KIA ORA! HOW HAS YOUR 2021 BEEN?
Heya! My 2021 has been…chaotic, as I’m sure many others have found it. It was already a big shift from high school to my first year of university, and with all the pandemic stuff, trying to find time for music and everything piled on top of it, it was one crazy year!
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SO WHO IS SABREEN? TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF.
That’s a good question. I’m a 19-year-old artist and writer from Auckland, and I’ve been releasing music independently for the last year. I’ve been writing songs forever as well as stories and poetry, and published my first collection of poetry when I was sixteen. Fancy stuff aside, I’m studying Law at uni and recently released my newest song like a movie on November 12.
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HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN CREATING MUSIC FOR? AS STREAMING SERVICES SHOW RELEASES OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS.
I’ve been creating music since I was little! Ever since piano lessons at age 5 or when I picked up a ukulele and started playing it (rather badly) with my father and sister at age six, I’ve been obsessed. I started writing songs when I was around ten and really it went uphill (or downhill…) from there. I wasn’t expecting it to carry on as a hobby, really I just wanted to pretend I was a shorter, brown version of Taylor Swift, but it stuck and now I doubt I’ll ever stop. I started releasing music in July 2020 with my first release Can’t and have released four songs after that, and was lucky enough to play GRRRL FEST 2021 in May.
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DID LOCKDOWN MOTIVATE YOU OR GIVE YOU TIME TO ACTUALLY PUT YOUR MUSIC OUT?
It really depended on the day. Sometimes the idea of making music seemed like such an uphill climb during lockdown as motivation was at a real slump. But the strange thing about being stuck at home for months is that it did in a way allow for time for music that I didn’t have before. It definitely let me create without any expectations or pressure, but putting it out during lockdown proved hard and quite daunting. Promotion has always been my least favourite and the loneliest part about releasing, so doing it from home was a challenge to say the least!
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HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC TO SOMEONE?
I would describe it as confessional, honest, and earnest, sometimes to a fault. Music really is my lifeline and so sometimes it feels better to keep it to myself than sharing it with everyone I know and beyond, so there’s definitely a level of personal intimacy to my music that I hope comes across. I also love poking fun within my lighter songs, so hopefully it’s fun to listen to as well! More than anything, I want to make people smile.
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DO YOU PRODUCE YOUR OWN MUSIC AND DOES FINDING THE SOUND COME BEFORE OR AFTER THE LYRICS?
Yep, all written and produced by yours truly! I have collaborated with others — my single Glow was produced by the incredible Will Henderson, and I loved that experience. But I mainly became my own producer out of necessity due to lockdown and I love the process so much.
Many other songwriters have said this so it’s hardly just me, but the magical thing about songwriting is you have no idea when or how an idea is simply going to fall out of the sky and bonk you on the head. Sometimes lyrics come first, sometimes melodies, and it’s so much fun piecing them together. Other times, the sound and the vibe and the words will all come at once and it’s like a scene set in your mind of exactly how you want the song to sound and feel. That’s probably my favourite, because then producing it feels like colouring it in and bringing the image in your mind to life.
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WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION OR WHAT ARE THINGS THAT MOTIVATE YOU TO WRITE?
I love writing about people. Not just my own relationships, but the people around me, or people I read about or even people I’ve never met or simply imagined. I think every person has a story worth capturing. Recently, I’ve found I’ve been writing a lot about childhood and growing up, as well as more serious topics such as trauma or social issues such as racism. I used to find these broader, nuanced topics hard to write about, but it’s been coming more naturally to me now. In truth my writing is like a mirror, reflecting the world around me. If it makes me feel something, I’ll write about it.
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HOW WAS YOUR 2020 AND WHAT WAS THE PROGRESS LIKE FROM THEN TO YOUR RELEASES THIS YEAR?
I may be the only person to say that my 2020 was less chaotic than my 2021. It was still insane, but this year was even more so! 2020 was my final year of high school and so I look back at it fondly. I do miss school and the support I had there. In 2020, releasing music was more for my friends and my community than it was for me. For years they had asked me to but due to some unsavoury relationships I never had the confidence to. In 2020, those toxic people were gone and so I finally felt confident enough to put out my own stuff, and it was received so wonderfully. I am so grateful for the support I had on those early releases. Since then to now, I’ve been putting out music joyously and without anyone in my life telling me I can’t do it, and it’s a wonderful feeling. Now, I feel like I can literally do anything I want.
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DO YOU HAVE MUCH PLANNED FOR 2022 (AS MUCH AS PLANNING CAN BE A BIT HARD WITH EVERYTHING) OR ARE YOU JUST GOING WITH THE FLOW?
I have the next few releases planned, but otherwise, just going with the flow! I’m trying to say yes to more things as they come because as these past two years have taught us, we never know what’s coming, so we shouldn’t hesitate to accept opportunities that come our way. Who knows when they might disappear again? I really want to keep growing and hopefully reach more people with my music, that would be a dream. But most importantly, after the next release I’m planning on taking a little break from releasing as the release process and the industry has taken a bit of a toll on my mental health, so some distance will be nice. But I’ll always be creating no matter what.
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SOME FUN QUESTIONS:
FAVE SNACK?
Anything my mum makes! Or ice cream.
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OVERUSED PHRASE?
‘It be like that sometimes’ or ‘yikes’.
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IF YOU COULD START A RUMOUR ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
That I’m secretly in the background of every Marvel movie if you look close enough.
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