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Photograph by Jacqueline Day
Ahead of the release of her new single, "Special" (and its accompanying video), we sat down with singer-songwriter Charlotte Sands.
Artist Uprising: How have you managed to stay creative during lockdown?
Charlotte Sands: The biggest creative challenge for me is that all of my songs are all real experiences. I don’t have a single song out that’s made-up; they’re all real relationships, real stories. So I’ve had to try to write songs about my life when I feel like I’m not living my real life. It was hard to be inspired by my everyday life, especially the first six months. I also live by myself, so it was hard to get inspired without a lot of human interaction. It put me in this situation where I was forced to think outside the box and write about my own feelings, my own emotions, which was ultimately helpful for my writing. It’s like when you have a major, and you have to write about a topic you don’t understand very well.
Photograph by Jacqueline Day
On the bright side, I’ve been able to put more time into my artistry than I ever have. I’ve always written for live shows and live performances, and I would go into the studio with that energy in mind: “Where are the breaks gonna be? What am I going to be doing onstage here?” I haven’t played a live show since February 4th, so now I have to look at these songs in a different way. It’s so difficult not being able to put those songs together without having the live interactions, but it forces me to get creative and be comfortable where I used to be uncomfortable. I was used to creating a song, playing it live a week later, then releasing it. Now I have songs on deck for a full year, and I’m able to go back through and comb through it and make sure it’s exactly what I want it to be.
AU: Your visuals are always really powerful. When you're crafting a song, do the visuals for your videos come to you as you write certain lyrics? Or, do the visuals come first, then you write lyrics to tell that story?
CS: I’ve always written songs with the mindset of, “Okay, what would I like to perform next?” I picture myself up there on stage, and if I can see the audience really responding to that sound, then I know I’m onto something. I’m the same way visually: I know a song is good when I'm in the studio and I already start seeing the music video come together. That’s the best feeling, because that’s what music is supposed to do: transport you to a different place. I would say I have a very visual approach to writing lyrics, too. My ultimate goal is for people to see themselves in the lyrics, because the songs that don’t give you that feeling don’t feel real enough. It’s almost like getting a tattoo: you know where it’s supposed to go on your body, and you can picture it there well before you ever get it. That’s how it’s supposed to be with music. I know where it’s supposed to go, how it’s supposed to make me and you feel. I’m just the portal for it, the person who puts it out there in the world.
Photograph by Jacqueline Day
AU: Tell us about your new song, “Special.”
CS: I’ve been waiting to put this one out for a while, partly because I made it with my good friend Danan Reed, who produces and plays drums. I call it my “taking back the power” song, because it puts me in a completely different mental space in the best way possible. It helped me grow, learn and move on from a relationship, and what more can I ask for from my music?
Photograph by Jacqueline Day
To follow more of Charlotte Sands visit charlottesands.com and follow her on Instagram.