- 10 hours ago
SIENNA SPIRO joined us at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York to talk about her rapid rise, raw realness, and the moment where she felt everything change.
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00:00We are here with Sienna Spyro at the Hard Rock Hotel New York, and we have a lot of things
00:06to talk about.
00:07All the music, the tour, you know, the first thing I want to bring up to you.
00:13I feel like you have to drop out of performing arts school in order to make it today.
00:19Like, I don't know what would happen if you, you did though, right?
00:22I did do it, but you don't have to.
00:23And what would happen if you finished? I feel like it wouldn't work out as well.
00:26Did you, like, learn what you needed to learn, and then you were like, I'm going to pursue this right
00:32now?
00:33Well, that was, like, the best time of my life.
00:35I loved Elam so much, and I met Eddie there, who plays with me everywhere.
00:39But I think, you know, I learned a lot from that school, but the main thing that was, I guess,
00:45the most special was the people I met,
00:47and the people you get to connect with, and meeting, like, like-minded people, and getting to play music every
00:52day.
00:53And, you know, a class is, like, jamming.
00:56So, it was great.
00:58But, I don't know, I honestly left for the wrong reasons when I did leave, but it worked out, so
01:02I'm good.
01:02Oh, okay, okay, okay.
01:03It wasn't like, you know, I think I'm ready to...
01:06Well, it was, but it was, we don't have to get into it, but it was just not, it wasn't
01:10very clever.
01:11Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:12I feel like there's this UK women movement right now with so many very soulful singers, you obviously included.
01:22What do you think it is about these voices that people are resonating with today?
01:26I'm not sure about why it's the voice, but more, I think there's just this, like, honesty and, like, grit
01:34British people have.
01:35It's like that, you know, everyone's very raw, everyone's very blunt, everyone's, you know, a little bit miserable.
01:41So, I think it just, I don't know, maybe people like it these days.
01:44It's, like, kind of refreshing.
01:46Yeah, yeah.
01:47I feel like also with all the AI stuff going on, I think people like that raw realness in the
01:56vocals.
01:57So, maybe that's a little part of it.
02:00Speaking of that, I mean, do you alter your vocals at all when you're in studio?
02:05Like, if something isn't pitch perfect, will you tweak it, or do you leave the, you know, the imperfections?
02:12I think the imperfections are what make it so human.
02:15Like, the way I like to record, I like to just do one takes, because I just, I don't know,
02:20I don't like chopping, I'm also a bit lazy, to be honest.
02:23I don't really like chopping, I don't want to sit there for hours, like, finding the right take.
02:27But, yeah, I don't know, I like the imperfections, I like how human it is.
02:33I like, you know, that's how they used to record in the music I love from, like, the 60s.
02:37They couldn't really comp, so it was, you just hear kind of, I don't know, the cracks in their voice.
02:44The emotion.
02:44Even if it's, like, you know, an off note, it just, I don't know, it adds.
02:47I like it.
02:48Yeah, I love that, and I feel like we're going to get more of that moving forward.
02:52Like, people will crave that, hearing the human side of the artist.
02:58When did you know you could, like, sing sing?
03:00Did you always know, or?
03:01I've always loved it.
03:03Okay.
03:04I wasn't actually amazing when I was younger, but I've always, I've been doing it since
03:08I honestly was talking.
03:09Yeah, yeah.
03:10Before I was conscious, I think I just came out singing.
03:12Was it, like, a church thing, a choir thing?
03:15Where did you kind of, you know, start to take it seriously and kind of learn your voice?
03:23I feel like I was always trying to take it seriously.
03:25Like, even when I was, like, 10, I was like, this is serious.
03:28Like, this is, this is it.
03:31But, I don't know.
03:33I've just, I just love, I mean, I've loved it since I've seen nursery rhymes.
03:37Like, it just has felt like something I've always done.
03:40But then I think when I started listening to music, when I was, like, conscious enough
03:43to, like, digest it and understand what I was listening to, I would listen to so much
03:47jazz and soul, because that was what, you know, my dad played, and that was what was
03:51in the house.
03:52That's, I kind of tried to emulate these voices that I had, like Frank Sinatra, Nina, Aretha,
03:58you know, Al Green.
04:01I tried to just, like, emulate the way these artists would sing, and then it would kind
04:05of, you know, seep into what I would write.
04:07Oh, yes, I write it when I was 10.
04:08Yeah, yeah.
04:10And it's just, it's just been the biggest thing in my life since I was, I was born, to
04:15be honest.
04:15I love that.
04:16The Visitor is phenomenal.
04:18And I think it's such a cool concept, the idea of everything being temporary.
04:24And, but, you know, I feel like because things are temporary, you would hope it makes us cherish
04:32the moment more.
04:34Do you feel that way?
04:34I think that's how you have to look at it, to be honest.
04:37For me, I have a really big fear of impermanence.
04:40So, I think I've just had a lot of things, like, leave my life that have hurt me a lot.
04:48And it's just made me very fearful of that.
04:52Yeah, yeah.
04:53But I think, you know, there's a saying in Japanese that means everything beautiful is
04:59temporary, and you should love it more because it won't last.
05:01Yeah, yeah.
05:02And I think that is just the way to look at it, to be honest.
05:06Because you're right, everything is temporary.
05:08We're all visitors of life and time.
05:09And, you know, everyone's going to die and things end.
05:12And that's just, like, inevitable.
05:13So, I think you're right.
05:14I think that is just how you have to kind of cope with it.
05:17And, you know, up to this point, I mean, you have to have noticed, like, some of the biggest
05:23learning experiences come from temporary relationships, right?
05:28Maybe even more so than the long-standing ones.
05:31You know, people come into your life for a season or whatever, and it's just almost for
05:36a teaching moment, right?
05:37Yeah.
05:37But I love the song.
05:39I think it's so cool that it touches on that.
05:41It's beautiful.
05:43COVID, did that mess up your plan for how you wanted to pursue music?
05:50Or did it actually help you when, how you pivoted, how you were pursuing the music industry?
05:55Well, I was 13 during COVID.
05:57Okay, okay.
05:58So, I was, like, happy to not be going into school, to be honest.
06:01But it was, like, what was it?
06:03A year coming out of the lockdowns and all that when you started posting on TikTok and
06:07stuff like that, or was it?
06:09God, it feels like so long ago now.
06:11Yeah.
06:12I'm not, COVID doesn't even feel like a real time, to be honest.
06:14I think everyone feels that way.
06:16I don't even know what I was doing for two years, but something happened.
06:19But I don't know.
06:20I remember the first ever video I posted, like, properly, was the day I started music
06:26school, and I posted this duet with this guy of a Phineas song, and I remember it was,
06:34like, the day I started Elam, and suddenly it just, like, loads of people started, it went,
06:40like, a little bit viral.
06:41Yeah, yeah.
06:41Not really, but, I don't know.
06:43I started getting all these messages and DMs, and I was so confused.
06:46I was, like, what is going on?
06:48And then I ended up, you know, finding my manager.
06:51Yeah.
06:52From that.
06:53So.
06:53That's awesome.
06:54Worked out.
06:55That's very cool.
06:55Yeah, yeah, yeah, for real.
06:56What's the therapy, the healing you would say you get from creating your own music versus
07:06listening to other people's music?
07:09I guess I'm writing what's happened to me, or my life, or how I feel.
07:13So, it's actually, when I listen to music, I'm way more comforted, and it's a different
07:22experience.
07:23You know, you're taking it how it fits into your life, or, you know, you can listen to
07:27all different types of music for different feelings, but I think when I write, it's actually,
07:31I find it really hard, to be honest.
07:33I actually find writing really hard, because I feel like I have to be honest.
07:36Yeah.
07:36So, you're kind of, like, trying to be honest with yourself.
07:39Okay, yeah, yeah.
07:40And, like, having to own up to things that you probably don't really want to.
07:44Yeah, yeah.
07:44You leave with a lot more perspective, to be honest.
07:47I think, you know, a lot of the things I've written have been big themes throughout my life,
07:52and after I've written the song, and after it becomes something, I actually am more able
07:57to let go of it, and more able to have a new perspective that allows me to move on.
08:02But, yeah.
08:04They are, it is different, to be honest, and I find music a lot more confronting, like
08:08writing my own.
08:09Yeah, yeah.
08:09And how are you protecting your mental health now with touring and this newfound fame?
08:16How are you kind of making sure you are healthy and happy?
08:20I mean, I have amazing people around me, to be honest.
08:22I've, I've, I'm extremely lucky in, in that way.
08:26I have, you know, an incredible team, and a lot of strong women around me that has probably
08:35been, like, the majority of why anything has happened.
08:38Um, and I have, you know, my, my siblings, my friends, I'm, I'm very lucky about who I
08:44have around me.
08:45Yeah, yeah.
08:45I love that.
08:46What's, uh, before we wrap, what's been the, the most, um, like, starstruck moment you've
08:51had up to this point?
08:52Somebody you've gotten to meet that you were just like, I can't believe I'm in your presence.
08:59I don't know if it was in their presence.
09:01It was, I got to sing, um, I got to sing with Sam Smith in New York in October.
09:07I mean, I actually got to do it, um, like a couple of weeks ago, but that was like a
09:11moment that genuinely I'll never forget.
09:14I, I was like sick with being grateful.
09:16Yeah.
09:17Like I couldn't believe I, I did something like that.
09:20I mean, I've been listening to Sam since I was like nine and singing their songs and
09:25I, I can't believe I, I got to sing with them and genuinely like, I felt like my life
09:30changed at that moment.
09:31I don't know why it just, it genuinely, I just couldn't stop crying.
09:34And their voice, did you catch yourself on stage at all?
09:36Just being like, yes, I was trying to do both.
09:39I was like, you've got to sing in a minute, but like, this is insane.
09:42Right, right.
09:43I can't believe I had the best seat in the house.
09:45Yeah.
09:45Yeah.
09:45Have, have your siblings been like nudging you like, Hey, if you could get me to meet so
09:49and so, you know, I would love that.
09:51Yeah.
09:52My little sister, my little sister wants to meet Central C.
09:54Okay.
09:55Okay.
09:56Understandable.
09:58Doesn't care about me.
09:59I love it.
09:59Well, thank you so much.
10:00Congratulations on everything.
10:02Thank you so much.
10:02The music is wonderful.
10:03The live shows are wonderful.
10:05We appreciate you stopping by.
10:06Thank you for your questions.
10:06Of course.
10:07Thanks.
10:08Thanks.
10:11Bye.
10:12Thanks.
10:12Bye.
10:13Bye.
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