We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Margret. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.

Samantha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I almost didn’t release my EP, RAGE, last year. I had been working on it diligently, but, as songs go from a dream in my head to a reality in my computer, I always start to doubt. My ears get tired. At that point, I’ve heard them hundreds of times. And, as I write new songs, the old ones start to show their weaknesses.

So, there I was, at the final point of no return before I had put too much money and external commitment into the EP to turn back; I was on a call with my executive producer, John Caviness, letting him know about my second thoughts. And he turned me around. At that moment, the project became bigger than me and my ego. It was genuinely shared.

Then, after a series of strange and fortuitous delays, RAGE, the title track, which is about rage against the patriarchy, came out the day Roe v Wade was overturned. A friend asked me if I was a sorcerer. After all, the song had been in the works for over a year at that point, and it had been set for that release date for at least six weeks. I have to admit, I felt pretty magical.

I got to share the core meaning of the song, genuine, unadulterated rage, with so many women. I heard their stories and saw their social media posts. Before RAGE, I hadn’t totally grasped the fact that the released music doesn’t belong to me. It connected me to my audience and my collaborators in a new way that I treasure.

Samantha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

It’s always tricky to describe music, but here goes: I make music for the girl who wants to own her history, her body, and her feelings. My songs fit in the alt-pop genre, so, if you like Billie Eilish, Marian Hill, or King Princess, you might like what I make. I use a lot of layered vocals and bass driven beats.

My music is for that moment when you get in the car after the big thing happens. Maybe it’s a breakup, or a jerk in a bar, or your mom talking about dieting again, or political upheaval. Whatever it is, you need to cry or to scream. That’s when you play RAGE or Joan of Arc, or my new single GENTLE, and let the wave crash.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up thinking that all women hated our bodies—that it was a part of womanhood. In my family, it was.

I had already begun healing that wound when I started pursuing music professionally, but I’m not sure it’s a scar that will ever completely fade for me. As I ramped up my public image with album art, music videos, and social media, I found myself falling into old kinds of self talk and self criticism.

More than just avoiding my personal suffering (which is definitely a priority), I’ve had to learn how to be the kind of presence I wish I’d had growing up. In this industry, there’s so much momentum going in the direction of traditional beauty standards and internalized misogyny. I’ve had women look me in the face, tell me about how they’re harming themselves, and say “well, if I want anyone to pay attention, I need to be the total package.”

I’m still unlearning that kind of cultural oppression. The good news is that, as it turns out, when you start talking when you start talking publicly about anything, a community springs up around you to make it so.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Once upon a time, I thought I was going to be a teacher. I studied poetry in college, and I was training to teach high school English. I had started working at a school in Santa Cruz, and I was working on songwriting on the side. That’s how music had always been for me—on the side. It was such a core part of my identity, but I didn’t think it was a professional option. I look back and think it’s funny now that I studied poetry but somehow didn’t think music was an option…

One night, I drove from Santa Cruz to Redwood City where my partner was living. I cried the whole drive. I had realized that, while some day jobs allow for a side gig, teaching is not one of them. It was consuming me and all of my time, and I didn’t love it enough to give myself over. I wanted to have room to pursue this little dream of music—a tiny spark that would not go out.

My partner sat me down and told me I could choose music if I wanted. As much as I wish I had reached that conclusion on my own, I really needed the permission. A lifetime of the arts being portrayed as “not a real job” had done its work. But my life swung open in that one moment, and I haven’t looked back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samanthamargret.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthamargret/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/samanthamargret

Image Credits
Photographer: Alayna Davidson Management: Erin Kintzer Photo assistance: Brandon Kintzer, Phoebe Ouyang, Michael Duarte Styling: Elthia Makeup: Jessica Robertson