Sydney Lowell is an Amsterdam-born creative spirit, captivates with her soulful, rhythmic poetry. Her work ranges from critical to sensual, introspective to expressive. Her poems, like all her work, are rich with intention, spirit, and emotion. Each performance invites closeness and energetic exchange with her audience. Just before her live performance at Hidden Gem with Ruben Croes, we had a quick chat about her background, current projects, and future plans.
My name is Sydney Lowell. I am a spoken word poet, host, producer of We The People and 2PHRASE, arts and poetry platforms in Amsterdam. Today, I'm performing poetry, song, and music accompanied by Ruben Croes, a talented artist I collaborated with on my debut EP which released last October. We're going to do a nice intimate set featuring songs off the EP and a few more.
How would you describe the sound of Sydney Lowell?
I would say that my sound touches on different kind of music genres because my poetry is very inspired by music. It's often very ryhtmic. I draw heavily from neo-soul, soul, r&b, but also very much jazz, kind of like acid jazz. It's very free flowing so it's not like I have to hit certain bars like with rap for example. I like to just play with sound as if it were music, and touch on different topics that just relate to me and that hopefully inspire. So it's always going to be
very personal, introspective, soulful, things that I experience but also would like other people to kind of draw inspiration from. Like self-love or self-confidence. The impact that words
have really in your life which is what my EP was all about. So that kind of sums up a little bit
of what I do.
How do you feel in this current chapter of your life, in your music, in your art?
That's a beautiful question. I would say I am in the midst of transformation, which is a recurring feeling, I think, because we transform all the time. But I think now being able to see
what the reality of being a recording artist is like as well, I learn so much from it. My shows are different. The way I perform is different. So as an artist, I would say I learned a lot of being so surrounded by music. Starting out being inspired by music to now making music and working with musicians so much, it's like I'm literally in the sound. I'm in the music, which is
where I love to be the most. So now even when I'm doing a poem acapella, there's music in my head. It's totally different now. And I'd say that definitely has an impact on me as a person. I feel much more liberated and free, because now it feels like I have a body of work to share with people and refer to. This is me. This is what I sound like. Yeah, so I'm not there yet, to me, the journey is the destination, and I love every single part of it. But I definitely feel more developed as a human, but also as an artist. So I'm just trying to enjoy that chapter, really, and just live.
Tijmen de Nooy Photography
What's in store for Sydney Lowell in the near future?
I hope a lot is in store. I'm doing a show next week with also a beautiful group setting of different artists, poets, musicians, singers. I'll perform on a festival in July, also a group setting, and then in August I'll do another set with Ruben, which is going to be like our thing again, performing poems off the EP. But I'm also really looking forward to making new music again. It feels like some of the poems that I've performed during this set, which are not on the EP, are just calling me desperately to be recorded and to have a life of their own. So I'm intending to listen to that. And yeah, so there might be a follow-up on the debut EP, which I'm really excited about. And yeah, what else is in store? I don't know yet. I'll let life surprise me.
Is there a message you'd like to convey in your music?
Even though every poem is different and carries different meaning, overall I want to exude a kind of a light, a confidence that other people get to draw inspiration from and inspire a similar or a different kind of expression, whether that's through poetry or something else. Because when I perform, when I write, I feel free. You know, I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. So if that inspires someone to, I don't know, they like to make furniture, that's what they're supposed to do, then I hope that has a similar effect on them. But also to tap into feeling. That's, I think, one of the biggest missions is to like connect with people on a personal, emotional, spiritual level. And if you feel that, it will trigger something. And that's where I want to be. Like I want people to feel deeper. You know, it's not just the surface level experience, you know, the experience is mostly what it's about for me. So all the reflection, all the feeling, all the thoughts, like own it, you know, experience it. That's what I'm usually trying to do with my poetry.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
I guess there is an urge that I have for life. I have a deep desire and urge for life. And I hope that through what I do as a poet, but also as a human being and having conversations or maybe a small look in the face that people also feel excited to live. There is a lot that makes you not so excited about life, but I also hope that we are reminded constantly of all the beautiful things that do make life very worthwhile. And art is one of those things definitely. So I'm thankful to be a messenger in that aspect. And so I hope that the message that people receive that are here today, but also not here today physically, are thankful and like appreciative of life and every day you're given.
Keep up with Sydney:
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