Singer-songwriter cracks Top 12 in Showdown

June 10, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

In her song Bridges, singer-songwriter Sohayla Smith shows her growing audiences that when some doors close, other windows open and, in the end, that change isn’t always a bad thing.

But plenty of doors are set to open with Bridges as the music video she created with musical partners husband Adrian and brother-in-law Mason landed the Shelburne performer a spot in the Top 12 of Collingwood’s Live & Original Songwriter Showdown.

The Showdown is a grassroots contest looking for “musical creativity and innovation” aiming to help “unknown artists develop their own individual song-writing ability and performance style” in a competition format. A chance to perform at the Gayety Theatre, reach new audiences, and compete or a share in a $5,000 pot doesn’t hurt either.

Locally, however, Ms. Smith and her band are not quite unknowns, popular at open mic nights and other performing opportunities.

Bridges was the first opportunity they had to pool their creative talents on a bona fide music video and the results were a perfect showcase for just what they can do.

“We have been trying to be more active,” says Ms. Smith of getting herself and her family band out there. “I saw there was a competition and it was relatively close by, we thought we would enter this one. I write for myself and it is sort of therapy. For me, I was dealing with some changes in my life and that is how Bridges came about. It was about changing my perception on how I approach things that don’t necessarily go the way I planned.

“Sometimes things happen that isn’t always what we want, but you have to make the best of it. Sometimes doors close and a window opens, but sometimes doors just close and you have to be able to adapt. It’s not always easy, and that’s okay, but it is important that you do and try to look at it as much as possible from a positive perspective that change isn’t always bad.”

For Ms. Smith, not writing songs was never an option on the table. It is a release and something she always had to do from a young age. First getting a taste of performing – and winning a musical contest – in a Battle of the Bands competition before she turned 15, it inspired her to keep going.

However, before she stepped on that stage, she already had songs she had written just for her.

“My uncle had been diagnosed with cancer and was passing away, and I had difficulty dealing with it and I just started writing,” she says. “I don’t think there was ever a choice – I need to do it. I am not talking about needing to be successful, but I need to write. I need to write for me, for my peace of mind, happiness and wellbeing.

“Because I write, I feel I should share because a lot of other people probably go through similar things and probably don’t have the same coping mechanism. I love music and should be shared. Even though some of the songs are fairly personal, I do think that if you don’t put them out there it is kind of a shame.”

At the moment, however, she has hundreds of original songs on her hard drive just waiting to find an audience. Whether she got an idea for a song “under a bar stool during my more reckless years” which are now far behind her, or sitting at home strumming her ukulele waiting for the lights to come back on following March’s ice storm, inspiration is all around her. Perhaps through Collingwood’s contest, audiences will be as well.

“We have so much more than people even realise,” says Sohayla. We have so many songs we want to finish recording properly, put them together as best we can, put them out there and see if they do something. Whatever they do, it is better than sitting at home on my computer hard drive. When we had our son, we thought we would be able to do everything, but we can’t. We had to basically put everything on hold for five years, but over the last year we have been really trying to push everything.

“People don’t realise it is actually a lot of work to be a musician and actually put out a product and to book the shows, play the shows, get to festivals and do your part – but it is good work!”

For more on Collingwood’s Live & Original Songwriter Showdown, get a flavour of Ms. Smith’s work and the rest of the Top 12, and ways to support our home-grown talent, visit www.LiveandOriginal.ca.