Sarah Krohn: Creating Musical Keepsakes For Listeners

Sarah Krohn, a Chicago-based artist, has shared her life through her music. Starting as a songwriter at 13, her openness has resonated with listeners and followers on social media. Her talent allows her to capture the emotions of a certain moment in time through her music. 

Authenticity and Inspiration

Sarah creates indie pop-rock music that resonates with listeners through her honesty. Her songs are tied to her identity, social anxiety, and having crushes. Sarah’s music provides a safe space for listeners to be themselves and correlate her music to the experience they’re going through at the moment.

“Music, for me, is a lot about memory. It’s a way that I catalog times of my life by remembering songs that reminded me of certain things at those times. Being able to look back on a time and have keepsakes and souvenirs of the moment is really important to me. I really love it when I love a song, and it connects to what I’m currently going through. And I want my music to be that for other people.” 

Her newest song, “Hung Up,” showcases the experience of being infatuated with a crush. Including a voice memo of her experience working through these feelings, she gives listeners a peek into her mind when smitten with someone new. As a daydreamer (and overthinker), I’m drawn to her ability to capture the emotions that take over during the beginning of a new crush and the hope of a new relationship with this person.

Inspired by the sincerity of artists like Jacob Collier and Pinegrove, she works hard to be open and genuine with listeners.

“I feel like I am really inspired by people who are themselves. By being inspired by somebody who is so themself, I am inspired to be myself.”

At 13 years old, Sarah knew that this was the career path she wanted to pursue. The first song she ever wrote was a thank you to Ed Sheeran, titled “You’ve Changed My Life”. 

“After I wrote my second song, I remember being on my basement floor and just thinking, ‘Yep, I know that I'm going to do this for the rest of my life.’ I didn't know anything when I was 13. I don't know how I knew that, but it was just this feeling that I got.”

DIY Artist

As an independent artist, Sarah has always loved being part of every element of the artist process. From producing songs to organizing her shows to marketing herself, she’s grown her career on her own. Her passion goes beyond songwriting. She’s been drawn to the producer role and taken the initial version of the song to include the details she envisioned in the process.

“My favorite thing is to take a song that I've written on the guitar and give it this life. Use this vision, this feeling, and this vibe around the whole song by adding all of these different elements to it. That is my favorite part, and I do most of it myself.”

Recently, she’s expanded this process to include support from others in the music industry with more experience. 

“I used to do everything myself, everything from writing the songs to recording the songs to mixing, mastering, promotion, everything was entirely me. That was great when I had the time and the energy. But as I have done it for longer, I realized that I don't always have the time and the energy. And there are people that are really good at what they do, and it's nice to include other people in the [creative] process.”

Encouragement From the Chicago Music Scene

Having grown up outside of Philadelphia and navigated competitive music scenes in New York, she landed in Chicago after graduating from college. Finding a community among other artists, she’s continued to grow and release new projects.

“The music scene is super welcoming here, and people are just really excited about music… In Chicago, everyone’s genuinely just cool about music and excited to be there and super nice and super kind. It isn’t super competitive, and I really love that spirit.”

After being embraced by artists in the Chicago music scene, she’s had the opportunity to play with a full band and share the stage with artists like Barrie, Olive Klug, and Peter McPoland. These experiences have shifted the way she writes music, moving away from being acoustic guitar-oriented and creating songs that will be fun to play live. 

Recently, she went on her first tour, playing in every major city in Ohio. This week-long experience, completely solo, increased her confidence and allowed her to explore what being a touring musician would look like. 

“Touring is always something that I've wanted to do, but it has always felt out of reach for me. But it just kind of happened, it just fell into place, and it has really given me the confidence to do it again. I thought that I had to wait until I had a band or an audience in places. I might have three monthly listeners in a city, but I think the more that you play there, and the more that you meet people that are there, that's kind of the building blocks of a tour.” 

Keep up with Sarah here and listen to her newest song, “Hung Up,” which is out now!