Today we’d like to introduce you to Savasha.
Hi Savasha, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! I am Savasha, a songwriter, producer, DJ, instrumentalist, food and fashion photographer in south Florida. My story begins in New England at the age of 2 1/2 when I began classical piano lessons – I actually learned how to read sheet music before I could read words, ha! Growing up, I was the go-to pianist alongside my two older sisters for school charity events. At eight years old, I received my first drum set and my sisters and I decided to form a jazz trio. After our first show at our school’s charity auction, we began receiving booking inquiries and eventually became a full cover band with sometimes up to 7 band members (all of us multi-instrumentalists). We prided ourselves on our theatrics and ability to play multiple instruments as well as produce our own live music arrangement, something that became integral within Savasha later on.
Throughout this time, I had been recording songs on Garageband and after a few years of being a cover band, my sisters and I began to focus on our original music. At the age of 15, I downloaded Pro Tools and wrote and produced my very first song. As I kept writing more songs, my sisters and I transitioned from performing covers to performing original music under the name Savasha.
With the rise of Instagram, I wanted to present a more visual front for our work through pictures and videos. I realized I would need to take action myself if I wanted to bring my visual ideas to life as at the time I was a nanny and dog walker—professional photographers and videographers were definitely out of the budget! I saved up enough money to buy my first camera and instantly fell in love with photography and videography. I started receiving requests for professional fashion, boudoir and food photo and video shoots and soon turned photography into a full-fledged job that actually helped to fund my music – no more changing diapers for me, whoo-hoo!!
For a few years, I was really just doing a lot of songwriting, producing and performing with my sister as a duo as well as building my photography business. Savasha released a full-length album, we had our songs added to Boston radio lineups, I experimented with writing and producing rock music and performed shows and recorded tracks with Billboard Top 100 guitarist Gary Hoey (some of which also landed in radio lineups), co-produced a few tracks with the very talented Grammy winning DJ and producer and now great friend, Funkagenda, and was later twice nominated and won a New England Music Award for best musical act! Savasha was really just doing its thing and performing throughout iconic New England music venues and festivals including our biggest festival to date: the televised First Night Boston NYE Festival to over 100,000 people. Because we had stopped performing with musicians, I was simultaneously learning to DJ as I needed to run our background instrumentals while singing. Also being a huge fan of house and disco music, I noticed a lack of that style being played in my hometown of Boston and thought, ‘why not just DJ the music I want to hear myself?’ and subsequently began DJing professionally alongside performing my own original music.
Once the Coronavirus hit and the music industry shut down, I decided to continue in music as a solo artist. I enrolled in a music production course led by One Republic’s Ryan Tedder where I was tasked with writing and producing various songs. After I completed the course, I was asked by the curators of the course to be featured in a documentary series about my work as a songwriter, producer and DJ. I flew down to Miami for the documentary shoot and instantly fell in love with the city. When I came back home to Boston, I realized I felt complete with my musical journey in New England; four weeks later, I packed as many things in my car that could made sounds and snap pictures and headed down to south Florida to begin the second half of Savasha’s journey as a solo artist, DJ and photographer—I’m grateful every day for making that decision!
Presently, on the musical front, I am releasing my debut solo track “Every Night” this spring. It’s a super fun and very disco/funk infused pop record that I’m very excited to share with everyone! I am also a resident DJ at some really cool venues here throughout Miami and south Florida, have had amazing opportunities to play for renowned fashion designers and will continue to grow as an artist and DJ. On the photography front, I am now shooting and directing fashion and food photo and video shoots for brands such as Ralph Lauren, Champion, Heely’s and more as well as other global companies and restaurants! I still can’t believe everything that has happened since moving here and am beyond excited to see what else this amazing city brings—the Savasha train certainly isn’t stopping anytime soon, haha!
Growing up, music always took precedence over everything: friends’ parties, neighborhood kickball games, sleepovers, sports, etc. I was certainly not always happy about it growing up, but now I am so grateful for that discipline and focus and musical foundation that has certainly led me to where I am now!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think the road when working in any creative industry is about as smooth as the Sebring Raceway, or maybe the Stelvio Pass Road. You know what, sometimes it feels more like Monster Jam in Miami, but let’s face it, everything to us creative types is an existential crisis, so maybe it’s not as bad as I’m making it seem, haha!
No, but in all seriousness, there can definitely be emotional ups and downs. The feeling of taking one step forward and two steps back. I personally struggle with impatience – I’m very energetic and want my goals achieved three days ago. There can even be physical obstacles. I’ve had instances where other bands have tried to prevent me from doing a sound check or using my own equipment at a show so I wouldn’t sound as good, and you just have to hold your ground in your sparkly stilettos and take no crap!
Personally, I just try to sidestep any struggles that I may encounter. If I feel that something isn’t working, I tend to either change how I’m doing it, change where I’m doing it or follow my gut and simply push through until the road smooths out – and it always does. I’m also really fortunate to have a strong family unit behind me that consistently reminds me that every time a door has perceivably closed, an even bigger one somehow opens up right up when I need it! Every struggle, every step back and every obstacle is always 100% worth it and definitely forces ingenuity – and also makes for some funny stories after the fact!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Well, I am a singer, songwriter, producer, DJ, classical pianist, drummer/percussionist, fashion and food photographer and have also written blogs and pieces for various companies. I mostly write and produce pop, electro pop and disco music, but have written rock, alternative and just about any genre when I want to switch it up. My DJ style is a mix of disco, house, tribal/Latin house and tech house – big emphasis on disco! I love to play live percussion and piano and will even sing live if it fits while I’m DJing. I often hear that I have a bit of a presence when I start to sing or DJ – you’ll definitely know when Savasha has entered the chat! I’m told that I may also have a bit of a dramatic flair and am always happy and laughing – I think more people call me sunshine than Savasha, haha!
As a photographer, I specialize in food and fashion styling, photography, videography and retouching. I love taking everyday themes and making them more whimsical. Lots of flashy and stark lighting, lots of big faces and expressions, objects and food flying around; it just feels very me!
Something I take pride in throughout my work is my ability to learn new skills quickly which allows me to work and create alongside some really talented people. I equally love and am not afraid of a good challenge, so if there is something I’ve never done before either musically or visually, I will dig in, study and practice until I get it as perfect as I can. It’s always very liberating to know you accomplished something you had never done before!
to answer your question about myself and other artists in my field, I really don’t believe in saying x,y,z sets me apart from others because all artists have their own je ne sais quoi – no artist will ever be able to emulate the natural vibe I bring to my music, photos and performances nor will I be able to emulate theirs. And that’s the beauty of art: it’s always 100% unique to the artist creating it. So I suppose myself as a whole is what sets me apart from others and the same can be said for everyone else. I do, however, love classic showmanship, which I think is a niche I feel at home in. If you’re coming to see a Savasha performance, you know you’re going to get orchestrated and tailored music arrangement, choreographed dancing, lights, lots of sparkles and colorful outfits and just a solid, well-crafted and entertaining performance. If the venue allows, I love to perform with a video wall behind me with my own custom-created videos.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I have actually learned two important lessons that have stuck with me the most; one taught by my mother and one by my step-father: do everything with confidence, maximum effort, and never change yourself to fit into a mold or trend (mom), and always stay focused and persevere and you will succeed at literally anything in life (step-dad).
I really owe it to my mother for instilling in me a strong foundation of confidence and work ethic. It can be daunting to put your own creative work out into the world, but I was fortunate to grow up watching her run her own corporation from the ground up and jump headfirst into new experiences with such ease and excitement. I feel that it would almost be a disservice to how (pardon my language) badass she is to not carry the same amount of self-assuredness and effort in my own work and life.
My step-father has also had one of the biggest impacts on my life and journey in music. He’s a very to-the-point man and if ever I feel that something is too hard or outside my capabilities he tells me, “well, you can either continue complaining about how difficult something is or you can focus and keep at it until it is no longer difficult.” That mentality has really changed my life–tenfold; I also think it’s the single greatest lesson that anyone can apply to their own life!
Contact Info:
- Email: savashamusic@gmail.com
- Website: www.savasha.com; www.bellaeditorial.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/savasha_
- Facebook: facebook.com/savashamusic
- Youtube: youtube.com/savasha
Image Credits
SAVASHA Steven Cano
