Suzanne Yada | Singer-songwriter | Digital Marketing Specialist

Suzanne Yada | Singer-songwriter | Digital Marketing Specialist

What’s your process like when it comes to writing songs? Where do you get inspiration?

My songwriting process ebbs and flows, but there are definite habits. I keep all of my ideas and voice memo snippets in my Evernote app, where I have all of my song ideas since 2012. It’s a vast library of ideas. I've written nearly 300 songs, and I have thousands of other random ideas and incomplete songs in my notebook. Sometimes I'll share random ideas from my Evernote on TikTok just to see if any get a good enough reaction to flesh them out. That's been a lot of fun.

My inspiration tends to come from bigger-picture issues that I try to distill into personal issues. That's kind of the reason @ Little Spiral @ is my name, because you can zoom in and in and in on a spiral, and it's still a spiral, into infinity. And, you can zoom out and out and out into Infinity, and it's still a spiral. I think a lot about that microcosm and macrocosm, so I tend to go after bigger subjects than just something like interpersonal relationships. If my song has relationships in it, it's usually a metaphor for something bigger. I do gravitate a lot towards subjects like religion, technology, and social justice - the big question of who are we as humans. No question is bigger!

I am a lyrically driven writer, having poetry and journalism in my background. Usually, words come first, with some major exceptions. Then I hear the music and rhythm in the words themselves, and I build melodies on top of them. I care a lot about lyrics and I try to infuse them with as much poetry as I can get away with. Also, humor, because sometimes life is just funny.

I think it surprises people that I focus so heavily on words because I'm also a strong piano player, and I like to play all 88 of my keys. When I first got started, I focused on the number of crazy tricks I could do to impress people on the piano. Then I tried to impress people with my turns of phrase and cleverness in the lyrics. But what surprised me the most - the most! - was how so many people walked away from my music saying, "Wow, I love her voice." I did next to nothing to work on my voice. I worked on my piano, my lyrics, my performance, but my voice just… was. I can count on one hand the number of voice lessons I've ever taken - and I'm not saying that to brag. In fact, my lack of technique could be the death of me! But believe me when I say my voice was my least favorite thing I liked about my music. Any singer can tell you that they have their moments when they can't stand the sound of their own voice. I had that hang-up for years. It wasn't until I entered some songwriting competitions and judges would unilaterally compliment me on my voice did I finally start to believe people when they say they love it.

You’re also a consultant for other artists and creatives, providing assistance with digital and social media marketing. How did helping other artists become a passion for you? And how did Facebook and digital marketing become the tools you use to do that?

I noticed that a lot of digital marketing strategy came very naturally to me, whereas it doesn't come naturally to so many other artists, creators, and entrepreneurs. That comes from my upbringing where my dad owned a few print shops in the Central Valley of California. I grew up absorbing that kind of marketing material - brochures, flyers, business cards, mailers - and it just made sense to me. So when the internet became A THING, I saw it as the new printing press, and I dove all in. I was an early adopter of things like website-building, blogging, and Twitter. I think I made my first website in 1996. So this is my native language, and when I stepped more into connecting with other artists, I saw that as an opportunity to offer my services. 

I started out as a marketing consultant after I got laid off from my journalism job. I was brand new to entrepreneurship, and I was just trying to offer anything and everything to whoever wanted it - I'll tweet for you! I'll manage your emails! I'll build your website! Anything. 

But it wasn't until about 2016 that I started to get more and more questions from clients about Facebook advertising. I looked into it and took an online course, and it made so much sense to me. That's when I decided to specialize, and that's when I got the biggest jump in clients. I also got the biggest jump in clients who were willing to pay well for my expertise, because online advertising requires an investment. And if you're going to invest your money, might as well hire someone to do it right. 

But recently, I'm at another turn in my career where I no longer want to specialize in just one thing - advertising. I've been exploring other things where I can be of most use. I've started to offer business and marketing coaching sessions to other freelance service providers and solopreneurs, helping them piece together strategies and giving them business advice. I also occasionally do workshops on project management. I've picked up part-time work in marketing with a fantastic nonprofit organization called Songwriters of North America, who advocates for better pay and working conditions for songwriters. That job marries my interests in marketing, communications, advocacy, and songwriting all in one. It's been great.
 

Your website mentions creating zines at your dad’s print shop. I feel like there’s a story there, and I would very much like to hear it. Tell us about the zines!

Hoo boy! Yep, thanks to dad, I had access to some state-of-the-art copiers, plus some binding machines that made for nice little booklets. I published my poetry, articles, and some art I liked (before I understood copyright, whoops!). I made up comics and puzzles. I was in my late teens and early 20s. I would give them out to people, and at some point tried to sell them. I may have sold, like, five copies total. Most were just given away. 

I recently came across an old copy of the zine, and there was this page with a bunch of silly one-liners I had randomly written - they were tweets years before Twitter was a thing. And actually, I ended up putting one of those one-liners into my song “Millennia.” It's a super dark line - "The atom bomb is so analog, can't we kill everybody digitally?" - but also kind of funny. It lined up with the digital dystopian feeling I wanted in my song. 

What have you got in the works? Any projects you can talk about? What can we expect from you in the future, as a musician, as a consultant, or both? 

Lots! Working on some placement opportunities for my music in film and TV. Working on an EP that is aptly titled Sad Girl Songs. Working on an electropop EP with all female producers and sound engineers. Working on workshops - I teach songwriting through the city of Los Angeles and I'm about to bring that curriculum online. I also am co-writing a whole lot more than I ever have.
 

Lastly, what would you say is the best way that artists and creatives can support each other and help one another along their journeys?

My biggest advice is to ask for help. It's freaking hard to do. I'm an introvert, so sometimes creating connection is a challenge. But it's so helpful we have places like Epiphany Space that can help. Barter, trade, hire friends, do a work-trade with someone at Epiphany Space, find a virtual assistant on Fiverr, get a part-time job to fund it all, whatever it is you have to do. You can't do it alone. I keep trying. It's no fun. You can't do it alone. 

Connect with Suzanne Yada / @ Little Spiral @
Website: https://littlespiral.com/