A CONVERSATION WITH... SKAAR
One month after The Great Escape, we’re looking back at the iconic artists we met that weekend. Introducing SKAAR, the singer-songwriter putting onto paper what was previously indescribable.
credit: Martin Bremnes
Everyone has those artists that make them feel seen. Those artists have been through things you’ve been through and help you process emotions you possibly didn’t even know you needed to.
SKAAR is undoubtedly one of those artists. Drawing inspiration from artists like Coldplay, she uses her heart-wrenchingly open lyrics paired with chillingly beautiful instrumentals to create music that is the embodiment of healing.
After being signed almost immediately after uploading her first cover to YouTube at age 14, SKAAR has been digging into the depths of her soul to tell stories — if not her own, then ones that many in her audience can relate to. “Even in the last month, I was going through an emotional rollercoaster. You don’t have a lot of time to cry about a breakup when you’re on tour, so when we arrived in Brighton last night… it reminded me of home and the island I grew up on.”
With the wind in her hair whistling through her hair now, it was like the island once more surrounded her as she reflects on the night prior. “I was just walking to meet my dad, and I just started to cry as the wind got caught in my hair and the music in my headphones played in my hair. I just stood outside the restaurant and came up with some lyrics and some chords. You never know when those emotions will come out, but I’m glad I have the music to get it out.”
Her time at The Great Escape comes two months after the release of part one of her third album, Mad Woman. Part two comes later in September, as she wanted to ensure the intensity, sadness, and anger had their moments to shine as part two contains the happier songs of the album. “These lyrics in part one are so important to me. I wanted people to have two separate stories that exist on their own but obviously go together. Part two lets me look back at what happened in part one and not focus solely on my emotions, but more on the people around me.”
But she doesn’t mind having darker songs to perform in the sun, rather, she actually prefers it. “You give people the dark music when it’s not so dark around, so they can cope better and you get to have that cathartic healing feeling from the sun on your face and sad music in your ears.”
Considering she grew up in Norway, where the falls and winter can be particularly dark, it makes sense why she’d want to release her music the way she did. It clearly works for her, as she has been enrapturing audiences across the UK and Europe for years now. The Great Escape was a stop on an exhilarating tour season at different festivals this summer across Ireland (Sea Sessions and Indiependence), France (Europavox), Slovakia (Grape Festival), and Germany (Golden Leaves and Reeperbahn) before a UK and Ireland tour in the fall.
She is incredibly booked and busy — but she’s definitely enjoying every up and down that accompanies these hectic months and years. Since she signed to her label so early in life, she originally wanted to separate herself from her art. But as she continues to be constantly immersed in the music industry (“gladly having no days off”, she says), she realises that as a solo artist, she can’t separate art and artist.
“When you’re just writing about you and your emotions, there’s not a chance I can separate the two anymore. Why would I even try? Mad Woman is the most personal I’ve ever been, and I feel that electric connection with my fans at every single show. I’m glad I can’t separate the two anymore.”
That connection with fans brings the brightest smile to SKAAR’s face as she tells story after story about some wonderful interactions with fans. She appreciates how vulnerable fans can be with her, especially because it’s hard to talk to your loved ones about what you’re feeling, let alone to what’s essentially a random stranger.
“I played a show about two years ago in Norway and this really lovely girl came up to me after the show. She told me about how all of my music, but especially my latest release at that point (‘Waiting‘), helped her through her times in and out of psychiatric hospitals and rehab. We cried together, and while it was so heartbreaking to hear what she had been going through, I just think she was so brave for that. Every woman and person that comes up to me and shares with me what my music has done for them… it’s so nice to know that I can do something for people.”
SKAAR’S effortless compassion flows into her music and daily actions, a beacon for brighter days ahead and internal strength.