SAARA Talks “Ur Cool,” Her Debut EP & The Leap From Viral Videos To Pop Stardom: Idolator Interview

Mike Wass | May 19, 2015 8:00 am

The leap from social media celebrity to pop star isn’t easy, but Vine heavyweight Shawn Mendes proved it could be done when his debut LP Handwritten topped the Billboard 200 earlier this year. Following in his footsteps is SAARA — a bubbly 21-year-old from Finland, who came to fame via the viral video “What Languages Sound Like To Foreigners.” That, combined with clips of the budding diva singing, resulted in a deal with Capitol Records.

In a particularly meta-move, Sara Forsberg (her real name) samples a Vine in her extremely catchy debut single “Ur Cool.” I recently spoke with SAARA about the evolution of that song as well as the direction of her upcoming EP. She revealed that she’s been in the studio with Jarrad Rogers and Detail, and also opened up about making the move from Scandinavia to Los Angeles. Make sure you check out an exclusive behind-the-scenes video of the “Ur Cool” lyric video at the end of our Q&A.

Was your end goal always to be a pop star? Not really. I always sang, but my thing was always to be goofy in front of cameras. The first video that I ever uploaded on the internet was in 2008. I thought it was funny, but I lost all of my friends because it was so stupid. That’s kind of how my making funny videos on the internet thing started. When my “What Languages Sound Like” video blew up and my singing video blew up as well, I was like, ‘Okay, well labels want me’.”

I went to a bunch of meetings and it was pretty great. I got pretty excited about the music thing as well. I thought ‘Okay, what the heck!’ It would be pretty awesome to get signed. I did, and now we’ve been working so hard. I love it to death. I wouldn’t do anything else. This is my favorite thing in the world right now and I’m just so happy that it happened. It’s great.

Was your first video really so bad that your friends stopped talking to you? Oh yeah. I think it was because we were all so young. I was maybe 15 at the time and back then it was embarrassing. Making videos online wasn’t cool back then in my home country. It was weird and different and no one got it. That’s kind of why I got left out. That was shitty, but I’m just really happy that I stuck to what I did and didn’t care what other people said. If I did care what other people said, I wouldn’t be here today.

Where does your flair for comedy come from? I don’t know. I never had plans for comedy. I actually graduated chef school. I thought that I would be a chef. Then I thought, maybe I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in the kitchen because I felt like more of a people person. I was bored because I couldn’t get a job. I was working as a part-time cashier. I got kind of discouraged, and I was just at home and bored. I made the video, and that’s just kind of what happened.

Have you had any vocal training? It’s mostly natural. I sang at the local music conservatory when I was about 15. I did that for a couple of years, but I felt like I wasn’t getting a lot out of that so I quit and started doing stuff on my own. I guess that I’ve just always liked singing and I’m just happy if anyone thinks I’m good. That’s fun.

Let’s talk about your debut single “Ur Cool.” Who produced it? It was produced by Jukebox, who made Willow’s “Whip My Hair” a couple of years ago. It also includes a sample from a vine by a kid named Elliot Smith.

Did you work with Jukebox or was the track pitched to you? The track was all done pretty much when I first got it because it was such a huge track and they were shopping it around. I heard it and I frickin’ loved it because I thought, coming from a social media background myself, having a vine in a song was just a genius idea. I thought that would be great, and we all thought that it definitely had to be the first single, so we went with that.

A Vine sample in a Vine star’s debut single is so meta! Yeah. I actually met the kid. His name is Elliot Smith and he makes Vines with his mom Harmony Smith. It was great. They were all really excited. It was great to meet him, and we made a couple of vines together. It was a great day. We’re all so excited about how the song will do because we’ve only marketed it in one country. It’s going to be a crazy ride. I’m really excited.

You reference your “What Languages Sound Like” Vine in the video too. It came from the label, from their writers. Obviously because of my YouTube background where I did all the languages and the nationalities, they thought that it would be a good fit. Actually it worked, but then again that’s only the lyric video and the official music video is coming I think next month.

Can you give anything away any clues about the actual video? No, unfortunately I cannot. The only thing I really can say is that in my music you will definitely see my funny, quirky personality. I guess you already saw that in the latest video, but in the music video that will also show and in my music in general. I can’t really give anything away so I’m sorry for that. It’s really exciting. The shoot was crazy. I was there for 17 hours. We did it all in one day.

They’ve sent me the rough cuts and everything. It just looks so good. It’s so crazy coming from a small town working as a part-time cashier to now here. When I was at the music video shoot, it was me and 200 people running around building set-ups and changing my clothing. It was so mental. I still don’t get it. It was just crazy.

What is it like moving from Finland to LA? Everyone asks that. I guess they all think that it was scary or weird for me, but at the time when it became possible for me to move to LA, I was so ready to move out. I was about to turn 20. In Finland, after you turn 18, it’s normal to move out. My mom and dad were kind of like, ‘Okay Sara, you need to get out of here.’ When this opportunity came to me I thought it was such a natural thing for me to do.

This is my cue. I’m going to do this. I’m going to defy all my haters and fears and just go for it. The move itself was amazing because I have a lot of expectations of LA because I heard it was great. It actually exceeded that. It was even more awesome. I love it. I currently live in Santa Monica and I couldn’t be happier.

Will you show off more of your vocal range on future singles? Oh yeah. Definitely. This is a fun start up record because it’s fun and catchy, but I’m really looking forward to showing what I have. For example, the singing video that I had on YouTube really showed pretty much everything that I can do. I’m just really excited to show that side of me as well as this very pop record which really doesn’t show that. Definitely. We’re moving in that direction.

Will there be an EP first and then an album? Yeah. We’ve been thinking of coming out with an EP first. That should be out later this summer. I’m really excited about that too. I’m a songwriter as well. I started when I got signed, and two of the songs that I wrote ended up on the EP. That’s crazy because usually artists who just get signed, don’t get their material on the first album at all.

They’re still trying the waters and searching for the way, but I have songs on the EP. The EP should come later this summer. I’m really excited about that because you can’t really get a grip of just one single. When my EP comes out people can really see what my music and artistry is really about and that’s what’s fun.

Which other producers have you worked with? I’ve been in the studio with, for example, my absolute favorite who I’ve been working a ton with, his name is Jarrad Rogers. He’s an Australian producer and we’ve been doing a lot of stuff together. He’s been doing a lot of stuff with UK artists, but he lives in Los Angeles now and we’ve been working a lot with him. I’ve been co-producing and writing with him and it’s been awesome.

What else? I’ve been working with so many producers. I can only think of Jarrad because he’s my absolute favorite. I also worked with this producer/songwriter called Detail. He’s done Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love” and “7/11.” You just meet so many people that you can’t remember everyone, but I’m really thankful and grateful that I get to do this for a living.

What has the reaction to your success been like at home? Well, it kind of got huge because I was the first person to ever get signed to a major US label. It was really big and also because of the media attention I got, worldwide, really kind of shook Finland. Every time I go there people are really nice. It’s great. They’re super supportive of me and my career. They’re just really proud of me and that just means the world to me.

I couldn’t be more thankful for that. It really kind of shook the country. I’m in the news every now and then it’s great and the response to “Ur Cool” has been very good as well. I like that. They’re just really supportive and that’s what’s great.”

An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at SAARA’s “Ur Cool” lyric video:

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