Interview with shy martin.

Interview by Sarah Evangelista

As scary as it may be, shy martin does nothing but exceed at sharing true life events in her music. This is especially shown in her debut album, late night thoughts - released today.

I had the chance to sit down and talk with Sara (shy martin) about the project and more.

What is your fondest musical memory?

Oh, wow. Honestly, I think writing… just because I'm a songwriter as well. When I started working as a songwriter, the first songs were a period where I worked with my, now, husband a lot. That period was so amazing. I remember just like having fun and creating with him, and he was my best friend at the time. And that was such a special period, like writing music with him and just having fun.

I heard you got your stage name, because like in school, you would be shy and then wore Doc Martens a lot. So before shy martin, were there any other names that came to mind?

Not really. I was signed when I was 17. But I was with a Swedish project. It was just my real name, Sara… But I never released any music. Thank God. But no, not really. Like I I've always had such a hard time coming up with names because everything sounds so silly until someone picks one, you know?

Is Swedish like your first language?

Yes.

Do you have a favorite Swedish word?

Mysgit. It means cozy!

I love how that sounds! You’re releasing your debut album [today], so how are you feeling right now? Are you nervous? Are you excited?

I've been a nervous wreck, to be honest. The last couple of weeks, and especially before the listening party. I think because it was the first time I was showing the whole project, like the visuals and the music to a lot of my friends as well, but to my fans. I also played live and I haven't played live in three years, because of COVID. So I was so nervous up until the listening party [yesterday]. But when I was done with that, it just felt like a relief. And now I actually feel calm. And just like, excited. Before I felt like nervous in a horrible way. But now I just feel relaxed, and I'm just enjoying it to be honest.

I feel like after the first listen, whether it's like one person or a bunch of people it makes you feel a bit better… I could just imagine.

Yeah! I'm an over thinker, so I always build these scenarios up in my head. Like, how are people going to react? And just knowing that my friends and that small group of fans really enjoyed it just made me so happy. And now I feel like I don't really care what everyone else thinks. Because I'm gonna keep that memory.

When you get nervous about releasing a project, do you do anything to like, get your mind off of it? Do you watch a show? Do you read a book?

Yeah, I watch a lot of series. I've been watching the Swedish version of Survivor. I've been binging that the whole week.

Do you have a favorite favorite series of all time?

Right now I'm watching Succession. I think it's a great show… but I also like Severance. I don't know if you've watched it on Apple TV. It's so good. Those two, maybe.

Awesome! Off of this project, were there any songs that were hard to create whether it was just because it was so personal or like, creative wise?

Not really, I feel I like the album happened quite naturally, because most of the songs were written out of conversations we had and I only worked with a small group of people. We were friends from before, and were just hanging out, talking, and had deep conversations about life. I didn't really think about what other people would think about the music when I was writing it. I think it was the first time I could, like, stay in that bubble, because it's so easy to compare yourself to others and think about what other people will think when they listen to it. I also kept away from social media for quite a while. I feel like the songs were written pretty easy.

That’s great. The visuals of this project match the songs so well. I want to ask, how did you get that bed in all those places? How does that go about?

So actually, it's it's only me and my brother, who has made all the videos together. So we haven't been a lot of people like so we've been carrying around the bed to different locations. And we've recorded or like shot all the visuals in the village where we both grew up, which is like South Sweden. So we've been staying with our parents and spending like quality time with them. And just like driving around with the bed. It's been a lot of hard work, but I've loved the process. And it's just been so nice, like spending so much time with my brother as well and watching sunsets and being in nature together. And it's been a struggle, like solving everything, but I'm so happy with it. Just the two of us. Yeah, it looks like there might be a production team behind it, that it's only the two of us. But yeah, it's been super fun. But with the bed in the water, there is a lot of like lakes in Sweden that has, like the water is not that high. I don't even know what you call it. But it's you can walk, like, for a long time until the water even comes above your knees. Yeah, which is, which was really lucky for us for these videos. But yeah, that's how we did it.

The visuals are incredible. Did you always have the idea to involve nature, somehow?

When we had written the album, I realized that it was very personal. Mental health has never been something I've written about. I wanted the visuals to also be very personal, which is why we recorded it where I grew up, and the nature there is just so beautiful. I felt like I also wanted to create the bed as a metaphor for being in your head. I feel like a lot of people tend to have the bed like a comfort space and I've spent so much time in my bed. I wanted it to just be like the bed and nature around and painting the picture of when you're stuck in your head or bed. The nature is so beautiful in Sweden, especially during the summer. It just kind of happened naturally that we spent a lot of time in nature.

The project feels so personal as if we're reading your diary. Were there any like nerves that came in about it being so personal?

I didn't think about it… writing it. I've gotten that question a lot afterwards, when people asked me ‘how does it feel to open up about these personal things?’, but I feel like struggling with mental health is really something that everyone does at some point in their life or knowing someone that has. I feel like, these days, people are talking about it more. So for me, it wasn't really something that I thought about while writing it. Because I feel like it's as common as falling in love, and also my fans have been super open about their struggles since COVID. It has really helped me to feel as I can share my struggles with them as well without being judged. I'm really proud of this album, and it turned out the way I wanted it to.

Lastly, who are your favorite artists or bands right now?

I really love listening to Phoebe Bridgers, I think she’s a great songwriter and I love what she’s doing with boygenius. Also, I love Bon Iver, and a lot of indie - leaning towards pop right now.