We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandra North a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sandra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I don’t wonder what it’d be like cause I did have a “normal” job for many years before I dared to set foot on stage and perform in front of people. I was good at it and I worked with people and service which I enjoy but it was still slowly suffocating me on the inside. I always knew I was meant to do something else, something completely different, and something creative! Even when I later on took an AA within the music industry and event planning, landing me jobs with festivals and booking bands, I silently knew I was the one wanting to be on that stage. So making the move to start singing professionally and starting my career as an artist and songwriter is by far the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m an emotionally driven person so I have a huge need to be happy and free in my surroundings in order to be creative, and being tied down to a 9 to 5 job won’t do it for me anymore. Especially not when that door has open now finally. There’s no going back, only forward! The road may be uncertain at times but I’m loving every step of it!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Sandra North and I’m a born and raised Swedish country/rock artist. Growing up, I’ve sang and danced in front of the mirror for as long as I can remember and played several instruments from very early on. I started writing lyrics or poems as a teenager too but it didn’t turn into songs until I started pursuing a career in music upon my move to Los Angeles in 2015. Being raised in a small town on the countryside back home, it didn’t take much to fall in love with the country genre. It was love at first sight!
What was meant as a 6 month course at a music school in Hollywood instead turned into 6 years in LA. I met some great people and friends for life that I started writing with and I especially developed a fantastic songwriting partnership with my guitarist/producer Juan Abella. Together we’ve written 3 singles and a 5 song EP during this short time. They’ve all done exceptionally well around the world, achieving great success on radio stations and earning us awards in the industry.
My debut single “Try Again”, released in September 2019, made it to number 1 on the Swedish Radio show “P4 Sörmland’s Top 5” and stayed charted for 15 weeks straight. My two follow up singles “Same Story ‘Bout a Broken Heart” and “You” (2020) extended the successes even further with professional music videos made and radio airplay all over the world in Scandinavia, Europe, Australia, Canada and the US. My collaboration with renowned producer/songwriter Mikal Reid resulted in a Christmas song called “California Christmas” (2020) which premiered on Christmas morning on the air in Sweden. Off of the EP “Long Time Coming” (2021) the hit single “My Song” featured a video created in both LA and Sweden to capture the upbringing and journey I’ve taken thus far. In the summer of 2022 I released my latest single “Gone” and played a lot of shows and festivals around Sweden for the first time. It’s been an amazing ride and I can’t wait to see what’s next!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, it’s the fact that I get to do what I love for a living! I get to evolve and challenge myself every day to keep learning and get better at what I do. There are so many aspects of this profession that I love and there are so many things that ties together with what I’ve done in the past too, that now benefits me even more today. I feel like I’ve come full circle. I love being creative and I’m extremely on top of everything I put out for the world to see. Whether it’s the lyrics or arrangement, production, distribution, cover art, photoshoots, videos, editing and social media etc. I love being involved in it all and always do my best to put my personal touch on it.
The other more obvious reward is also being on stage, interacting with the audience and maybe seeing someone sing along to my words. There’s no better feeling in the world.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There are a lot of set backs in this industry and giving up isn’t hard. What sets you apart is how much you fight and withstand everything that is thrown at you and I feel like I do that very well. Whatever obstacle I’m faced with I find a way to fix it. There is always a solution if you want it bad enough and when you realize that, nothing’s gonna stop you or hold you back ever again. I think that’s the mindset any successful person needs to have. When someone for example tries to cancel a show for me or tells me it can’t be done in that time frame, it only triggers me to prove them wrong and do it anyways!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sandranorthofficial.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandranorth_official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandranorthmusic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-north-2b7580141/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SandraN26815009
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYqpnYQsl0J36UiNiPC4F2A?view_as=subscriber
- Other: LINK TREE: https://linktr.ee/sandranorthmusic Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2SECA2fAvjoC4oFQzE9GAE Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-902974436 Try Again (Lyric Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSmJ1iGMPtE Same Story ‘bout a Broken Heart (Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uG6NBrM6cg You (Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YOuHrwOSaQ My Song (Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFbxDxz0PeI&ab_channel=SandraNorth
Image Credits
Sofi Hedlund William Von Hofsten Juan Abella Ray Guzman Farhang Hamed Annika Wiman Krafve