TIKTOK BREAKOUT ARTIST SARA KAYS ON THE ONLINE REALITIES OF BEING A MUSICIAN IN 2021
We caught up with indie-pop riser Sara Kays ahead of her upcoming London show supporting Cavetown at The Roundhouse, talking through her stellar EP ‘Struck By Lighting’ and how she navigates a career so heavily influenced by social media.
Based in Nashville, Sara Kays is an American singer-songwriter whose free time consists of hanging out with her brother and mother, playing soccer with her friends, and frequenting thrift shops. After getting her first guitar at the age of twelve, she cut her teeth by busking for hours on end throughout high school. Since then, she’s amassed a small 1.8 million fans on TikTok, released three EPs and toured across the states and Europe.
Image Credit: Chase Denton
Zooming me from her bedroom in central Tennessee, Sara was as easy going and familiar, like talking to a friend. Undoubtedly, keeping a steady connection with over 4,000 miles between us was never going to be the easiest of tasks - but the awkward glitches and numerous times we interrupted one another simply added to the charm and humour of the conversation. When we weren’t stumbling over each other’s words, Sara opened up to me about her relationship with social media, her writing processes and the growth she’s experienced since her debut release back in 2018.
‘Struck By Lightning’ is Sara’s third EP - the follow-up to ‘A House Too Big’ (2018) and ‘Camera Shy’ (2020). Despite having always poured her feelings into her songs - with both of her previous EP’s touching on topics of body image and loneliness - Sara told me that there has been a staggering increase in the response to ‘Struck By Lightning’. So what changed? After a string of viral videos on TikTok, engagement with her music grew dramatically; now in a position where she has millions of listeners and fans regularly reaching out to message her, she tells me she finds the process incredibly fulfilling and admires the connection she’s able to devise - one of the positive sides of social media: “I feel very lucky having so many people support what I’m doing!”
Image Credit: Christian Sarkine
For so many artists who’ve risen in recent years, social media has been key to building their audience - whether that be through tireless marketing strategies or an algorithm that nobody understands. Sara currently sits at an incredibly impressive 1.8 million followers on TikTok, yet she still doesn’t feel like she’s had her ‘big break’. Compared with last year, however, she quaintly admits it’s a tonne more eyes and ears on her, which surprisingly has relieved pressure: “now when I post a video I at least know that people who follow me will see it, and I don’t have to rely on something blowing up.”
With the average attention span seemingly becoming shorter and shorter, it’s ever more challenging for artists to capture people’s awareness. Enter, TikTok trends. As an artist who’s gained just a fair amount of recognition from the platform, I was keen to know what Sara thought of trends on TikTok, and how artistic/musical authenticity is potentially at stake when playing into them. “It can be easy to see people do a trend and then try it”, she explains. “But as long as you feel like it’s something you would do, or that you feel like yourself doing it, then I think that’s ok.” However, deciphering whether something is worth jumping in on or not, isn’t that straightforward, and Sara notes that this concern is perhaps more prevalent when looking at younger artists: “I can see maybe being a younger artist and not really knowing who you are yet, that might be difficult. Because TikTok could easily be influencing how you’re trying to promote yourself, and it all gets confusing.”
Image Credit: Chase Denton
Social media has become an increasingly essential tool for artists and bands alike - a corner of the industry some don’t even realise they’re signing up for when just writing songs in their bedroom. People want to put a face to a name and know the story behind a song, or even what you’re having for breakfast!. But for Sara, this online obligation has been advantageous, telling me how social media, or more specifically, TikTok, has been her main tool for growing an audience: “I was looking for something like TikTok… Before, I was just posting on Instagram, and I was like, ‘how do you reach anybody beyond the people who follow you?’. It’s kinda impossible to do that. So when TikTok came about, I would just post videos of me singing or post what my songs were about, and it would reach a tonne of people! It didn’t make sense, but it feels kinda necessary now for music to be on TikTok.” After her first video went viral at the beginning of Covid, Sara continued to post similar content, allowing her to sit close to the two million mark that she’s at today.
So is social media the good guy or the villain? Sara says: “I think it’s great if you like that aspect of being an artist, posting on social media and being visually creative. But I do think it sucks for a lot of people.” Through the skewed lense of social media, it seems like Sara isn’t one of those people. She appears to be super comfortable, so it surprises me when she mentions that she doesn’t actually love being on camera. “It’s gotten easier, but I don’t really like recording videos or taking pictures of myself.” She carries on to say that it’s the only aspect of her career she finds herself disliking: “I love writing my songs and then making videos, explaining what they’re about - it’s just sometimes the act of creating the videos [that I dislike]. I’ve talked to a lot of artists who also hate that part of it.”
Image Credit: Meg McCauley
Trying to remain positive, there are still so many good things that come from utilising social media. For example, it allows upcoming artists to take complete ownership of their branding and identity. Sara agrees, pinpointing that, “younger artists can figure out over time who they want to be and how they want to be perceived. There’s more of a chance to build an audience before a label comes in. They’re able to establish who they are as an artist, and that’s way more ideal than having a team just come in and figure that out, building a brand for them.”
Before ending the call with Sara, I ask if she has any advice to offer to emerging artists, or just life advice in general; her response being the perfect blend of the two: “One thing I’ve learnt is don’t rush things. Be honest with yourself, and wait until you feel like what you’re doing feels like you and makes sense before you try and do too much. Let yourself grow before you dive in.”
You can listen to ‘Struck By Lightning’ here: