FEATURE: Spotlight: Sarah Close — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Sarah Close

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I am going pretty hard on the Spotlight features…

because there are a lot of great artists that warrant focus. I have been following Sarah Close for a while - and I will finish with a review of her exceptional album, And Now’ We’re Shining. There aren’t too many interviews with Close from the last year or two, so I have taken from interviews a bit further back. Go and follow Sarah Close and check out her music – I have put all the links at the very end -, as she is another artist that I feel is going to expand in 2021 and reach new people. It is a shame the London-based artist will not be able to tour more this year. Let’s hope summer looks better and we can see Close in action! I want to start by quoting from an interview from The National Student from 2018. We learn more about Close’s earlier life, taking inspiration from Taylor Swift, and frustrations she has with the industry:

“Growing up on the small island of the Isle Of Wight, Sarah has admitted that the size of her hometown limited her options creatively; "I think feeling so isolated was one of the reasons I got into music, I didn't have other kids in my village to hang with so I had to find things to keep me busy! I don't think my home area has an obvious influence on my songs and writing, but I do have a couple songs that explore growing up and feeling like a bit of an outsider because of a different childhood to other people".

Fantasising about a what life could be past the small island, Sarah got light of the idea of putting herself out there through by pure coincidence from her covers rival Taylor Swift. "I was hugely inspired when I found out that Taylor Swift wrote and performed her own songs, that made me believe that I could do the same! That and 'Naive' by the Kooks is what made me pick up a guitar and start teaching myself."

Sarah was inspired to follow in Swift's tracks but found herself held back by a feeling we all know a little too well. "I'd known I wanted to do it for a while, I'd been watching other singers on YouTube and saw that they were doing what I wanted to do. What worried me most was people at school finding out and teasing me for it, I told a friend what I wanted to do and she encouraged me so much that I just did it. People at school found out about my channel earlier than I expected them to, but luckily everyone was super nice and supportive which only spurred me on more!"

As an individual that has explored the industry in all its glory, Sarah does not shy away from being vocal about her frustrations within the belly of the beast. "I think the industry is lacking in diversity, especially in the behind the scenes roles. I'd love to meet more women and POC working as A&R's and managers." However, that's not to discredit her experiences to date - having worked alongside Parlophone Records and now coming back to a point where she's in full control of her own music. Releasing independently through The Kodiak Club and self-directing her own music videos can be intimidating, but Sarah takes it all in her stride. "At the end of the day no one really knows what song is going to bang or not, so trust your gut and put out songs that feel right to you!”.

I love Sarah Close’s songs, as they are really accessible and instant. I can hear something like If It Was Me, or Cool, and they will burrow in my head. She has an exceptional voice and songwriting talent, and I feel she will be a huge name of the future! Her fanbase is already huge. One can expect it to grow and explode as she puts out more music. Apologies to go back in time, but I am fascinated by a deep interview from Golden Plec of 2019. We learn a lot about one of Britain’s finest young artists:

“Sarah Close has built up a name for herself as a talented and versatile singer-songwriter. Having started her career by uploading covers to YouTube, the Isle of Wight native has also studied songwriting, signed to a label and become independent again, learning a lot about the music industry along the way. We sat down with her to talk about her career thus far, being able to make decisions for herself and the murky area between music and YouTube.

Recently, Close released 'London' a song that tells the tales of her love-hate relationship with the city, a feeling that has resonated with a lot of her fans, "'London' was a song that I wrote back in 2015. And it's always just been a song that I love. I was talking to some friends who have just moved to London we were saying about how tough it is to acclimatise, and to get used to people being like, "hey, let’s meet up" and never hearing from them again and just how lonely it is."

Close studied songwriting for two years before dropping out, a move which she sticks by as she thinks it was the right decision at the time. "I came to London knowing I wanted to do music but I didn’t know anyone in the city. My parents really encouraged me to enrol in some kind of course so I could have a student loan and have a bit of the student lifestyle and go out and meet friends. So I went on a songwriting course."

Close had it in mind that she wouldn't make it the whole way through the course from the outset, "I kind of made it my goal that I wouldn’t have to make it the whole way through. That I would work hard enough that halfway through my career outside of uni would be so busy that I could have the opportunity to drop out. So I worked really hard, saved money so I could quit uni and be okay.

"by the end of second year it wasn’t really giving me anything any more. I don’t think you can teach music, I think you have to have passion and drive - you can be taught to write a song but unless you’re going to go out and practice, what’s the point? So I was just like, this course isn’t doing anything for me and left."

By this point her online presence had grown dramatically, and the music industry started taking notice, "I started getting interest from labels. So I decided I wanted to make an EP and get that out then I signed my record deal with Parlophone in 2017."

Adjusting to a label life was another learning curve for Close who was unsure of others taking over her previous responsibilities, "I had never had a team before - I had made everything myself. All of sudden there’s a group of people that are like “hey, you need tour posters? We’ll make them!” And it was amazing… but it was also hard for me to not have to do everything because I was so used to it."

She also notes how she found it to be another part of the industry that she could now understand a little bit more, "I feel like labels are still like a locked door that everyone kind of knows what’s going on but you don’t really know until you’re in it."

There is a side of her that is annoyed by those who jump on the music bandwagon simply because they have a big audience on social media, "100% yes. Because I sat there as a 5 year-old like "I want to be a singer, I want to write songs" and I’ve spent hours and hours working and trying to make it happen. But also, everyone is entitled to do whatever the hell they want so who am I to talk shit on them, like, you do your thing."

Part of what made her departure from the label easier to take was that she was now in control of what she could release, so what exactly does that entail? "What you see is what you get with me - I’m an idiot on Instagram stories and I post videos with no makeup on and in my pyjamas and I always want to keep things very intimate and not too polished, but I definitely want my music to go in a slightly more intimate manner. I think that my covers online were just my voice and my piano and I really enjoy the songs in my set where it’s just me and the piano, so I would love to strip things down a bit more. But then I really love the big pop songs so it’s kind of finding the space between”.

I know I took rather heavily from that interview but, as it is one of the more recent ones, it has given us insight into the brilliant Sarah Close. I will end with a review of her latest work, but there is another interview that I saw from 2018 that gives us a little more information about Close. She spoke with The Student Pocket Guide in 2018:

“Q4. What are you biggest aspirations in life? (career and lifestyle wise)

I want to play shows around the world, there’s no better feeling than being on stage for me (apart from maybe fresh bed sheets…) and I’d love to be able to make music and keep writing my songs for years to come. I’m super interested in business too, I’d love to develop my record label The Kodiak Club and one day sign and help other artists out, especially any aspiring musicians from where I grew up- the Isle Of Wight. Whilst I love London and this city, I want to end up living back by the sea, and I also want a dog.

Q5. Have you always been passionate about music since a young age?

Yes. I recorded my first ‘album’ age 5/6 on a cassette tape of songs ‘I had written’ (I made them up on the spot), but no seriously, my parents always had music playing and are musical themselves and very early on I knew I wanted to pursue singing.

Q9. If there’s anyone you’d want to collaborate with who would it be, and why?

Shawn Mendes, because I love his voice and I think he’s so cute. Amine, I love everything about him and think he would be so fun to work with. Charli XCX, she’s a mega babe and I reckon we’d made something awesome and then finally SZA, who wouldn’t want to work with her?”.

Go and visit Sarah Close’s official website, where one can purchase the amazing And Now, We’re Shining. It was one of last year’s finest releases; it shows that Close is one of the most interesting and strongest artists we have in the country right now. I want to bring in a great review for And Now, We’re Shining:

“UK artist Sara Close’s first album And Now We’re Shining perfectly showcases all of Close’s talents. The album features a bedroom pop genre with one song combining popular 80’s music trends with 2000’s trends. Sarah Close’s vocals are phenomenal. The entire album, she shows off her range, adding multiple harmonies into each of the songs. Her harmonies are so incredible and add so much depth to each song. Every single song on this album is so catchy. Her album is also versatile– you can listen to it while you lay in bed avoiding online work or while on a run.

One thing I loved about her album was how different each song sounded compared to one another. Each one had a different tone and vibe that made her album more relatable. Just like we go through different moves and feelings every day, this album mirrored that.

Some of my favorite songs were “If It Was Me” and “Almost”. Both of these songs, although sound different, focus around the same boyfriend who is always late and very conceited. It follows the idea of wanting to say something and cutting the relationship off but not saying anything.

I am obsessed with “Stay”. It is easily my favorite song on this album. Listening to the song the first time brought chills and tears to my eyes. The emotion is felt so clearly in her voice and it connects Close to the listener. The dynamics of the song adds so much depth to the meaning of the song. It starts off slow and picks up, but it does it so subtly that I didn’t even realize how much the dynamic changed until the last couple seconds of the songs.

Especially during the pandemic, And Now We’re Shining is the perfect album to listen to. The vocals encapture the listener and easily distract from the craziness that is going on. Whether it be for three minutes or thirty, this album is definitely a pick-me-up. I currently use the songs Almost, If It Was Me, Crazy Kind and You Say in my run playlist”.

I have a lot of love and respect for Sarah Close as an artist, but I also admire what she says in interviews and how inspiring she is. If you are thinking about which artists to follow this year, make sure Sarah Close is near the top of your list. She is an amazing talent and, as we look ahead to brighter times, I do feel like she will tour the world and play at some massive shows! I will leave it there but, in a sea of promising artists, Sarah Close is one of the very best. I have been aware of her music for a couple of years and she always produces simply amazing music! There is no denying that she is…