The colourful and quirky music video to accompany Swedish singer-songwriter Sandro Cavazza’s latest single ‘High With Somebody’, acts as the perfect backdrop for the playful and extremely catchy lyrics to the artist’s latest release. Following the story of an unimpressed guy struggling to fake a smile at a party he would rather not be at, the music video is definitely one we’ve all been able to relate to at some point.
Following his debut release, the self-titled ‘Sandro Cavazza – EP’, the singer’s latest single is a testimony to his versatility as an artist. After letting him know that I was obsessed with his latest single, I was eager to find out about Cavazza’s seamless transition from the beautifully layered, raw emotion he exuded in his self-titled EP, to the playful and bouncy lyrical composition of ‘High With Somebody.’
“I’m glad you feel that way ‘cause we were laughing our way through that entire song-writing session. I want to be able to feel all emotions through songs, and being able to laugh with fans is a relief for me. The inspiration behind the song is a person I met in LA, who at the time had everything money could buy, but still didn’t feel inspired or happy. We had that as the inspiration and then just took it to another level, me and P3GI-13 and made a really crazy video to go with it!”
Through his experimental style, Sandro Cavazza provides us with a dense musical fusion of heavily-treated vocals over an electric mix of music. Brought up in Sweden, and later moving to Los Angeles to study at its famous College of Music, I was keen to find out how these different cultures and lifestyles have influence him musically, and whether they have contributed to his unique style.
“Everyone in Sweden has been influenced, consciously or not, by Swedish pop, it’s such a major part of the Swedish music-upbringing. I left for LA once I knew song-writing was what I wanted to pursue, and I was having problems with my Vocal Nodes at the time, so that really helped me musically being able to sing fully again.”
Checked Wool Bottoms: Shift Zero
Trainers: Reebok
The passion he exudes, coupled with the raw emotion he projects into his music is mesmerising. It appears that he isn’t afraid to lay down all of his feelings into his music. I wanted to find out whether it had ever been scary putting his music ‘out there.’
“Some songs are so honest that it feels natural to release them, I usually put A LOT of effort into writing the songs, so I believe in them from the beginning. That makes it easier ’cause I always love what I am about to release. Sometimes I’ve been anxious too but it’s mostly exciting, to see how people react and how they feel about the music, reading that a song you’ve written changed someone’s life makes everything worth it.”
It is certainly common to believe that talented artists are born with an innate desire to pursue music, belting out power-ballads at just six-months- old. But surely this isn’t always the case. I wanted to find out Sandro Cavazza’s main inspiration behind perusing music as a career choice, and whether or not this stemmed from childhood.
“I have always loved songs and was always the kid singing RHCP songs on the swings in pre-school. But there’s a difference between loving music and pursuing a career in music. It almost felt like song- writing chose me to be honest ‘cause it became my natural way of expressing myself when I needed it the most, and that has been my main inspiration, the need to write music.”
From these early inspirations, he went on to develop his sound by “doing the same thing over and over.” Nevertheless I questioned whether there was any particular ‘eureka!’ moment.
“The ‘eureka’ moment (love that expression) was when I understood that being me, and my musical habits was gonna become my sound.”
It is definitely true that our Spotify profile is used as a window into the private lives of each and every one of us. Sneaking into somebody else’s Spotify playlists seemed like an inviting endeavour. I couldn’t help but ask Sandro Cavazza what he is currently listening to on Spotify, to which he replied: “Ouff… I haven’t really gotten stuck on anything specific but I will give you my latest searches: Cookin’ on 3 burners and Noah Kahan.”
As a young artist with a newly established place in the music industry, I asked if Sandro could offer any advice for young artists wanting to pursue a career in music.
“Learn how to turn a no into something positive. Let it be your fuel and be persistent. Someone once told me that the people that make it in music aren’t necessarily the most talented, but those who never give up. I think it is a mix of both and you got to have grit to make your dream happen.”
It is no secret that Sandro has already collaborated with the likes of Avicii and Lost Frequencies; featuring on ‘Without You’ in 2017 and ‘Beautiful Life’ in 2016. I wondered what the most memorable moment of his career has been so far, and who is on the list of artists he would like to collaborate with in the future.
“It’s hard to name one, so I’ll name three, is that okay? Haha. Playing for the pope in Sweden, that was pretty crazy. Doing the song-writing road-trip with Tim (Avicii) & friends, writing songs in Grand Canyon and finishing up Without You” in the back of the tour bus was unforgettable.
Getting my first song over 100 million streams on Spotify was truly a bucket list moment for me.” “I love working with inspired people, famous or not but from the top of my mind: I really love Tori Kelly, such a beautiful voice and Chris Martin, what a songwriter…”
Working within the music industry offers great opportunities to travel; performing in new cities and travelling the globe to meet with other artists. I was interested to find out where has been the most exiting location Sandro has travelled so far, and what location was next on his bucket-list.
“I am doing a crazy project right now, which is a duet and we have been traveling to London, Paris and Oslo recording the music video and all those trips have been too much fun. We’ve been travelling cheap and going to all the landmarks in the cities we’ve visited and not a single second has been wasted! That’s my kind of traveling. My next bucket-list location will be sailing to Norway this summer!”
Tickets are currently on sale for Sandro Cavazza’s upcoming 2018 summer tour in Sweden. I asked if he had any plans to perform here in the UK, to which he replied: “It’s no secret I’ve been dying to go already but there is a time and a place for everything! First I have the tour here in Sweden this summer, but why not the next one :)?”
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