Exclusive Interview with SCARLETT SNO

Scarlett is a pop artist and songwriter based in Nashville, TN. Born and raised in Kansas City, MO, Scarlett has always been fascinated with storytelling, fantasy, and the human condition – ideas that have heavily resonated throughout her music. From a young age, she would tell stories through songwriting, composition, and would experiment on DAW software and various musical instruments. Scarlett co-produces and writes her own lyrics. Check out the exclusive Interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

SCARLETT SNO: My family has always had a love for the arts. I grew up in Kansas City, MO surrounded by songs, books, musicals, opera, poetry, dance, and more. I have many fond memories of going to museums, taking pottery classes, and taking acting classes, but I think it all truly changed when my parents introduced me to musicals. I fell in love with the art of storytelling through songs. And not long after that, I discovered I could sing and started writing my own songs. Songwriting fulfilled my soul in a way that nothing had before. Years later, when I was halfway through high school, I was playing around with the idea of becoming a singer. Scarlett Sno was truly born when my high school was hosting auditions for the choir department’s annual Junior and Senior talent show. I thought to myself, why not give it a shot? I had never played piano in my life, but I did my best to translate my ten years of violin experience and musical theory to the piano. I would skip my lunch hour, use my free periods, come early to school, and stay late after just to bang on the piano until something would make sense. And eventually, through pure determination and a musical ear, my dedication paid off. I wrote my first song as Scarlett Sno and performed it for the talent show. The audience was captivated by the performance, and from that moment on the direction of my life was completely changed. Before I walked onto that stage, I thought I was going to be in animation, but when that performance ended, I knew I was born to be a musical artist.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

SCARLETT SNO: Like many, I am a mix of both. All the way up until high school, I taught myself to sing by participating in local musicals, joining school choirs, and singing along to the radio. I didn’t have my first shot at private formal training until my freshman year of high school. That freshman year, my choir teacher had pulled my parents aside and encouraged them to help me pursue private vocal lessons. He saw I had talent, and he did not want to see my potential go to waste. In all honesty, if it wasn’t for Mr. Perry’s belief in me, I wouldn’t be here pursuing my dreams. He started me in private classical voice lessons which eventually led to me being a student at the Kansas City Lyric Opera. From there, I went on to study commercial music and vocal performance at Belmont University. On the other side of the spectrum, my journey varies a bit instrument and DAW wise. I have had formal violin training since I was six. Piano was completely self-taught in high school, but then I received formal training in college. Lastly, Logic Pro X and Ableton have been self-taught through experimentation, videos online, or through the helpful advice of fellow producers.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘SCARLETT SNO?

SCARLETT SNO: From broadway musicals to Queen, my parents introduced me to many different types of music in childhood. However, it wasn’t until my teenage years when I was introduced to Taylor Swift, Evanescence, Panic! At The Disco, and K-pop groups such as B.A.P that I started to develop my unique musical taste. These artists’ influences eventually lead to the creation of my stage persona Scarlett Sno. I wasn’t good at keeping a consistent diary, but I did have a love for poetry, storytelling, and music. Therefore, Scarlett Sno was created during my Junior year of high school as a safe place for me to express my emotions, experiences, and discover my inner self. When going through a hard time, I was given the advice to surround myself with things that would make me happy. And since I wanted my artist persona to give me joy, I named myself “Scarlett” after my favorite color red, and then “Sno” after my favorite type of weather. Of course, the fun spelling of my name is my own artistic flare.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

SCARLETT SNO: I love to describe my sound as Evanescence, Lady Gaga, Panic! At The Disco, and K-pop having a love child together with a dash of darkness and fantasy. Evanescence and Lady Gaga taught me how to sing while P!ATD and K-pop taught me how to create backtracks and poetic lyrics. My sound would not exist if it wasn’t for their influences. As for key elements, I create music for the human condition. My music covers an array of topics in a human’s life such as love, loss, mental health, happiness, etc. I explore the human condition through the elements of fantasy, storytelling, and of course music by creating a dark fantasy world for the audience to explore as they too experience the human condition. Everyone, no matter how young or old, has experienced love, loss, mental health, and many of the experiences I speak about in my music. I believe the raw poetic way I speak on the human condition resonates with my audience and through my music, brings us all closer together.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as POP?

SCARLETT SNO:

In the past, I often felt a step behind my peers in the musical realm which caused me to push myself to my limits and have a hunger to always keep learning, adapting, and progressing. Classical, opera, and musicals came easy to me, but I had to work ten times as hard to learn how to sing pop, rock, rap, or any other commercial music genre. In college, I studied artists with similar vocals and backgrounds as me such as Lady Gaga and Amy Lee from Evanescence to learn my vocal chords inside and out. Through the help of my incredible vocal coach Jamie Wigginton, I was able to break down my voice and build it back up into the artist I am today.

This process took two whole years, during which I experimented with what kind of artist I wanted to be. I wrote about everything from love, breakups, revenge, happiness, to mental health. But despite all the non-stop writing, I didn’t start to develop my own style until my senior year of college. I started writing songs as if they were my diary. This made me become more personal with my music which eventually led to me taking inspiration from my favorite artists. I always say Evanescence and Lady Gaga taught me how to sing, and P!ATD and K-pop taught me how to songwrite, but it was really my love of childhood fairytales, my love for things on the darker side, and my love for the art of storytelling that truly brought my unique style together.

6. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

SCARLETT SNO: Regardless of the true meaning of your song, if your audience feels connected to it, they will automatically relate and interpret your song to part of their current personal life, past experience, or future wants and needs. I think that’s the beautiful thing about music. It speaks to everyone’s soul differently. However, I do think it is important that the message in a song is not twisted deviously and negatively against the original message. If a listener feels greatly connected to my song, I believe there’s a great importance that they know the driving message or real story behind the song, so they know they have not accidentally twisted my lyrics into something negative the lyrics were never meant to be.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

SCARLETT SNO: Yes, a hundred percent!! I believe my music gives back to me! Making music is like baring your soul to the world. It’s scary, cathartic, and exhilarating all at once. It’s such an adrenaline rush when I’m in the studio making my brain child come to life. Every song carries a small part of me with it, so it fills me with such joy, knowing there’s at least one person out there who was helped by my music.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

SCARLETT SNO: At heart, I am a storyteller. I often end up starting my songs with the lyrics completely written before I even have a melody or chords to go along with it. In fact, I often go about my week collecting ideas of possible lyrics and concepts on my phone. I usually choose to write from this list if nothing is begging to be written into existence at the time. I often write the lyrics on my own, but I have been known to collaborate with other songwriters if I feel my song idea needs a new satisfying twist. However, when it comes to producing the back tracks of my songs, I exclusively co-produce. I often hear the song’s track in my head as I write the lyrics, so I need a producer who has synergy with me. They need to have effective communication skills, a technical but experimental creative attitude, and the ability to read my mind a little. I enjoy co-producing as I find it exciting to mash our two styles together to create something unique the world has never heard before.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

SCARLETT SNO: I lost my singing and speaking voice for almost an entire year from the summer of 2022 into the summer of 2023. In 2022, I was diagnosed with mono and then immediately after fell ill with COVID-19. Both illnesses caused respiratory difficulty and damage that developed into muscle tension dysphonia. It became increasingly painful to speak or sing, and in fear of causing irreversible damage, I brought my singing career to a halt and went on an immediate hiatus. During this hiatus, I received care from a specialist to rehabilitate my voice, and I struggled with my fear of never being able to sing or speak again and the anxiety of not knowing what would happen with my career. Mentally, it was a very dark place in my life. For a while, it seemed like I would never recover, but thankfully, in the end my voice started to come back through rehabilitation. Even now in 2024, my voice has small relapses, something I’ll have to work with for the rest of my life, but overall my voice has made a full recovery and is stronger now than ever.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

SCARLETT SNO: Honestly, after having to endure losing my singing voice, I am proud of where I am now. I could have easily given up, packed my bags, and tried something else as a career, but I didn’t. I worked hard and persevered through the bad times. I am now in the process of editing my music video for my new single “Terrified”. This will be the very first music video that shows the dark fantasy world I have created as Scarlett Sno. I have had this world in my head for years, and I am beyond ecstatic to introduce it to the world. I am proud of how far I’ve come, and I can’t wait to show you what comes next in the grand plan.