Skye Newman is determined to make a country album of her own in the future after falling in love with the genre via Hannah Montana.
The 22-year-old singer explained that her first introduction to country music came through the Disney Channel classic starring Miley Cyrus in the titular role.
Speaking on Apple Music Radio to mark the release of her latest EP SE9 Part 2, she said: “Hannah Montana was actually the programme that made me love country music because it wasn’t necessarily a thing in my house or something that I heard around or really on the radio … I do love country music. I will be coming out with my own country album one day, I’ve got to do it. It just makes you feel, I can’t explain it… it’s touched me from a very young age.”
The Family Matters singer also opened up about the emotional weight behind the first song she ever performed on stage – Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors.
She said: “True Colors by Cyndi Lauper, it’s actually the first song that I kind of sung really on a stage and made me feel like I might have a shot at this. I haven’t listened to that song in a while actually, because it gets a bit emotional sometimes. I love it very much. That song means a lot to me because it was the first song that I sang at a show and on a stage, and it was the first time I felt a fire in my belly and just so much love and passion for performing and doing what I do now, and it’s kind of what sparked a lot of this. And the incredible thing is that I went home and I learned this song with my auntie, who sadly passed a while after that, but she was also a musician, she’d done singing, songwriting, she’d done it all. She was incredible and I miss her very much. And it was just a surreal experience getting to learn that with her and now take it through into my adult life and it’s got a whole new meaning.”
The rising star didn’t shy away from discussing the tougher side of her journey either, admitting she had to learn how to handle negativity and online criticism.
She said: “I definitely did have a struggle with this. It is kind of faking it till you make it, I had to flip my thoughts. Anytime something bad would come into my head or I’d read a comment, I would sit there and I would dwell on it. These people are sitting at home, obviously sad in themselves for some reason, and that is why they want to project. I find anyone in my life who I’ve come across who has something to say that’s negative about people, it’s only a reflection of themselves, it’s a mirror. So you cannot take it personally. Insecurity is loud and security is quiet and I say that a lot because I really stand by that. If you know in yourself what is true, their words mean nothing. I just kill them with kindness because they need it more than you do.”
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