We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Margret recently and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My dad once said to me, “if we lost everything today, we would just start again tomorrow.” Most days, he would bring documents home and sit at the dining room table with me “doing our homework.” When I transferred schools in 6th grade, I would cry into my binder across that table: “You can cry, but you have to cry and do your homework.” He has a fierce work ethic, but also a fierce camaraderie in struggle. I wasn’t allowed to neglect my work, but I was also not allowed to be alone in it.
Those phrases ring in my ears to this day when I feel defeated but there’s more to do. Now that I run my own business, I still call him when I have a big decision to talk through or when I’ve had a bad meeting. In the music industry, there are a lot of shiny opportunities dangled and then taken away. All there is for it is to start again tomorrow.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I write and release music for the girl who wants to own her history, her body, and her feelings. Before I was a musician, I was a poet. Now, I’m an alt-pop artist and producer, and I love to feature layered vocals and bass driven beats. When people ask me what kind of music I make, I like to say that my music is for when you get in the car after something big has happened, and you just want to scream or cry on your drive home.
I released my anti-patriarchy single, RAGE in 2022. Only a few hours later, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, it’s become a battle cry and an emotional release for women all over. I’ve so enjoyed hearing how other people relate to it.
My new single, Deja Vu You came out a few weeks ago. I reached back into my first real heartbreak for this one. It depicts the mark that first love leaves on us, the way it lingers in the loves that follow.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I made a lot of mistakes early on. I worked with a producer who offered to produce for free and then held my stems hostage saying he should have been paid. I released music I knew felt unfinished. I planned shows no one came to. At the time, those mistakes made me feel foolish and amateur. Looking back, I’m really proud of myself for taking risks and making things. I see so many people who are stuck in one spot because they want to be perfect before they release any music or go into a big session. The truth is, you can’t grow by yourself. All of those mistakes were from the same place of courage that led me to my first mentors and teachers. Taking a risk led me to my closest collaborator, John, and my manager, Erin. The mistakes were part of the same process that led to all of the best parts of my career. There’s no shame in that.
I heard Laura Veltz speak on a panel once, and she said something that I think about all the time. The moderator asked her what it’s like to see friends and colleagues fail while she has succeeded. She thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody fail. I’ve seen a lot of people give up.” The only way to fail is to lay down and let the desert sun take you. Everything else is just what happens while you keep walking.
The last piece of wisdom I would want to pass along is this: I’m an impatient person—persistent—but impatient. I used to want so badly to skip ahead to the part where I had the career I wanted. Now, I see that things truly came to me when I was ready for them. It’s still hard for me to do this, but I try to focus on making myself ready rather than what isn’t happening yet. I’m building trust that if I focus on becoming the artist I want to listen to, the producer I want to work with, and the songwriter I want in the room, everything else is a matter of time and opportunity.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played an important role in your development?
There are so many books about creativity and books of poetry that have helped me along the way. The way Elizabeth Gilbert thinks about ideas as literal, invisible beings waiting to be made manifest is incredible. She tells a story in Big Magic about an idea transferring through a kiss. It’s a must read.
Steven King put me off adverbs in On Writing (possibly not as forcefully as he would have preferred). He is also the only writer I’ve ever seen manage to keep the form of a thriller in a memoir.
And, if you’re looking for a book to carry around in a purse or backpack, Mary Oliver’s A Poetry Handbook has helped me form a relationship with language that serves me always.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samanthamargret.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthamargret
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SamanthaMargret
Image Credits
Album Art: Alayna Davidson BTS: Erin Kintzer
