From Alberta to Nashville, the country-pop artist and singer-songwriter Sykamore releases her bittersweet love song entitled "Stay Broke."
After winning the ATB All-Albertan Song Writing Contest, Sykamore was later nominated for the prestigious CCMA Discovery Award. While granted the opportunity of sharing bills with Miranda Lambert and Josh Ritter, Sykamore saw her big break on Twitter when Rhett Akins stumbled across her music and invited her to join the roster of Home Team Publishing.
Expanding on her latest single, "Stay Broke," Sykamore mentioned that she felt inspired to explore themes of being unapologetically in love, "I feel like that is a very kind of teenage way to look at love, when someone would rather stay broken and feel what they think is love than have to move on and piece yourself back together."
As "Stay Broke" begins pumping through our speakers with nothing but heart and emotion, Sykamore jumps into the track and drenches us in her soothing and genuine vocal portrayal. While accompanied by the ethereal country-pop instrumentals and production, Sykamore's layered vocals deliver all the texture and depth we desire.
Listening to Sykamore's melodic vocals, she offers this brainchild of Taylor Swift meets Halsey, soaking our ears in emotional country tones and uplifting pop flairs. As Sykamore continues singing blinded lyrics like, "If I need fixing, I think I'll stay broke," she makes her way to the outro and has us in awe the entire emotional journey there.
Open your heart with Sykamore's chilling country-pop single, "Stay Broke," and join her journey as she continues to drop monthly releases throughout 2021.
We love the genuine emotion and heartfelt atmosphere within your recent single, "Stay Broke." What inspired you to write and expand on themes of blind and unapologetic love?
Thanks! For this record, I really set out to explore the feeling of first-time love, and it seemed very fitting to have a song that’s sort of a nod to slow dancing in a gym, say at a high school dance. It’s a place where a lot of us experience romantic jitters for the first time or even the feeling that you’ve found ‘the one’ against all odds.
How long was your writing process for "Stay Broke?” Did your lyricism come easy to you when placing yourself back in those emotional moments?
I believe the inspiration for the song came from the little synth part you hear after each chorus - I was messing around on my midi keyboard and thought it was just so cheesy [in a good way] that I sort of built the rest of the song around it. The lyrics did come relatively easy after that - I brought the framework of the song to Jason Massey and he helped me flesh it out from there. But it was nice to have a feeling and an idea that we could use as our muse, essentially.
In terms of the sonic atmosphere within "Stay Broke," did you have any artists or acts in mind when formulating the soothing instrumentals and production? Did you work with any producers/engineers?
Jason and I made the demo with George Michael in mind - particularly the ‘Father Figure’ era of his music. Lots of reverb, lots of lo-fi-sounding pads. When it came to me to program the actual recording, Bobby Campbell, my vocal producer/ programmer was really helpful in just elevating all of those elements to the places they needed to be and giving the song stability and movement. And I of course have to shout out my producer Michael Knox who shared in my vision of an 80’s fever dream for this track.
Could you tell us more about your monthly releases? Are you experimenting with any particular sounds or lyrical themes throughout these releases?
These monthly releases are all coming from a larger collection of songs I hope to release this year or early next year - they all explore the raw, someone's ugly emotions that come from being swept up in love or unrequited feelings. As far as sounds go I’d say all these songs are heavily influenced by pop music coming out of the early ’80s, as well as country music that is rooted in elaborate storytelling.
What has been keeping you inspired through the last year to keep creating music?
It’s been hard, I’ll be honest! But I’ve found inspiration in the way the world has sort of shrunk and the knowledge that as humans we all share very similar experiences. That’s helped me sort of frame the way I look at my art and the importance of writing a song that people can relate to. I’ve also really enjoyed my collaborations this year, most notably going to write and sing on “Doing Fine” with Ryan Kinder. Artists like him are so fun to work with because you thrive on their energy and their attention to detail. It’s really fun to share in creation with someone like that.
