NRT’s Jasmin Patterson chats with lead singer Sydney Sierota about her relationship with God, the band's new album, and working with for KING & COUNTRY.
Echosmith is a multi-platinum alternative-pop (alt-pop) trio. Their music has garnered more than one billion streams. The band broke into the music scene with their massive hit, "Cool Kids."
They recently released their sophomore album, Lonely Generation. So far, the band's new albumhas reached number two on the iTunes Pop Chart and number 11 on the iTunes Album Chart. It's an uplifting and honest coming-of-age soundtrack, as Echosmith grows up as a band, as a family, and as individuals. Lonely Generation continues the band's goal to encourage hope, love, and camaraderie amidst the growing pains and happy moments that come with growing up. Echosmith created videos for every track on the album, including "Diamonds" and "Everyone Cries."
I had a chance to chat with lead singer Sydney Sierota about Echosmith's new music, working with for KING & COUNTRY, and their mission as a band. Sydney also shared why her relationship with God is important in her life.
Some of our audience is just getting to know you. Can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about who you are as a band.
I'm Sydney and the other two members of the band are Noah, on bass, and Graham, on drums. These guys are my brothers and we're all very close in age. We've been a band since I was nine years old. Now, I'm turning 23, which means we've been a band for fourteen years. But, more than anything, we're really just best friends who have a lot of fun together and blessed enough to get to make music for a living.
We have a really close family. Our parents tour with us; our dad is our manager. It's a family operation, which is really fun and really grounding, considering how crazy, busy, and stressful the music industry can be. It's nice to have family on the road as a support system when I'm doing something crazy.
Last year, you and Timbaland collaborated with for KING & COUNTRY on a remix of the hit single, "God Only Knows." What does the message of that song mean to you?
I heard the song's original version before this opportunity presented itself. I've been a for KING & COUNTRY fan for a long time. So, I know a lot of their songs. But, this song especially hit home for me.
"God Only Knows" reminds me that we're not alone–even if we feel alone. Having that hopeful reminder is crucial, no matter what we're going through, whether it's something we're battling physically or mentally. It's nice to know there's someone there for us. And, that there is an ultimate kind of love waiting for us. Just be open to receiving this love and open to hearing from Him.
You're an alt-pop band functioning mostly in the mainstream music space. But, you're also Christians. Your faith is important to you. What does your relationship with God mean to you? What are you learning in that relationship right now?
I grew up in a Christian household. My dad was a worship leader. We were in the church all the time growing up. So, it felt very normal to us. It was part of our everyday life because that was the structure our parents built for us, which I'm grateful for. But, of course, now I'm a married adult. So, it's really important for me to build new habits and continue the old ones that keep me connected with God.
Instead of saying, "Oh, I read a bible verse today" or "I'm going to church and pray when I can," I make sure that I'm intentional about spending actual quality time with God. It's really hard to do that when we're so busy: traveling on tour or waking up early to connect with the press. But, I'm learning the value of building in quality time with the Lord.
Of course, I'm not perfect. There are days when I don't spend enough time with God. And, I hate when that happens. But, it does happen. It's just part of being human. I try to spend less time on my phone. And, replace that with better things. This means digging into the Bible, reading a devotion, and taking to time to learn from and listen to Him.
For me, my relationship with God is everything. It's the foundation of everything in my life and I want to maintain that as much as I can no matter what changes around me because that's what makes me feel whole, grounded, and loved more than anything.
Earlier this year, you released the Lonely Generation record. Tell us about the album's message.
Musically, this album was really fun to create. We tried a lot of things and wrote a lot of songs. We ended up with 12 songs we love and we each can connect to in different ways. I love every song and I love the meaning behind every song. I'm grateful if any of these songs are a success.
Message wise, it was so important to get the point across that all of us go through something. This whole album serves as a reminder that you are not alone. There are things that I've gone through that somebody else across the world is going to go through or they already have, and maybe they needed to hear a song about that to know they are not alone and even to rest in knowing that.
I know I've felt that way with other people's music and I hope that this album can be that for other people. If there's even one person who gets to have their life helped or changed by these songs--which I've already heard so many stories of--that's such a mission accomplished and that's all we ever wanted with this music.
I just want people to see themselves in the songs and see their lives in it and get some hope out of it. Even if it's a song about going through hard times, underlying that is hope. I think it's important to have that in songs that talk about difficult things. Instead of just saying, "life is hard and that's it," saying "life is hard, but there's so much more that can and will get better."
One of my favorite songs on Lonely Generation is "Lost Somebody." What inspired you to write that song?
It was unfortunately inspired by the music industry especially, but really just everyday life for everyone. I was just discouraged by the fact that sometimes people just want to use each other. Whether it's romantic or friendship or familial, sometimes people just want be in a relationship with people to get as much as they can from them. As I've been a singer and been on social media, I've had some unfortunate encounters of people just trying to use me for whatever reason and that's just not how you build a meaningful relationship.
I think now more than ever it's hard to find the line between doing favors for people, helping each other out and serving your community, but at the same time you shouldn't be in it just for yourself and looking to see what you can get out of a friendship or relationship. You should be thinking what can I give and what can I do to help this person, instead of the other way around to serve yourself.
If you use somebody that's how you can lose them. That's a valuable lesson for all of us to learn because we all can get caught up in that mindset if we don't check ourselves.
How can we be praying for you?
We want to do our very best to be a light and a good example to whoever we meet, whether they know God already or not. Just pray for us to be able to do that effectively, and to have our eyes open to opportunities we should do that we haven't thought about yet.
I just want to make a difference with our music and with the words we use. I would love different, unexpected opportunities to be able to do that and do it well. I want to help people feel a little better and get to know God in a very beautiful way. Whether they know Him deeply yet or not, I would love to be a part of somebody else's story to help them get there. Prayers for all that would be great!
Lonely Generation available now. Buy the album on Apple Music or stream it on Spotify.
NRT contributor Jasmin Patterson is a lifelong fan of Christian music who is passionate about helping others connect with Christ. She lives in Kansas City where she serves in college ministry and runs a blog to help seekers and believers discover and live biblical Christianity.
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