st.james
Photo: Jellan (Clash Studios)
Last year the world was introduced to a fantastic young Australian musician via the Netflix reality series, Byron Baes. Since that moment st.james has continued to grow as an artist, particularly with her latest release, Aquarius.
During her time on Byron Baes the world witnessed st.james, aka Sarah, working diligently to get her music career to take off. Over the course of the series viewers saw a glimpse of Sarah's writing process & her stunning voice. While on the show Sarah wrote her second single, Liars, & although that was her introduction to the world she told Pario it is quite different to her new music.
"Liars was such a big part of the show & where a lot of people got to know me, so it was a little bit nerve racking going in a different direction with Aquarius," Sarah explained. "For me it felt natural but people hear 1 thing from you & think that's what your sound is. I feel there are so many different sides to me & so many different sounds that I embody."
Aquarius sees st.james moving towards pop sensibilities more & more. A shift which she said goes all the way back to her youthful discovery of her love for music.
As the world came to find out on Byron Baes the passion for music laying deep within st.james' soul stems from her mum & dad.
"Mum grew up in the Seychelles, which is quite Catholic, so she went to Catholic School where she did choir & learnt a whole heap of French & Creole hymns. I really loved hearing & leaning all about that music with my sister when I was really young," recalled st.james. Sarah then went on to explain how her dad influenced her musical loves as well, "Dad was very into 70s rock & roll, so we always had Bob Dylan, David Bowie & Talking Heads playing in the house."
From there st.james was "obsessed with music", so it wasn't long before she discovered Rage on TV at around 4-5 years old & consumed as many music videos as she could each weekend. By consuming music that way st.james quickly knew pop music was the direction she wanted to go with her life.
"Pop music has always been somewhere that I've wanted to go because I much prefer the big over the top pop productions & stage shows," she told Pario. "I'm a performer who loves being on stage, so those types of shows have been what appeals to me most."
Although st.james writes pop music she manages to still weave lots of depth & meaning into her songs. She does so by being very attuned to the outside world, events in her personal life & her own emotional state while writing.
"My music is very much a reflection of what is going on with me at the time, so I used to write a lot more darker stuff. Now though I'm in a much better headspace & I'm a lot happier, so that is coming out in the music," said st.james. "I find that I write about what is happening to me at the time & then once I've written about it, even if those things are still happening, it's like sucking the poison out."
Keep up with st.james on social media at: @St.James.Music
Support Pario Magazine
Become A Publisher
$10 / Month
- Name Added To Publisher List
- Physical Print Issue
- Early Access
-
