No Stranger to Success
Monday, 17 August 2009
By Lorin Pickup, Writer Services Representative
What makes a good song? What is it that makes you want to listen to it over and over again? According to Lisa Crawley, it has to be thought provoking and honest.
That’s exactly what this 22 year old from New Zealand achieved, to beat close to 1000 entries to take out the top prize in the 2008 Pacific Songwriting competition. What is more impressive is that Lisa’s song Stranger, was written when she was only 16 years old.
“I wrote Stranger, when I was working at Music works... I went down and used one of the pianos on my lunch break. It talks about, people, just encounters with people some you may have known from ages ago, and it’s that sort of awkwardness, whether you actually bother to say hello or you just leave it cause it’s kind of awkward. It’s about approaching people and interacting with people.” Lisa explains.
Although Lisa’s songwriting and style has evolved in the six years since the song was written, there is something in the song that has remained relevant, not only to Lisa, but to the judges also. “What we heard in her music was the honesty. It’s not necessarily the top layer we listen for, it’s the layers underneath and it’s the layers under the words that we listen for... There’s insight there...People recognise honesty and integrity and it’s there in her performance,” explains one of the judges.
Established in 2005, the Pacific Songwriting competition is growing with each year. With songwriting being the only focus, this competition strives to support and encourage songwriters from all nationalities, abilities and genres. The prizes for the competition include: money, return flights to Sydney, accommodation, four days in a recording studio and a website, all of which will help Lisa in her future endeavours. “It was a great prize. It’s good to have on the CV, and the new recordings will be helpful. I’m working towards an album at the moment...it’s just a matter of getting funding and everything, so it’s great to have some more tracks that I really like to hopefully put on the album.”
A multi-instrumentalist, with a stunning voice, Lisa has worked hard to establish her presence in the New Zealand live music scene. With goals not unlike any other young musician, Lisa hopes that soon she will be able to travel the world supporting her music, or rather, have her music support her. “To live off my music would be great, but more importantly I love to just tour, I love travelling as well and I really want to travel with my music... not have to play cheesy lounge covers to pay the rent!” Having already gigged around London while living there and played at South by south west with another band, it appears Lisa is already within reach of her aspirations.
Entries for this year’s Competition close October 31st, please see www.pacificsongwritingcompetition.com for more details.
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