Sasha Haydn shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Sasha, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Who are you learning from right now?
Through absolute coincidence (because the song I just released highlights a roller skating old man) I’ve been learning from and leaning on the older folks in my life. Just recently, I found myself in my grandparents house late into the night, feeling hopeless about the state of the world. I treasure the perspective and advice of my grandparents, who have been through their fair share of hopelessness and made it out on the other side. If you were wondering, the advice my grandfather gave me that night was about writing, and writing with authenticity. “Never stop writing,” he said. I told him about how my writing feels bottlenecked— “the only way to loosen that is to write.” I told him how I was afraid of the way I was to be received through my writing. “All you can do is write from the heart, and then send it off into the abyss. How you are viewed is completely out of your control.” I told him that I’m afraid my writing is ineffective because it isn’t my best work. He said “some of my most effective work has been the work I considered ‘bad’. There is therapy in writing it anyway. Write every single day.” Simple and true. And I needed to hear it all. I felt more hopeful that night than I had been for a long time. Despite my love for the complex, simple truths are sometimes the most effective kind.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hey, friends! My name is Sasha Haydn and I am a singer/songwriter/actor from Salt Lake City. I love Bananagrams, journaling, and general whimsy.
Right now, I am focusing on building authenticity in my craft— finding what it means to “build” authenticity, growing my community, and making effective art.
My songs are multi-layered and lyric focused— complicating the already complex. I want to grow a community of lyric lovers and nuance noticers. I want deep-feelers and overthinkers to feel seen through my platforms. Also, to embrace the importance of deeply-felt silliness sometimes (haha).
I am a bit of an overthinker and I think it is becoming my brand. (I say this with celebration!) I think so much about the people around me, so I started writing love letters to my listeners. It is my joy to share that kind of connection with friends and strangers. I think so much about my environment, so I am a huge advocate for sustainable practices. I think so much about art and its impact, so I try to participate in every possible genre and uplift the artists in my community.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
It’s funny that this question came up. Common motifs in my writing over the past year have been growing up, speaking to my younger self, and healing my inner child.
As a kid, my mom says she thought I was fairy dust. I think this is a nice way of saying that my hyperactivity was unmatched— I remember my great grandfather teasing me (sweetly) that he was going to have to “glue [my] butt to [my] seat”.
I was an unafraid overachiever. I tried everything. I had confidence! I sang to all the people waiting in line to get tickets to “Comedy of Errors” in Central Park just because I wanted to. I wore my glasses proudly. Often, I felt invincible just doing whatever I wanted to do.
As I’ve grown up, I have kept the overachieving mindset, and lost most of the unafraidness. Straight A student who eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude? Yes. Overdoing homework until my parents had to ask me to stop? Yes. Spiraling this need for perfection out of control? Absolutely. I could go on, but those are stories for other times.
I’ve overworked songs for years, and haven’t achieved consistency on social media due to my embarrassment of imperfection — what happened?? Where’s the spunk, girl?
I’m currently in many big chapter changes, hoping to find a fair “in-between”. Which is also the name of a song of mine in production (stay tuned for an upcoming EP). I want to be transparent about these mental obstacles. I want to be open about the journeys I’m on to find my fairy dust again.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Little Sasha, you are so resilient. I love your commitment to play. I love your energy. KEEP SINGING. KEEP ACTING. KEEP WRITING. Those outlets will save you!!
I wish I could give her a massive hug. And get some of her advice (haha!).
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
I actually LOVE this question. Yes. We all have public and private versions of ourselves. We present different versions of ourselves to different people ALL of the time and those are all authentic versions of ourselves that make this big conglomerate of people in one body.
Of course there are people who try to do things for the sake of other things. There are things that don’t feel real. There are things like AI that are simply just not real.
I think as long as one continues to act in accordance with what’s at their core— their belief systems, their values and virtues, their inherent passions, etc, etc. They are being authentic even if their public self has a different energy than their private self has.
Woah. I didn’t know I cared so much about this.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What light inside you have you been dimming?
Can I just say the general light? I think I need to be honest about that. I’m in a season of major change— I’ve been taking a break from social media (ending in November) to focus on some of the things I have never focused on. Truly, I’ve developed the skill of dissecting joy until it’s unrecognizable– for the sake of productiveness, achievement, societal standards, etc.
So, yes, I’ve been dimming my light, period. I’m still laughing though.
I need to take the advice from my grandpa and just keep doing the thing. I also need to follow in the footsteps of my younger self and make some time for play.
Then I can take on the world, right? Be healthy. Be kind. Make friends. Keep friends. Make music. Perform. Love hard. Be intelligent. Be cool. Be consistent. Be beautifully messy. I can do all of that, right? Preferably soon. Just you wait.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/sashahaydn
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sasha.haydn
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sashahaydn/videos
Image Credits
Emma Hurst
Kiki Wilkinson
Venus
