Page 60 - ION Indie Magazine MarchApril 2021

MH: Have you ever dealt with performance anxiety? Maybe share a story?

SKC: Performance anxiety is actually something I’ve struggled with since I was really
young. When I had my first lead in a musical at the age of 13, I could barely sing because
my throat would be so clenched with nerves. I remember so vividly sitting onstage as Mary
in ‘The Secret Garden,’ just staring into the spotlight with my heart racing with every muscle
clenched. It was hard to get through a song. I’m very much a perfectionist, so it’s really
difficult to deal with performances where I let anxiety get in the way of doing my best work.
Through breathing work, meditation, and yoga I learned to work through the anxiety from
a young age. It does resurface occasionally, and it came back my freshman year of college
the first time I had to perform in front of a large crowd. It honestly also came back after my
first TikTok went viral. It was so exciting, but while I was trying to film a video the next day,
I felt the pressure of having a large audience for the first time. I think that pressure is natural,
and something every performer deals with at some point. But now I can deal with the
anxiety so that it doesn’t interfere with my performance. I think a lot of the anxiety comes
from the high standards I set for myself. I want to please my audience and I want to
absolutely nail every song. But that isn’t always a sustainable goal, especially with live
performance. It’s been really important for me to remember that my worth comes from who
I am, and my relationships with friends and family, not just how well I’m doing as an artist
and how many views I get on a certain video. None of that matters in the end, you just have
to focus on the love you have for what you do.

MH: Like any other job, what is your favorite part about working in music and your
least favorite and why?

SKC: My favorite part about working in music is that success means getting paid to do what
you love. Another favorite aspect is how important the hustle is. I’ve always been someone
who loves to work hard and be productive, sometimes to a fault. So, the fact that this
industry isn’t just about talent, but it’s about who is willing to work hard enough to make it.
That’s exciting to me because I know I’m willing to work at it. My least favorite part about
the business is harder to think of, because I really do feel so grateful to be working in the
field that I’ve wanted to work in since I was 3 years old. I think the emphasis on looks in
the music industry is my least favorite part about it. I think the pressure that is put on
musicians to fit into a certain standard of beauty is really unhealthy, especially with young
women. I’ve heard so many stories from friends in the theatre/music industry about being
told to lose weight, get plastic surgery, change their appearance in some way or they’ll
‘never make it.’ That’s messed up! Music should be about free expression of who you are
and who you want to be, not someone else’s idea of who they think you should be and
what they think you should look like. Anyway, that’s my rant.

MH: Have you collaborated with other artists and if not, would there be any artist or
band you would like to work with?

SKC: Not yet, but I would love to in the future. My dream collaborators would be to go on
tour with someone like James Taylor, Leon Bridges, Norah Jones, Diana Krall. I’d love to
sing with Michael Buble, Tony Bennet, or Lady Gaga. Dream big, right?