front of many of us. All that is, how one perceives and converts these to their benefit.
This week we are bringing the music of Smule featured artist of great success, Sarah Cleary. She is one of the most popular profiles on Smule with a self-made career at a very young age itself. The Smule India blog team takes a moment to recognize the true artist in Sarah. Sarah throughout the time we interacted with her came out very professional in presenting her music. She had a very clear and highly intellectual approach to many of the issues we asked her opinion about.
This is a very special time in her career when her new reproduction of Ed Sheeran’s song Bad Habit released and Smule is promoting it as Sing with the Artist in the US and elsewhere. Here is the new song released yesterday.
The following is an exclusive interview done with Sarah. This takes us through a wonderful growth of artists; from a girl who loved The Phantom of The Opera songs and through schools and competitions and mentors who helped her reach places. Hope is that every aspiring young singer on Smule can take inspiration from these interviews. Read on.
Please tell us about yourself with a focus on your growing up and first interactions with music
“I’ve had a desire to be a singer for as long as I can remember. My first interactions with music were probably while watching The Phantom of The Opera, as a young girl and wanting to be just like Sara Brightman. I would sing songs from The Phantom all the time around the house and was always giving my friends and family little impromptu performances.”
“I started to take singing more seriously when I tried out for a solo in music class at school around the age of ten. I wowed the class and ended up looking to join outside choirs and take singing lessons shortly after. Since then I have taken extensive lessons on vocal safety, breathing technique, posture ext. I now give lessons and teach students of my own. However, I’ve known since the beginning I wanted to make singing my career and still strive to. I started writing music at the age of twelve and continue to release original songs. Something that has become a huge part of getting them heard by the public, was my following on Smule. I joined Smule when I was fourteen and was able to make many videos of myself singing quite easily and share them. This was pivotal because it not only gave me confidence in my voice from the amazing feedback but it exposed me to so many amazing people who have helped me get closer to my goals and make beautiful friendships.”
As young Sarah, who inspired you the most?
“Growing up, the music I listened to and loved was widespread. However, I found that the artists who inspired me the most when I was young were Freddy Mercury from Queen and Andrew Webber the composer of The Phantom of the Opera score. However, the supportive people in my life were most inspiring to me. My vocal coach Caren Jensen and my mother have always been my pillars; there to hold me up when I needed reassurance that I was on the right path.”
From your family, who all were your closest when you can talk about your artistic side?
“When it comes to my artistic side I’m an open book. I’m very lucky that my family and I are all very close. So when it comes to a project I’m working on I always love to hear their opinion whether it be harsh or uplifting. Their input is always important to me, not just in music but with any aspect of my life.”
Please describe in a small paragraph like you growing up in America how you see the music landscape changed over your life (even it is very short yet). You may use singers through the years and go like that.
“My musical genre timeline is all over the place! I remember as early as age four and listening to classical music, singing to Britney Spears, visiting with my grandfather and listening to jazz, or going to my other grandfather’s house and listening to old country music. My older sister was listening to punk rock or Evanescence, and my parents would listen to bands like Queen or Foreigner. So I was getting a wide variety of input, but the funny thing was I loved all of it. I could enjoy the musicality in the different genres I was listening to, so I ended up listening to all of them on my own as well. When I joined choirs we would sing Classical and Being classically trained its always been a bigger part of my life. When I entered high school I started exploring music more and found a huge passion for the 70s-80s rock. Bands like Guns N’ Roses, Scorpions, AC DC, Styx, and so many others became big inspirations. Around that time I also became a big fan of Indie music, groups like The Glass Animals, Tame impala, Borns, Cage the Elephant, and Capital Cities were my favorites; and definitely influenced my writing style. Having graduated only a few years ago I find that I still don’t have a strict genre I listen to but lately I’ve loved listening to singers like Dean Martin, Etta James, and Frank Sinatra.
Are you a socially responsible artist? If so, what is your role as an artist?
“Am I Socially responsible? It has always been my goal to make people happy. I have never intentionally misled someone. I don’t see how you could be happy yourself or at peace inside if it’s not your intention to treat people well or make someone smile. I think that is what social responsibility is at the very core. Doing what you can to just be a good person. Honestly have never been to detention for behavior. I’ve never been in any serious trouble with my parents or even been pulled over or given an F on an assignment. So I’d say I’m a pretty responsible person. It’s not within my nature to be devious or get in trouble, and that’s something I am proud of. It’s something I think makes me a good role model. As an artist and as a human in general it is my goal to leave the world better than when I found it. Even if it was just making one person smile it still has an impact.”
Black Americans and their contribution to American music are monumental. It is true as far as many other fields, like sports that America made an impression all across the world. Why are they treated so badly when it comes to things of equal treatment?
“In history, we see men strive for power over other men. Wars, genocides, religions, Social classes, and slavery. Thinking about the Jewish in WWII, you can see them have all their rights taken away from them and then being treated worse and worse. The German people saw the Jews as being wealthy and because Germany was struggling from WWI, the people felt powerless and wanted to regain power in any way. Oftentimes bullies in schools have someone who picks on them whether it be an older brother or a strict parent, they feel the need to continue the cycle to regain the power they lost. Men who abuse women, oftentimes have some sort of a masculinity complex. A person in power will do whatever they can to keep it. So when women in America started getting rights certain men felt threatened. When Black slaves in America started getting rights the same type of people felt threatened. The people who had power now feel they are losing it. If you are not a secure person you have a higher chance of being a bully or being racist or sexist or homophobic because it makes you feel powerful. That’s what we are still dealing with today. It’s unfortunately the nature of humans. People who will do awful things to feel powerful.”
Black culture and its influence on American pop music, your understanding or analysis.
“In America, music has been affected by many different immigrants and cultures as they all melt together. However, African American Culture has hugely impacted music to be what we hear on the radio today. Slave songs and Gospel are stepping stones to many different genres like soul and RnB. Black swing singing groups had music stolen from them and made popular by white groups. Black jazz groups started becoming more popular. Then came solo singers like Etta James and Nat King Cole. Tribal percussion correlates directly with rhythms you hear in rock n roll. And then we had groups like Jackson 5 who helped to open doors for other black musicals and groups alike. Rap music started to form and worked its way into Rock music giving you bands like Linkin Park, The Beastie Boys. It later merged with pop music and its influence is so prevalent on the radio right now. Pop today has been changed by rap immensely. You can find common rapping rhythms in Ariana Grande’s latest album or in Ed Sheeran’s music etc.”
Now is the time to ask about your music
How did you start with your music career? All the details, please.
“My music career started when I decided I wanted to be a singer at the age of four. People often say follow your dreams but this has never been a dream to me. I have always known that the potential of life is limitless and that I need to honor the time on earth by not wasting it with complacency. It’s a goal of mine to get to the end of my life with no real regrets. Not going for the career path that I want would definitely be a regret. So no matter how intimidating the music industry can be, it has never wavered my desire to follow my passion. I started with the goal to get into Berklee, my dream college. This meant I would need a scholarship, which meant I needed fantastic grades, lots of musical skill,s and certain accomplishments that made me stand out. So I made it happen. I ended up getting exactly what I set out to do and relentlessly worked for. I then decided that college wasn’t the right path for me. I felt that my career was already doing well enough to the point where I didn’t have 4 years to be in school. So I’ve taken online classes but have found I am just as effective in teaching myself than the knowledge I’d be learning in a music college. I’ve been traveling to LA and Nashville making connections and creating new music I am very proud of and can’t wait to see where my career takes me within the next few years.”
What makes you write your music lyrics?
“I have always loved creative writing. In school, it was one of my favorite topics, along with poetry. I once even wrote a thirty-page story for my sister when I was in elementary school. I’m definitely not gonna say it was any good though” Sarah laughed out loud. “Writing is something that just comes naturally to me and is one of my favorite parts of music-making. Taking the chords of a song and translating them into words, or taking words and conveying them into sounds. It’s something that satisfies my need for creativity.”
I know you can sing a variety of genres, starting from Classic to pop? Tell us how did you prepare yourself before you plunged into a music career seriously.
“Yes! I can sing almost any genre you throw at me, except maybe screamo. So although people may think I was just born talented, If you go back to my very first recording on Smule you can see…. that was not the case! Those videos are even 4 years into my training. I will say, I was only fourteen but music as a career choice for me was supported, but not fully realized until high school. In high school, especially the last two years of it, choir was everything to me! In my Senior year, I was a part of 5 choir classes! I was an “aid for Men’s choir”, women’s choir, Bellisima (which was an advanced women’s choir), and then in the schools’ concert choir and their specialty a Capella group. When the teacher left, he trusted me to teach the class! I was also a leader within my sections, so I would help teach voice parts their music. Our choir ended up winning! I was also a part of All state choirs which is where kids in schools around the state are in an audition to be in one single choir group for a large performance. It is very selective and a great honor to be in them. Every year I would get the solos which were something that looked good on my college resume! Once my voice developed more from training and just getting older music as a career became more of a reality to those myself and those around me.”
Talk to us about your classical music training.
“I have never lost my voice and without my training, I definitely would never sound like I do today. I have tried out for a special choir at the age of ten and met my soon-to-be vocal coach Caren Jensen. She heard me and immediately saw my potential. Instead of putting me with my age group in the elementary level, she put me into the women’s choir because she knew I could handle it. I had no knowledge of sight-reading or singing in general but I caught on quickly and was able to sing with people women twice my age. I have learned so much! Then she offered to teach me privately. I learned fundamentals like posture, breathing, balance, resonance. Then we dove into more complex things as time went on. Now I focus on the body as a whole in tons of detail and how since everything is connected even the slightest thing like a tear in your fascia in your foot could have a way of affecting your vocal performance.”
You are an exceptionally beautiful girl. Did you try your hand in movies or will you try it?
“What a flattering question! I have done musicals and plays and love to act! It’s something that comes naturally to me. Expression of emotion in music is very important so I do practice acting quite often. It would be amazing to be in a film or TV show and is definitely something I am interested in in the future!”
Now about your earlier music, I think your major single I found is in the year 2017, “The one I want”. Please take us through your first break and how you go about finding an opportunity.
“Yes, my song The One I Want was the first real song I wrote. I had met a great producer, Abe Stewart, through a friend in LA. We became great friends and later produced many more songs together. This song has a special place in my heart because it was the first time I got to travel to further my career. It was the first time I got to feel like a true musician.”
Your music and its lyrics are all about the human mind and states. Like sometimes you are in love like in ‘Fools Love’,‘The One I want, and in another song you talk about the magic happening in love, and about ‘Empty Words’ and ‘What You Get’ It seems like good and bad things happening to one’s life have a profound effect on what an artist experiences. Which is not very unusual. Instead of me analyzing these thoughts of you through songs please tell us about your songs.
“So my song ‘Fools Love’ is about being in a toxic relationship but feeling like you are already so damaged that you can’t be affected by your partner’s bad attributes. So you dive into it fully knowing it’s wrong.”
“My song ‘The One I Want’ is kinda all over the place, but the gist is that someone has had some hardships and feels a bit lost but this other person makes them feel complete and like they are where they belong.”
“These songs are both about love but not all of my songs are. For example, my song ‘Escape’ is about being sheltered and not feeling like you are living fully because your decisions are all safe ones and you aren’t taking any chances. Also, my song ‘Painful’ is about finding how tough times and hardships make you stronger in the long run.”
What defines you as an artist?
“I get asked this question a lot and it always stumps me. I know what defines me as a person. Things that are in my foundation like being trustworthy, truthful, kind, and grounded. When it comes to being an artist, I guess what defines me is my music, right? The things I write about and the overall message I send. I hope that message is just to simply enjoy life and hopefully people get a smile from my music or find it meaningful.”
What does your music mean to you?
Music is an expression of emotion itself. life would be meaningless if you couldn’t feel it. Music is the language of emotion without words. watching a movie with and without music is a great example. It enhances the emotions in the scene and does the same with any situation. If you go to a party and it’s silent and then you turn on the music suddenly everyone cheers up and is energized. If I were to make a metaphor, I’d say music is the color of an otherwise black and white photo. In the photo, you might be happy but once you add music it just enhances the photo and helps you see it in a more beautiful way.
Now let us talk about your song “Expectations”, tell me about your view on the bitter society and your take on the rules. Do you rebel sometimes? There is nothing wrong in it, you talked about it in your song, so do want to share your thoughts?
“This song was my inner rebel for sure. But,I would never be this blatant in person. Sarah laughed honestly. “That’s the great thing about music, you can act like you’re someone else sometimes. But this was around the time I was about to graduate and go to college and people do have certain expectations of you at this time and I felt other people were becoming very judgmental of each other’s career choices and college choices. So it was just what I felt like writing at the moment.”
Your “painful” is probably the best lyrics i thought since it is mostly using imagery and strong symbolism. It looks like you really know how to tell what you want to say without saying it plainly, which is the artistic way. Tell us more about this song.
This song’s lyrics are definitely one of the favorites I’ve written. I felt very stressed at the point when I wrote it. I was working so hard on my career for so long without a substantial break and I was just thinking about how it will all pay off because nothing worthwhile is ever easy. so that’s what the song is about. knowing that in hard times you gain the most strength.
Let us walk through your museography as I understand.
In 2017 you wrote and sang “The One I Want” and .” Empty Words”, both are about love and broken relations. In 2018- “In love with yourself” You seem to be very quiet for this whole year
In 2019- You came back with many songs “I don’t care, Magical, Escape, Painful, What You Get, In the Air, Expectations, Sugar Rush ” It is a bit of turmoil of magical love and revenge. In 2020 – “Cry”, “Easier to Take” and “Stick With You” (all with Matthew Tuck). Heard all the above since that is what I could find on “Apple Music“. Sorry if I missed any good ones.
I think you have extensively spoken about relations through your songs. Life goes through meeting with people and falling in love, sometimes breaking up and moving on. What do you think you achieve through making an art form out of your own life experiences. because sometimes “What you get” is some kind of relief from a lot of pain, someone caused in one’s life. Another nice example is “Sugar rush”.The story not told in those lines makes the lyrics and music strong and a listener relates to the emotions you portray at deeper levels. As an artist does such a process of making music based on personal experience put you through a lot of emotional turmoil while forming the song?
“Honestly, most of my songs are not based on personal experiences. I’ve had very very little relationship experience in my life thus far. Mostly because I am married to my career and don’t have a whole lot of time for dates. But the songs that are based on personal experience are actually therapeutic to write about. It feels good to express any emotion I feel. As you are writing you are also organizing your own thoughts on the subject and laying them out in a way that helps to actualize and once they are written down they no longer fester inside your mind.
In “Magical”, you write “Our love is a sorcery, and they say I’ve got the devil in me”. Wow, strong words, what is all this imagery about?
“So this song is all about a love that is magical. People who wield magic are called sorcerers and through history, they are believed to have connections with the devil. Also, any sort of sensual feeling was considered a sin or impure. So it’s just a play on words to say you have sensual feelings for someone while also connecting magic to it.”
You are an Indie pop-style singer, yet mix a lot of different styles.(indie, pop, alternative, country, rock, classical). Tell us why you adopt this style? who influenced you, all about that
Growing up with so many genres to influence my love for music also affected how I sang. The more you sing a style the more you adopt it, like accents.
You mentioned your own music production and have the equipment to produce music independently. You are so young and where did you learn all this?
“I am mostly self-taught! There is so much you can learn on youtube. But I also have taken a few online college production courses. Much you can just figure out on your own though. Most of my music composition comes from just feeling and hearing where the chords or melody should go rather than relying on music theory.”
If there is a social issue that arises, as an artist will you take a strong public stand and speak?
“It definitely depends on what the subject is. I definitely am not afraid to be vocal and if I see an injustice am inclined to talk about it. While at the same time I am a private person I don’t feel it’s necessary for my fans and followers to know every stance I take on every topic.”
What do you think is going to be the future of musicians with respect to this Virus pandemic?
“Concerts are going to be hard to bring back without having many precautions. However, I personally feel my career has actually been affected beneficially. The amazing thing we are seeing with quarantine is everyone’s creativity online. Making more video projects and more live performances on social platforms. People are collaborating more and it is beautiful. Everyone is turning to music and art during this tough time for some light and it feels good to be able to create things that help to improve someone’s day during this time.”
Please talk about your contemporaries, friends, and Smule if you want
Many of my good music friends are from Smule most of them I have collaborated with and posted on my Instagram. I am very lucky to have met them and that is the amazing thing about Smule that never fails to surprise me. People from all over the world who I likely would never get to meet are able to talk to me and sing together which is incredible. I am so grateful for that.
Here is a list of songs that we may not have discussed here, Go to the below link
https://linktr.ee/_sarahcleary
END NOTES
When we finish writing about Sarah and her music one feeling that override our thoughts is the overwhelming talent that this singer is. Moreover is her great personality, poise, hard work, honesty in everything she responds to, make her an outstanding singer of our times, poised to be a great singing career in a very crowded music scene. We started this relationship with this musician and will continue as much we can support her as an artist. We wish her all the best of everything in her career forward. Do visit Sarah on her social media handles on Smule at the links below for more music.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Tjkscleary
https://www.instagram.com/_sarahcleary/?hl=en
Leave you all with this excellent thoughtful song Sarah says “Escape’ is about being sheltered and not feeling like you are living fully because your decisions are all safe ones and you aren’t taking any chances”. It kind of sums up why Sarah is a successful singer.
