Singer-songwriter Savanna Leigh opens up about connecting with fans with vulnerability and authenticity.
Welcome to Sound Advice, the weekly interview series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into the many facets of Next Pro to reach their audience and grow their careers.
Discovery plays an integral role throughout an artist’s career, from finding one’s individual voice to sharing music so people can connect with it. Since the beginning of her career, Florida-born singer-songwriter Savanna Leigh has been documenting her deeply personal artist journey across social media, sharing her struggles and triumphs with fans. Savanna started opening up by sharing covers of some of her favorite R&B, rock and pop songs on SoundCloud, TikTok, and Instagram; eventually, her rendition of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” went viral, which encouraged her to develop the original songs that appear on her 2021 debut EP Girl Underneath.
After two years of exponential growth, Savanna released her latest EP, somewhere in between, this summer and dropped a pair of singles that included acoustic versions. She also invited fans to share in her daily journaling practice via the collective journaling project, which allows anonymous contributors to share deeply personal thoughts and feelings in a safe space online; in turn, these fan stories help drive Savanna’s lyrics and creative process. As Savanna Leigh expands her artistry, she talked to us about various ways to truly connect with fans and finding your creative footing on SoundCloud.
Why is it important for you to share acoustic versions of your songs in addition to the original version?
A lot of the artists I really love are in that singer/songwriter vein, and I’ve always connected more to the acoustic versions. I think an acoustic release can bring a different perspective to the listener. I write a lot of stuff acoustically – I start most of my songs in my room on guitar or piano – and I like to give people that side of the song and bring them back to how I originally wrote it. My most recent songs are a lot more stripped back and I think they showcase a different side to my personality as well. I’m getting to a place where I’m putting out music that makes me uncomfortable. I think I started off putting out music that was vulnerable to me at the time, but it’s not nearly as vulnerable as my more recent music.
You spend a lot of time replying to comments publicly. Do you have any strategy behind how you engage with your audience?
I try to be myself as much as I can. When you’re an artist, you want to connect with people, but you also can sometimes overthink it.
There’s an anxiety that comes with it. You have to figure out what you want your fans to feel from you. I’ve always just really wanted people to think of me as like a super normal person, which I feel like I am. I’m doing music because I want to connect with people and I want to make music that impacts people, but not for any other reason besides that. I try to start conversations off as normal as I can, and just be like, “Hi, thanks so much for listening to my music. I see that you’re one of my most engaged listeners.” I’ll either summarize my journey and just be like, “I’m really grateful that you’re here.” If there’s a song that I’ve seen they commented on a lot or liked or shared, I’ll sometimes say why that song was important to me and hope that they’ll end up sharing back. I think if you’re vulnerable, people end up reciprocating.
Learn how to share private tracks or playlists on SoundCloud
Why is it important for you to comment back and DM with others?
It’s very important to me to respond to DMs and comments. If you’re not doing as much performing or touring and you’re just seeing a bunch of numbers, it kind of takes that human connection away. I always try to respond just to let people know that I see them and I care. That’s translated into the live setting as well. When it comes to meeting people, I think people respond to DMs a lot more than people think. Sometimes you don’t get an answer, but I think it’s always worth a try. The worst they can do is not answer you. When I didn’t have a team of any kind and I was putting out my first project, I was cold DMing different press outlets and Instagram accounts and curators on SoundCloud, anything I could do. I think it’s helpful and gets your name out there. It helps put you on the map even if you don’t get that first bite.
How to get the most out of the DM feature on SoundCloud
What advice would you offer other artists for using SoundCloud?
SoundCloud has been one of those places where it’s very easy to feel comfortable uploading. I don’t feel like there’s as much pressure for me as an artist on SoundCloud. I feel like it’s more of a safe space. There’s a lot of ways to do trial and error on SoundCloud, and give fans a little bit more of a personal, intimate experience with you as the artist. I’ve sent fans a song before it actually came out through a private link on SoundCloud.
I think doing covers helps you to find your audience and figure out what kind of music you want to do, especially if you’re not sure what creative path you want to go down.
When you start to make someone else’s song your own, you find yourself in that as well. It’s a really nice place to begin and also have people stay with you throughout what you’re doing. I feel like there’s a lot of people from SoundCloud that have transferred over onto my other platforms. It’s also a great place to have exclusivity with your fans too, such as uploading something only to SoundCloud – that’s something I’ve been doing a lot more of lately.
Learn more about getting started with SoundCloud For Artists
What are you currently working on?
Almost too many things [Laughs]. We’re gearing up for next year and trying to get the music all situated, figuring out exactly what’s going to come out when. Branding is something we’re heavily working on and constantly talking about. I think branding is really important in the sense of building a world around the music and having something for people to step into and feel connected to you through. We’re working on that and also what to base the new music off of when it comes to imagery and aesthetics and videos. I’m also looking for opportunities to do another tour run, whether it’s a small headlining acoustic run or a support tour, like I did for the Nicotine Dolls.
To discover additional features a SoundCloud Next Pro subscription offers, visit here.
Click here to learn more about Savanna Leigh’s SoundCloud journey.
Click here for creative ideas from Savanna Leigh.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)