Sarah Barrios, Syd Hartha learn ‘anything is possible’ after quarantine collab

Collaborating across time zones was definitely a learning experience for US singer-songwriter Sarah Barrios and Filipina artist Syd Hartha. Despite challenges brought about by the COVID-19 quarantine, the two managed to team up on the pulsating and dreamy electro-pop jam All My Sins, blending well their voices and other musical gifts.

It all started with Sarah wanting to collaborate with a fellow female artist and to connect more with her Filipino fans. Sarah told The STAR in a recent Zoom interview with Syd Hartha: “I knew that I had a small following in the Philippines. And they were really, really active and engaged on all the social media platforms that I had. So, it just kind of felt right to partner up with someone from the Philippines. And just doing a collab with another female, I think is really cool because I hadn’t done one before.”

Sarah found out about the 19-year-old singer-songwriter (under the Sony Music Philippines label) through one of her music videos online after first being exposed to Ben&Ben which prompted her to “stalk” more Pinoy artists.

“After hearing her (Syd’s) voice, it just felt like the right fit to deliver the message of the song. I’m really, really happy with how it turned out.”

Syd, for her part, admitted to feeling apprehensive and anxious at first, but ultimately was grateful and honored to have her first-ever collab (an international one, at that!). She was used to doing everything on her own — writing, singing, recording, etc. — but the experience taught her how to work well with another artist.

“It was definitely a unique experience, especially this is my first English song (licensed). And this is my first pop song, like, with no guitar and everything, and I’ve not been used to that. But (the process) was nice and smooth. Sarah and her team were very easy to work with, chill, very nice and welcoming,” she said. 

“I did enjoy it so much and you know, I do folk and folk-pop music, that’s my comfort zone so it feels nice to step out of my comfort zone and explore different genres like pure pop. And yes, I’d definitely do another pop song or another genre, if given the chance.”

Even if they have different genres, they discovered something in common while in the process of working on All My Sins.

“That’s also one of the reasons why I said yes to the collab... because we had a lot of things in common. Like our songwriting, when we write songs, they have to be very personal and emotional. We’re both very vulnerable when it comes to songwriting. And that’s why I thought we were gonna get to work together,” Syd shared.

Sarah agreed. “I obviously don’t understand anything that you (Syd) say in any of the videos. But I think that’s such a special thing when I was able to watch the video and still feel the honesty and the vulnerability. It made me feel something which I think is really impactful. And you don’t really see that often, especially with women. And so I was like, okay, this could be really good. And then obviously, we met (online), I think we get along pretty well.”

 Sarah revealed the songwriting was borne out of all the reflection she made during the quarantine period. “It was mainly about just thinking back on all of the mistakes that you make. As a human being, no one’s perfect but it can be very easy to blame yourself for all those mistakes and hold on to those feelings. And so you end up asking yourself, you know, am I a bad person, or am I just a human being who makes mistakes?

“I think it’s important to remember it’s not the mistakes that make you; it’s how you react to them and what you do about the mistakes that you’ve made. And we wanted to kind of capture that feeling of feeling a little confused, and not really knowing how to answer the question.”

She continued, “I’ve done a lot of reflecting this quarantine — both good reflecting and maybe not so much. But I think you kind of have to have the balance of both. Thankfully, I had this song to kind of consistently remind me. I feel like All My Sins came out at a perfect time because I was kind of going through it. The song reminded me, ‘Hey, like you need to relax a little bit. You’re not a horrible human being, you’re just a human being.’ And hopefully, the song helps some people kind of remember that it’s okay to make mistakes, and that they don’t define you at the end of the day.”

Meanwhile, pulling off this quarantine collab over Zoom and other online tools made them believe even more that anything is possible.

“I learned that really, anything is possible because you know, getting into music, I never really thought that I would have a collab, an international collab, it’s surprising and it just gives me so much more hope for a lot of things,” Syd said. 

As for Sarah, it allowed her the opportunity to learn more about Filipino culture and music without having to travel to the country (at least not yet). “Sounds cheesy but I mean, if you could do this during a pandemic, I feel like I can kind of do anything.”

(Sarah Barrios’ All My Sins featuring syd hartha is out now on all digital platforms worldwide via Sony Music.)