CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 109: SAMMI CONSTANTINE ON WRITING AS TRUTHFULLY AS SHE CAN
Interview by Sam Elliott and Matilda Elliott.
If there’s one thing we love about pop star Sammi Constantine, it’s that she’s not afraid to be truthful and vulnerable in her songwriting. From songs about mental health, heartbreak, and love, Sammi’s music is both relatable to her audience, while still having the power to be a straight-up bop.
Futuremag Music’s dynamic duo, Sam and Matilda Elliott, caught up with Sammi to talk about her latest single, Dopamine, the third track of her upcoming EP. Sammi also gives as a little sneak peak into what the next single holds for us.
DISCLAIMER: The following interview explores subjects of mental health, medication, anorexia and depression. Please reach out to a loved one or a mental health professional if you find any of the below content distressing. You’re not alone. You’re worthy.
FMM: Firstly, I want to congratulate you with your show at the Lansdowne. It was just amazing. How did it feel being back on stage in front of everyone and performing songs that you released?
Sammi: Honestly, it's like it's the weirdest thing. I always say to people, I'm the most normal when I'm on stage. If you see me in the street or you're my friend and you hang with me, like heck, you're just a weirder. I'm a total weirdo unless I'm on stage. It’s like the only place I feel like I belong and I'm normal. It's really weird. So, I had a lot of fun.
FMM: That's a cool response. That's your central space and look, I like how you mentioned you're crazy with your friends. Something that I've written in the review [of the Landsdowne gig], was how much your audience felt like your friends, and you were just having banter with your friends. Some of your fans said they had come from Naarm, Melbourne and Newcastle. What’s the importance of building those relationships?
Sammi: I just think it's the most incredible thing in the whole world that people travel to see me live. I feel bad that they do, because I need to come to their cities, like a totally made this choice. I'm just so grateful because it's like you never really know as an artist, what the music means to someone or what impact it's going to have. Then, when you see these amazing people coming to your shows and they're singing every lyric, and you know they have to buy accommodation and flights to be there, it's just the most rewarding and incredible thing ever.
Actually, there are no words for how amazing it is and I'm just so grateful. But like you said, I feel like everybody who listens to my music, we're a very interesting bunch of people, I think, together. We're in on this little… you know, we've been through something, so it's really beautiful. I love it so much.
FMM: Well, look, count us in on that journey. We're avid listener ladies. So, yeah, that's great.
Sammi: Thank you for that. I was like so blown away by the review. Thank you so much.
FMM: Oh, no, of course. Honestly. I'm blushing (laughs). Well with your singles and everyone hanging off every word, you do have your next single out, Dopamine. It's the third single of your four-track EP, which you said marks the end of you being a people pleaser. This is so us. Can you run us through what started this movement for you? What made you go, ‘okay, enough of them?’
Sammi: Totally. I mean, to be honest, I think it was a lot of things. I feel like you kind of get to this particular stage in your life with age, with moving and things like that. But what actually really kind of, triggered the big movement of just people weeding, I like to call it, is I came off my antidepressants, which I've been on for two years. I know a lot of people go through this. It's something that I don't think people realise how hard it is. It's just this entire journey of rewiring your brain, finding yourself, then relearning yourself, understanding you and how you work and all of that. There's so much that comes with it, it would take me so long to go through. But, I think in that process, after going through the worst of it, I kind of came out the other side and realised a lot of the things and people in my life were not really very good for me.
I don't like to use the words toxic friendships/, but there was that. There was just a lot of habits and people and things that I was doing that just weren't really making sense for the person that I want to be. I guess Dopamine was kind of birthed around that time and realising I don't have to people please and I don't have to be perfect. My single, Wannabe, talks a little bit about this as well, that whole feeling like we have to be this perfect pop star. Like, oh, you’ve got to be amazing and everyone's going to play you and everyone's going to love you straight away. It just doesn't happen like that. We're all a work in progress and I think we just have to accept that. Does that make sense?
FMM: Absolutely. That's really a great way of putting it. I find it a super brave thing to talk about in the sense of going off antidepressants. We'd love to know how went about that. What aspects did you bring into your life?What practices helped you find that balance and inner harmony?
Sammi: Yeah, totally. I think that's actually a really hard question because it's not really just one thing. It was just a lot of mental things that kind of just clicked over. It was almost like, oh, this is different. You kind of grieve the friendships and you grieve who you were and it's just this big emotional outpour until you just become comfortable with the new you. So, it's almost like I didn't do anything in particular, like get a haircut. I moved house and maybe that's one physical thing that I did. I got out of the city.I wasn't my best self when I lived in the city. I feel like I really need nature, so that's probably a physical thing. Feels a little bit like hippy and spiritual to be like, ‘I need nature.’ But, we need nature. We all do. We really do, and I grew up around the beaches and my parents now live on a farm, so there's like a lot of opportunity to have nature in my life.Just being out of the city has done so much for my mental health. I think that's one of the things. But again, just a mental shift.
FMM: Yeah, I love that, and that's so interesting. You have such a strong introspective power within yourself to be able to really acknowledge things that weren't working and things that are working and how to push forward and progress, Look, I also live with depression, so I can completely empathise on that. I'd love to understand what you do to make your loved ones around you aware of what's going on, but also how they can best help you, because it's so different for each person. Everyone has such a different support system that to get people to understand how you are, is a bit of an interesting minefield. So, I'd love to know how you go about navigating that.
Sammi: Yeah, I think the hardest part about that situation is that everybody reacts differently. So what works for me and my family and my friends, may just be a total disaster for you and your network of people. But at the end of the day, I feel like honesty is key, for one. The second thing is, the more you're yourself, the more you're going to attract the right people. So, although depression is kind of like this mask that we wear… I'm not saying you choose to wear it, of course. We don't choose to have depression, but it is some kind of veil mask.
I feel like the more you're honest with people and you show as much of you as you possibly can, the more they're going to be able to just connect with you. If you're really honest about how you're feeling, that's easier than hiding away and never telling anybody what's really going on. It frustrates people and it makes people feel like they're not wanted or loved. That's something I learned, was the more I isolate myself and the more I don't talk about what I'm going through, the more I'm isolated because if people don’t know, they can't understand and they can't help. I just think if you if you reach out, if you can find the strength to reach out to anybody, whether it's your mum, your sister, whoever, that's all it takes. The rest will work out.
FMM: That's amazing advice. I think, as you said, taking that step and feeling a little bit uncomfortable for a little bit and reaching out is always such a great way to start the journey of healing and dealing with what's going on in your mind.
Sammi: Exactly.Yeah, it's really not as complicated as it seems. Although it's hard, it's not actually a complicated process and there's ways to reach out. You don't have to pull your heart out and talk about all the things going on. You just say, ‘hey, I'm not doing well and can you just be around?’ And that's it, yes.
FMM: Would you say that Dopamine is direct reflection of this journey? How would you say your music writing in general has shaped your journey as a person?
Sammi: Well, I think it's funny because Dopamine is another one of these dips into the mental health thing, and the two singles before this were a little bit more light-hearted and fun. I tend to always fall back into trying to make my audience feel understood. Obviously, it's what I know. I've been through, as you guys might know, anorexia and depression and a bunch of other things. I just feel it makes sense for me to talk on things that I know and understand. I I don't want to be unauthentic and try to talk about something I have no experience in.But I think without these experiences, I wouldn't have these amazing people that come to my shows and resonate with the music. I think I will always write as truthfully as I possibly can about what I've gone through, and that's never really going to change. I don't know if that answers your question, but that's a different story.
FMM: I really like your point with your fans as well, because in the crowd, people were laughing, people were dancing, people were crying with goosebumps. It was a rollercoaster, it was amazing. It just shows the importance of being that vulnerable and having those conversations, especially to your outsiders looking in, that raw honesty is so special. I think this has made your fans love you even more, which hard to do.
Looking to the future, you've got some more shows coming. You've got your fourth song of your EP as well, and that's going to be released. Can you give us any hints of what we can expect for your next, final song of the EP? Can I be a bit nosy? (laughs).
Sammi: (laughs) Yeah, I think this last one is a little bit more fun. It's a little bit on the lighthearted side, but it does kind of go through a bit of a life experience journey with something I haven't written a lot about, which is love.
FMM: Oohhh!
Sammi: I think Roses, with my partner, Gabriel Paris, was kind of like that one moment where I was like, ‘oh, love.’ This one is a little bit more on the side of love. Not the soppy side, but I wanted this EP to be literally a bit of everything. It’s not just one thing. It doesn't really have a theme and I always thought that when I put out an EP, it was going to be very, like, what's the word?
FMM: Has like, a running theme?
Sammi: That's escaping me. But anyway, I love that it's just a little bunch of life experience things, it's a bunch of statements and it's just a rollercoaster of emotions. I think I've decided on the name Dopamine for the EP because it kind of feels like it's just a bunch of dopamine hits.
FMM: So exciting, and then are you also going to announce some shows potentially coming up? When can we expect to hear a little more about that?
Sammi: Well, I'm currently in the planning stages. If you've been following me for a while, you know that I'm terrible at keeping secrets and I generally say things I shouldn’t. I probably need a couple more weeks to properly put it together. I'm just really hoping to get to Melbourne and Brisbane and a few other places as well. It's just the planning stages. I think Covid has made things a little bit difficult, a lot more expensive. So as an independent artist, I'm just trying to work that out, but keep an eye out. I promise it will be here soon.
FMM: We can't wait. Thank you so much for your time and your vulnerability and bringing your energy to this discussion.
