Samantha Newark Gave JEM A Voice and Now Sings Out with Hers

Spring Indie Feature

Interview by Ellen Eldridge

For the spring indie feature I chose an artist who represents more than just clever self-marketing or outrageous stage presence; Samantha Newark brings empowerment to artists through her genuine desire to not only be part of the music business but also to stay inspired by it…

How did acting as the voice of JEM shape your perspective of the music business?
I was always encouraged to dream really big, so growing up in the music business as a child performer, and then getting the opportunity, at such a young age, to play a full-on Rock Star, JEM, who was living her dream was pretty fantastic. I got to live out so many of my fantasies playing JEM that it helped keep everything I wished for myself, and my personal music career, ignited in me.
I didn’t realize until just a few years back what a huge cartoon JEM actually was until I started Googling it. I was pretty blown away at all the interest still in the show and all the fans. Finding out that JEM was in many countries and that there was actually an international fan base of millions of people was pretty mind blowing. Putting on my Indie marketing hat, I started to grasp what an opportunity this was for me, and it has since become the pivotal piece on how to market myself as an indie artist. JEM has absolutely shaped the way I do things from a business marketing standpoint.  They say find what makes you stand out from the sea of musicians out there and figure out who your target audience would be. It became delightful and obvious to work with the amazing JEM fan base and then grow my music fans from there. JEM’s obvious pop culture visibility, huge gay following, and then her awesome comeback in 2011 on TV and the DVD releases basically create a perfect storm for me to get people’s attention. Then it’s about letting my music and who I am as an artist speak for itself.

What do you think the show’s themes said about women in music?

I have gotten many many letters and emails from female musicians that grew up watching JEM, and even women in music business that are very successful now have talked publicly about the show and how it inspired their music careers at an early age saying.  They saw themselves in JEM and the Holograms and wanted to be like them.  I also like that Jerrica’s character was the business woman behind the scenes running a record label. It was all about girl power on so many levels and I loved that these girls could hold their own and their fans supported them and they were hugely successful. Another theme was that JEM and the Holograms were always giving back and trying to help good causes with their music and their success. Kindness, generosity, and girls championing each other to succeed rather than tearing each other down were very much highlighted.  The bad girls, “The Misfits,” who were always rallying against the good girls, “The Holograms,” never won in the end; they always lost everything to integrity and honesty. It’s sad that you don’t see more of that on TV for kids today, it seems the opposite is being promoted and those values are not valued as nearly as much.

Are there specific female singers/songwriters you look up to? Why?

So many amazing female singer/songwriters, the list is so long there’s not enough room on the page – but I will say I started writing my own songs when I discovered Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos. She moved me so much and touched a deep chord in me that inspired me to express myself through songwriting. Up until then I had always sung other people’s material. I think the female artists that inspire me the most are the Singer/Songwriters. I love Lady Gaga because at the end of the day, take away the costumes and the wigs and the massive stage show and put her in jeans and a t-shirt sitting at the piano and you have a real artist that writes all her own stuff, can sing great and can blow you away. I also love artists that are pure entertainers like Madonna who is not the best vocalist, but you go to her shows to experience the showmanship, the masterful creativity, the groove, and the full-on sexuality. My favorite singer on the planet has to be KD Lang; she is just the most exquisite vocalist; I could listen to that voice all day. I also love Dolly Parton because she is tirelessly amazing to her fans and she is a really smart business woman who has built an empire. She can laugh at herself, and she’s also a prolific songwriter with major respect and longevity.  It’s artists that make me feel something and inspire me to be better at what I do and move me with their music, just so long as it’s real.

How do you balance that which inspires you now with the image you want to present to fans?

I am very much connected to JEM and the JEM archetype publicly, and I honestly love that because I believe in her and all the goodness that character stands for. But there is also, woven through my music, the dark, the cheeky, the jaded girl, the not-so-pretty-at-times personal journey that I feel people can also relate to. It’s all in there somewhere and it’s all real. The songs that came through for my new record Somethin’ Good and the new music I’m continuing to write are pretty hopeful, fun, sexy songs, which was surprising me as I can’t say I was immune to feeling what the rest of the world has been feeling this past year. So much craziness going down, and yet I was not writing dark material at all. The songs that were coming through are fun and hopeful.  I’m inspired by it all, the good the bad the ugly, the days you don’t wanna get out of bed and the days you can’t wait to. It’s all in there, and all I can hope for is the music will feel good to my fans and inspire them.

As far as emotions go, is LOVE or HATE more inspiring?

Love in the face of hate is the most inspiring.

What painters/photographers/writers would you most want to talk to for 15 minutes?

Now I’m busted, I’m not particularly well read; I didn’t get to go to college and read the greats or study art history. I was auditioning for soap operas and singing my little butt off.  I do have a reverence for all of it including photography and I have a list of books I need to own that I know would change my life. It’s not really a direct answer to your question, but I would most love to chat for 15 minutes with some of my ancestors that have long passed. My grandmother had three sisters who were so much fun, apparently. They were quite naughty, clever, joyful, and interesting women that I would love to be in a room with them all. To know them, and also get to chat with my granddad who I never knew.

If you could write a hit song for someone else and get no credit, but have a successful hit, would you do it?

Yes, I would do it if it was going to be a huge hit with an artist. In that case, it wouldn’t matter if I wasn’t credited as a writer publicly, but professionally — as far as writers and publishing splits — I would have to be financially compensated. I don’t care so much about the public credit; it’s always appreciated and gives you credibility, but being paid for your work allows you the financial freedom to keep doing what you do creatively. I have given away publishing rights in order to get things recorded with producers that I couldn’t afford to hire, and also placed original songs for film and TV as a work for hire arrangement where they kept all the publishing but I kept writer’s. I’ve given songs to films that they said I could make back end money and never did. It’s all just stuff you have to feel out as you go and then live with those choices good or bad until the time comes when you are in a better position to negotiate. But just keep writing new songs, always keep writing and try to not give too much away if you can help it.

What do you think about pop stars who choreograph songs and then lip-sync during live performances?
My hat is off to the girls and boys that are bouncing around shaking and dancing and doing choreography, and singing live. It can be done, of course. Being in stellar shape is paramount to pull that kind of thing off. The public wants it all to sound perfect and just like the record, but may not realize, technically, what that takes. I think the public is mostly unaware of all the smoke and mirrors that can go into pulling of a huge live show. I’ve never lip-synced, but I’ve not done a huge stadium gig with dancers and all of that. I really like and respect that the fans want to know that you can really do what you say you can do and you are not a total sham artist pretending you can sing.

SAMANTHA NEWARK “The truly truly truly Outrageous voice of JEM”
BRAND NEW ALBUM COMING SOON!!!!!!

Visit www.SamanthaNewark.com for details!