Shelby Strickfaden: Singer/Songwriter

Sophomore, Shelby Strickfaden of Mira Costa High School, continues to wow her peers with a voice like an angel and lyrics that leave her listener’s curious, but always wanting more.

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“I usually write most of my music about people or past experiences. “I first started writing back in the dark ages of Middle School.. I was playing piano and I kind of just came up with this simple melody and I wrote this awful song about this guy that I liked and that’s how it kind of started and then I got a guitar a couple of years ago and I just really liked writing and yeah it kind of just grew from there I guess,” says Strickfaden. Inspired by artists like Alt-J and Taylor Swift, Strickfaden describes her sound as “somewhere between folk and Country music, explaining that her music ranges from “melancholic all the way to kind of optimistic” in some songs.

Like most singer/songwriters do, she writes about the things that are personal to her life such as specific places and people, “but I try to make my songs different so that they’re not like the cheesy kind of typical ‘love song’,” says Strickfaden.  She believes that her music stands out from the usual stuff stating “I personally write about the people in my life-like being in love and such, but I try to make it different so that it’s not like the cheesy kind of typical ‘love song.’ When I’m writing a song I don’t just like sit down and say ‘okay I’m gonna write a song,’ I usually get in this… mood and I just grab my guitar and mess around and whatever sounds right ends up becoming like a chord progression or a finger-picking rhythm. Lyrics will just come out, kind of whatever I’m thinking about…” As she thinks of these lyrics she tries not to make them too specific, writing words that allude to what she’s talking about instead of just stating them. “A lot of my lyrics are kind of like little hints that make me laugh because I know what I’m talking about and it’s not obvious to anyone else,” says Strickfaden.  Right now, Shelby Strickfaden only has a handful of songs, but she mentions “if I had enough that i was actually happy with I would definitely consider making it into an album or EP or something.”

A former horse enthusiast, and tree-climber, Shelby Strickfaden has ditched the little girl she used to be and is now on her way to bigger and better things, but who knows maybe those tree adventures will appear again in her future songs, but we won’t realize it of course.

Some of Shelby Strickfaden’s current music can be found at soundcloud.com/theshelbyanne