Meet The Rising YouTube Singer-Songwriter: Sarah Stone

Meet Sarah Stone, the singer-songwriter who has taken her YouTube stage to over 15 million viewers.

Sometimes you have those moments when you’re listening to something, maybe watching something, maybe even reading something, and you can’t help but ask yourself, “who is this person??”.

Yeah, that’s the feeling I got when I was one of the millions listening to Sarah Stone sing “Royals” on YouTube. Who on Earth was Sarah Stone, and why did she seem so awesome? So I reached out to her. I mean, why not? Something about her made me secretly want to be her friend.

Asking to do this interview was my excuse to get to know and talk to her. Is this how grownups make friends? Well, it doesn’t matter.

JR: How would you describe yourself? I know I’m going back to a high school orientation question here, but I want to know how you know you.
SS: I would say that the best way to describe myself would be creative and optimistic. I have always been a very visual learner and been drawn towards the arts from a young age. Unlike everyone else in my family, I am the only one who is musically inclined and takes an interest in the field.

JR: When did you first discover that you were talented?
SS: Growing up, I was always singing around the house and even at school! I was asked by my primary school music teacher to sing the national anthem at school after hearing me sing in music class. That was one of the first times anyone had really noticed that I could sing, and the feedback that I received was so positive. It was a wonderful feeling to know I was making people happy and bringing them joy by doing something as simple as singing. My whole school was very supportive and even gave me a lead singing role in our school musical. That fueled my passion for performing even more.

From the ages of 5-17, I was heavily involved in musical theatre through an Australian agency (The Young Australian Broadway Chorus). My focus became heavily orientated around musical theatre and I continued that for most of my primary and high school life.

After leaving school, I decided that I would move away from musical theatre and try my hand at songwriting and finding my own style. That is what finally lead to me reaching out to YouTube and using that as a platform to grow and learn about myself and the music I wanted to create.

JR: What’s something else you consider yourself good at?
SS: I have always had a strong passion for photography, which is something I still continue to do today. I recently started freelancing for a music blog (Casual Band Blogger) whereby I attend numerous gigs of local and international acts and take photos of them on stage to then be published by the blog.

It is a great distraction for me when music becomes a little stressful, and it is something that I am consistently learning to improve.

JR: If you could have anyone else’s musical talent apart from your own, whose would it be?
SS: I would love to have Jessie J’s vocal range, Adele’s passion and emotion, Justin Timberlake’s stage presence, and Chris Martin’s writing ability.

JR: Where’s the strangest place you’ve performed?
SS: The most surreal place that I ever played a show would probably have to be at Rod Laver Arena (the biggest arena in Melbourne). It was for a school event, and I was chosen to sing a solo in front of thousands of people. That, for me, was a very strange feeling.

But the strangest place we played a show was very recently. Myself and my band were meant to be headlining a show in a band-room upstairs, but the show had been double booked. The other band was from out of state and had ticket sales for this particular event, so we didn’t have a shot. They decided to move our show to the basement which was this tiny room with no windows. We were very reluctant at first, but we agreed, and it turned out to be one of the most fun shows we have ever played!

JR: Others might view you as successful, but do you feel successful?
SS: I don’t think I will ever really view myself as successful. Even though others may disagree, I feel I still have a long way to go before I can feel like I have accomplished something worthy of being labeled successful. My YouTube channel and the growth of subscribers over the last year has been a great start to my journey, but I still don’t think I have achieved my ultimate success on that platform. I think the day I hit 1 million subscribers will be the day I can finally say that my journey has been a success.

JR: Have you always been confident in your musical talent?
SS: Over time, I have slowly built up a confidence in my ability with music, but that has taken a lot of time. I still have doubts about my abilities, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. I think it allows me to be realistic about my capabilities without being too restrictive.

That being said, I do have faith in my music, and I hope that the people who listen to my music feel the same way.

JR: Have there been any comments that have made you cry? Happy or sad feelings?
SS: YouTube was one of the biggest challenges of my confidence. Reading comments by strangers who don’t care about being brutal with their opinions was at first difficult, but then I found it a useful tool to get feedback. I can tell the difference between someone who is giving constructive criticism and being abruptly honest for my benefit versus those who are just out to be spiteful. Luckily, I do have a thick skin, so reading negative comments has never affected me emotionally.

I have received some very heartwarming letters and emails though, and they have made me feel very emotional. I have had parents write to me on behalf of their kids to tell me how much they love my music and even messages from schools with classrooms of students who listen to my music. Those types of messages make everything worthwhile and restore my confidence in what I am doing.

JR: Can we hear your music now?
SS:

There were a couple of things that I learned from this experience:

Never be afraid to reach out. What’s it going to hurt? Maybe a little pride, but that will pass (trust me, I’ve tried reaching out to many a people before without success).

Even if you don’t know what you’re doing – oftentimes, that doesn’t even matter. So don’t get hung up on it.

I like her. I don’t know about you, but I like her.

To view her infamous YouTube Channel, check it out here. Help her reach 1 million subscribers!

If you want to know Sarah the musician, you should check out her Bandcamp.

If you want to know Sarah the photographer, you should check out her Instagram.

Perhaps you want to know Sarah the person. Well, you can check out her personal channel.