Mullumbimby singer-songwriter Sara Yael was enjoying a quiet end-of-the-week moment last Friday when she learned she had won the Bay Sounds songwriting competition.
‘I was soaking up the last bit of the sun with my guitar and my dog and a cold beer,’ she says. ‘I thought it definitely wasn’t going to be me who won… It was just really surreal to be honest.
‘Then my phone started ringing.’
And it seems that Ms Yael’s phone is destined to continue ringing over the coming weeks after her song ‘All I Wanna Do is Get High’ was chosen as the winning entry, guaranteeing her a month of regular airplay.
New fuel to the fire
‘This is new fuel to the fire for me,’ says Ms Yael, who has performed across Australia and beyond during a wild and varied 15-year music career. ‘Being an independent artist, you’re basically doing everything yourself and it takes a lot of motivation to do all that hustle.
‘I’ve taken a bit of a break from all of that recently. This award is going to get me back on the wagon…applying for festivals and doing all of that.’
As the first-place winner in the competition, Ms Yael will have her song recorded and mastered at SAE’s state-of-the-art studio, a live performance at the SAE Open Day on August 16, four weeks of guaranteed airplay and exclusive mentorship from MusicNSW.
‘I’m really chuffed about all of it and particularly the mentorship,’ she says. ‘It’s great to get the recognition.’
Surviving lockdown
Ms Yael has explored many different genres during the course of her career so far, from hip-hop to folk to blues and soul pop ballads.
Her winning competition entry ‘All I Wanna Do is Get High’ is a catchy and irreverent pop number that she wrote during the Melbourne lockdown.
‘It’s a song about escapism,’ she says. ‘It’s about how everyone has their own vices – different ways that they choose to tap out.
‘Olivia Rodrigo had been inspiring me a lot at the time… her way of telling stories through song… this kind of teenage, bratty, pop’.
It is a tribute to Ms Yael’s creative versatility that the song stands in clear contrast to her more recent work: a soulful folk EP entitled ‘Live from the Knoll’.
‘Live from the Knoll was just me, a mic and my dog,’ she says. ‘It’s super sweet acoustic folk songs.’
Only time will tell what creative path Ms Yael chooses next, but the Bay Sounds songwriting award will undoubtedly help her along the way.
Live show
Inspired by the competition win, Ms Yael is putting on an intimate live show on August 10 in Mullumbimby. Tickets and other information can be found at trybooking.com/events/landing/1443705
Bay Sounds came about as a way of unearthing hidden talent in the region. It is geared toward unsigned, original songwriters of all genres, and aims to give them an opportunity to be heard by a wide and appreciative audience.
This year Bay Sounds also featured a youth category, with dozens of amazing young musicians submitting their offerings. The winner was 15-year-old Seraph Hrubus from Cape Byron Steiner School and his song ‘Street Lights’.
To learn more about Seraph and his music, look out for next week’s Echo where he will feature in a standalone article.
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