Navigating The Music Industry & Creating Clear Boundaries with Sam Champagne

Sam Champagne sits down with us to pull back the curtain on her multifaceted career as a producer, sound engineer, singer, and songwriter. With disarming honesty, she reveals how her musical journey began at just 8 years old, experimenting with FL Studio on the family computer—a passion that would eventually become her calling.

The conversation takes fascinating turns as Sam discusses navigating the music industry as a dark-skinned woman in a field dominated by men. Rather than viewing this solely as a challenge, she explains how she strategically used digital platforms where her work could initially be judged purely on talent: "They'd all assume I'm a man... I didn't try to hide, it just doesn't matter. If you have the skill, it shouldn't matter." This refreshing perspective highlights her focus on craftsmanship above all else.

What truly sets this discussion apart is Sam's reflection on finding peace in an industry obsessed with manufactured excitement. "One thing I don't see these days is peace," she observes. "When the stage light is off, when you're by yourself—do you have the peace for your mind to not go a million miles a minute?" This wisdom extends to her approach to creativity, where she values authentic expression over chasing viral moments or fitting into prescribed boxes.

Sam also shares the story behind her new book "Collab Bro"—a resource for music-producing artists who struggle with collaboration or confidence in their creative process. The title playfully references the messages she'd receive from people assuming she was male, turning what could be frustrating into something empowering.

Whether you're an aspiring creative, music lover, or simply appreciate authentic conversations about navigating professional landscapes while staying true to yourself, this episode delivers insights that resonate far beyond the recording studio. Follow Sam @samchampagnenyc on social platforms to connect and explore her music on all streaming services.

Episode Transcript

Daijné (00:00):
Is this thing on?
Hello, hello, uh-oh, anotheryapper with a mic.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Napkin Inbetween
Podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones,and I am joined today by my

(00:21):
lovely friend, Sam Champagne.
Hey y'all, thanks for coming.
I'm so excited.
Of course, me too.
Okay, quick question that Ihave before we get into it Sam
Champagne, is that your realname or is that your stage name?
That's my real name.
I love that.
Thank you to my dad.
Like I love when people's namesare just like.
You could just tell like, oh,that like they're supposed to be

(00:42):
on the stage somewhere.
You know what I I mean, and youhave one of those names that's
like yeah, it's like it justsounds like an artist.
You know what I mean.

Sam (00:49):
I thank god that I didn't have to think about that when I
was just born with it right,just born with it.
I guess it was destined to beso.

Daijné (00:57):
We'll see, yeah okay, well, great, well.
Again, I want to say thank youfor coming.
I'm so excited to talk to youtoday, something that I always
do.
At the beginning of every oneof my episodes, I talk about the
peak of my week.
So it's just something thathappened during the week that
made me smile, that kept megrounded, because the way the
world is right now, girl, weneed that.
We need that For sure.
So I wanted to ask you what hasbeen the peak of your week?

Sam (01:20):
The peak of my week.
I have gotten into this newcareer part of my career.
It's a little bit differentthan music, but I've gotten into
it and I'm enjoying it.
So far, so that's been the peakof my week.
I've been meeting a lot of newpeople, nice, and I'm really
enjoying myself.
And it's happening throughoutthe week, so I got paid, of
course, always, always a nicelittle part.

Daijné (01:43):
So there you go, okay.
Always always a nice littleperk.
So there you go, okay, whatabout yours?
So the peak of my week, I found20 laying outside on the floor
the other day and I said money,you know what?
and the thing is, when I firstseen it I was like this is a
prank.
Like I've seen people likeliterally shit in money and
leave it somewhere so thatsomeone will pick it up.
And I said y'all not about toget me.

(02:04):
So I walked past it initiallyand I was on my way to like do
laundry.
So I was like, if it's stillthere when I get back from my
laundry, like maybe I'll checkit out, see what's going on with
it.
And when I came back it wasstill there.
So I looked at it and it lookedclean.
So I was like and I picked itup and it was.
It was just a nice little $20bill sitting there and I said
you know what blessings, yesbeautiful, oh my god.

Sam (02:28):
Yes, I'm not to be honest.
That is kind of impressivebecause I have not seen quarters
lately.

Daijné (02:34):
I've not seen dollars in this economy, no one's trying
to lose money.
So I was like sorry to whoeverlost this, but girl finders
keepers.
So, yeah, that was definitelythe peak of my week, wow, um,
okay.
So I'm gonna.
I've written down a fewquestions that I want to ask you
, beautiful, okay.

(02:56):
So number one let's just tell,tell us about you, like whatever
that means for you.

Sam (03:02):
Wow I don't want to lead too much so yeah, these
questions are all kind of broad.

Daijné (03:04):
I just want whatever that means for you.
Wow, I don't want to know toomuch.
So, yeah, these questions areall kind of broad.

Sam (03:06):
I just want whatever that means to you, just tell us, tell
us about you yeah, so my nameis sam champagne, as you guys
have heard already, a beautifulname blessed by my family.
Um, I am a multitude of things.
I really really loveengineering, I love singing,
songwriting, I'm into music andI also like run around the city,

(03:30):
new York City based, and I'vereleased a couple songs, and
there's so much I want to talkabout honestly and I'm excited
to share with all you guys.
It's just like where do I begin, right?
And also's just uh, I just wantto say it's like incredible
seeing how far this podcast iscoming, because I remember like

(03:51):
from day one, you're like, oh, Iget, what do I get?
I'm just like here you go andthen, like you just took that
and you ran with it and it'slike really cool to see thank
you, wait because I'm gonna cry.

Daijné (04:01):
Thank you so much.
No, I wanted to get into thatbecause when I was finally like
okay, I'm gonna start my podcast, I was obviously looking at
stuff and I had no idea what thehell I was doing.
So whenever I don't knowsomething, I go to Sam because
she is just she's a genius.
So I was like let me contactSam and like get some of your
recommendations and literallyeverything that you sent me.

(04:22):
It was like that's contact samand like get some of your
recommendations and literallyeverything that you sent me.
It was like that's what I gotfor the podcast.
So just wanted to say like Iwould not be here with this, all
of this equipment and thispodcast, if it wasn't for your
guidance.

Sam (04:36):
So thank you, thank you so much for that of course, and of
course I'm around anytime like,literally, even viewers watching
or listening in, like.
If you all need an engineerperson, hit me up Honestly
speaking of segues perfectlyinto my next question.

Daijné (04:53):
So for those of you who don't know, I have a diss track
out there in the world forstreaming.

Sam (04:58):
You should stream it, yes.

Daijné (04:59):
Because of Sam.
A little bit of the backstory.
When was it Like?
I think it was like April oflast year.
I had posted a video on TikTokand I was talking about the gay
son thought daughter debate andthis woman commented on my video
.
She didn't even comment, shestitched my video and she was
like oh, I can't understand whatyou're saying because of your

(05:20):
hair.
Mind you, I was wearing my 4CAfro, my my natural hair.
So if any of y'all have seen myvideos, which you have, you
know I am known for clappingback.
So I was like okay, I'mdefinitely clapping back at this
texturous, crazy ass bitch.
Um, so I went to her page andgathered some intel and I saw
that she was a rapper and I alsosaw that her kids got taken

(05:41):
away by CPS.
So I was like, oh, okay, yeah,we're definitely using that.
So I wrote a little, instead oflike my normal clapbacks of
just like talking at the camera,I was like she's a rapper, so
like I'm gonna write a disstrack.
So I wrote a little diss trackand put it online.
She kept getting it taken down.
Long story short, and so I waslike I want to put this on

(06:03):
streaming platforms and so thatyou know she can't mess with it
anymore.
And so I went online and I typedin New York City producers and
Sam popped up and so I DM'd herand I was like, hey, like I told
her the whole story andeverything, and so the reason I
have my diss track is allbecause of Sam, because she's
the she made the beat, she's thesound engineer, the producer,

(06:24):
like everything from sam.
Um, so I just wanted to ask you, like if you remember because
it's been a little bit of timenow when you saw my dm, like
what was like your thoughtsbehind it, like what?
Like what were your?
What went through your mind?
I remember?

Sam (06:41):
that time perfectly well, because, like it was just so, um
, at the time I wasn't getting alot of DMs.
So when the when the DMsstarted to come, I was kind of
consistently posting at thattime like me, just like making
beats on TikTok or whatever.
And I saw your DM and I waslike oh, oh, that's interesting.
And then you start to tell memore of the story and I was like

(07:03):
yeah, yeah, I'll put, I'll putmy dog in this race.
I like this, I love it.
I was like I'm here for this,okay.
So then you sent me over thetrack and I heard it and I was
like, yeah, I could.

Daijné (07:15):
There's light work, right yeah, do something for you
, so no sweat absence so westarted collaborating and that
was it's just been fun, yeah,literally yeah, it's been great
for me too, because going intoit, I did not know like anything
about music other thanlistening to other people's
music, and so when it came tolike the b and the engineering,

(07:38):
all of that, I was like I haveno idea what I'm doing and you
were just great with that, likeexplaining everything to me and
helping me along the way, andthe thing that I liked about you
so much is that you explainedit to me but you didn't
mansplain it to me.
I hate for someone to mansplainsomething to me and you just
like you, were great atexplaining it.

Sam (07:57):
If there's one thing I know about being in the engineering
audio engineering industry ismansplaining.
Yeah girl, Lots of mansplaining, yeah girl, Lots of
mansplaining.
You know what?

Daijné (08:05):
I know that.
I know that.
So, oh my God, you're just likeleading, like mind you.
We haven't gone over any ofthese questions.
She just keeps segwaying intomy next question.
So my next question what gotyou into sound engineering and
producing and different thingslike that?

Sam (08:21):
Let me see when it came to engineering and production.
I would say my older brothers,they kind of like had a program
on their the family computerwhen I was like eight or seven.
It was called FL Studio, Stillout to this day.
A lot of producers use it.
A lot of producers make bighits on it.
Yeah, but at the time it wascalled like Fruity Loops and I
would just go on there and Iwould just mess around, Did not

(08:42):
know what I was doing, but Ihonestly always loved music and
I guess I always loved musicproduction because I got to make
stuff and build stuff.
Yeah, Because you know as a kidyou like to mess around and
build things.
Right, right.
It just so happened that I hadthe grace to have a program like
that on my computer that youngand I started messing around
with it and I just startedproducing some stuff and making

(09:06):
stuff and it just kind of it wassomething that I did when I got
home after school.

Daijné (09:11):
OK, to decompress Nice.

Sam (09:12):
And it wasn't like I was intending to become something
with it, but it was justsomething fun for me to do, like
, oh, I could like replicatethis beat.
I could do that.
I can make my own piano song.

Daijné (09:23):
Yeah, so I kind of did that and that I feel like that
shows so much in your music,because Sam also has music which
you all should be listening to,but you can just tell that
you're passionate about it and,like your music is very like it.
It doesn't feel like forced.
Do you know what I mean?
Like I feel like with somecreatives and artists, they they
want it, but they don't want itfor necessarily all the right

(09:44):
reasons, and you're just verypassionate about it and it's
something that you genuinelywant to be doing.
Yeah, and I feel like thatshows in your music most
definitely.

Sam (09:51):
I honestly say, like, even if I'm taking a break from music
, it's always something that Icould use to decompress and just
release, like creativity right,always.
Like the skills haven't left me, they won't leave me, um, and
it's just something that I canuse to like oh, I'm bored, let
me just put something togetheryeah or like I'm a little bit
upset, let me just rattle yeah,yeah and it's just it's.

(10:15):
It's beautiful in that way and Ithink, um, especially when we,
when I don't try and make acareer out of it, when I don't
try and force myself to becomesomething out of it right that I
don't try and force myself tobecome something out of it,
that's when it becomes likeeasier and like way more
enjoyable.

Daijné (10:29):
Yeah, so, yeah, yeah.
And again, that that definitelyreflect reflects in your music
for sure.
So growing up, was your, wereyour brothers into like music
too, like was it a family affairor like why did they have the
program?
Was it also music, or was itmusic for you and something
different for them?

Sam (10:46):
I don't remember the exact story, but I think it was my
eldest brother and his bestfriend at the time and they were
looking into production.
So they downloaded Fruity Loopson the computer and it just
kind of stuck with him and myeldest brother.
And my younger who's still myolder brother.

Daijné (11:01):
Yeah.

Sam (11:01):
My second brother.
He got into it.
Okay, who's still my olderbrother?
Yeah, my second brother, he gotinto it, okay.
And then like he kind of ranwith it pretty far, nice, and
then I was just like peekingover their shoulder right both
of them right, what is that?
so then it kind of like trickleddown to me, okay, stuck with me
, but music always like kind ofwas in the family as well.
So my dad plays bass, oh, okay,like he's always playing to

(11:22):
like reggae music nightly.
He's so good with that.
He was a session bassist injamaica.
He um would play shows injamaica and it was just
something that we carried fromus in our heritage.
Nice and like even likeextended family are really into
music, right.
So just, if not production, itwould have been something music
related right yeah got it, yeah,so that's how that kind of came

(11:45):
to be, I believe.

Daijné (11:47):
Okay, and have you guys?
Do you guys have any songstogether, like you and your dad,
you and your brothers, anythinglike that?
We make our stuff together.

Sam (11:54):
Nice, I can't say that we have anything out together but
we do make our stuff together.

Daijné (11:58):
That's fun.
Yeah, I like a family thingthat just kind of like connects
you.
Yeah, that's so cool.
Yeah, I love that.
Okay, so being as though youknow you're in the music
industry, dark-skinned woman,and also you're genre fluid, I
almost said gender fluid, no, sowhat's funny is that you saw
that description in my Spotify.

(12:20):
Yes.

Sam (12:21):
And you were like oh wait oh, no, girl, I was panicking.

Daijné (12:26):
so Sam and I had been friends for a while and I was
listening to her music onSpotify and I saw like her music
description and I thought itsaid gender fluid and I
literally I was like I have beenmisgendering Sam since I I've
known her, so I I felt terrible,so I texted Sam and I was like

(12:47):
I'm so sorry, like what are yourpreferred pronouns?

Sam (12:49):
and she was like girl, it says genre fluid honestly
speaking, that just shows howconsiderate of a person you are.
Cause like.

Daijné (12:56):
I literally I was like oh my god, and she was like girl
.

Sam (13:00):
I was like she's so sweet she's so sweet.
I appreciate that that youasked um.
But yeah, genre fluid.

Daijné (13:07):
Genre fluid.
So being as though you're genrefluid and you're a woman and
you're a dark skinned woman.
What's your experience beenlike in the music industry with
all of that?
Because your music doesn't fitinto the stereotypical box that
I feel like is set up for blackwomen in the industry.
So what's your experience beenlike so?

Sam (13:26):
okay, I would say that I'm really blessed to be born in
this era, for this specificreason that we have the
technology, because I we'vetalked about this before, but I
can kind of circumvent it alittle bit, because the internet
is like you don't see anyone'sface, and so for a minute a
while whenever I would get dmsfor collabs, like they would all

(13:47):
assume that I'm a man right andI'm like sorry, yeah, yeah, I
was like yeah sure, but likethey'd be like, oh yeah, collab
bro, like all right, yeah bro,yeah bro.
But like that's kind of like howI was able to like circumvent
that as a producer, because Idid notice after a while,

(14:07):
especially during the pandemic,I did notice there was a
difference in the way peoplewould treat me in person versus
online and actually I was ableto find my community, production
community because of online andthat kind of made me more happy
than it did like upset me.
Yes, I'm aware of mycircumstance, but at the same

(14:29):
time, I'm aware of like thetools I have in front of me
absolutely and I love usingthose to my advantage because,
like everyone uses- as youshould yeah, I will use mine to
my advantage, as you should.
I became a part of thiscommunity.
I got into contact with likeamazing people in the industry,
like people I didn't even thinkthat I like would like be
friends with, right, yeah, um,shout out ken lewis.

(14:53):
Um, so little thing about him.

Daijné (14:56):
He has like a hundred gold records oh, wow, okay, like
taylor swift doing his big one,yeah he just got a grammy and
he got has like two Grammys nowor one Grammy.

Sam (15:07):
But yeah, it was through online that I was able to foster
that relationship.
Okay, he was able to see me formy skill Right Rather than like
me or him being reallycognizant of what I look like
what you look like yeah, andthat was a huge blessing.
Like I know, with covid, a lotof things like hit the fan right
yeah, there's some like there'ssome.

(15:28):
Yeah, I really liked that okay,um, but yeah, building my
community.
But even in person I foundacceptance through like people
who are like me and like incommunities of diversity.
That kind of made it a littlebit easier in the grand scheme
of things.
Yeah, my biggest and my likeclosest community to my heart

(15:50):
that I still go to is my vocalclass.
I would say, okay, Also, shoutout Craig Derry.
He's like family to me at thispoint.
He just kind of would like takeus all under his wing and like
really care about us and likeshow us performance, yeah, to
sing.
So, apart from production andengineering, like he would help

(16:12):
with, uh, performing and likehelp me become like the singer
performer I wanted to be okayand um, definitely very
interesting, um, but overalljust so supportive, yeah, just
so loving, so thank god.
Yeah, it could have been worse.
Right, it like things alwayscould be worse, but they weren't

(16:33):
and I'm glad I was born at thistime glad I was able to
experience these things, yeahyeah, of course.

Daijné (16:39):
So when you were like presenting yourself like your
online self, did you do thatintentionally or did you just
kind of see like when you wereonline versus when you were in
person, you were receiveddifferent, and so then you kind
of leaned more into that Likewhich came first?

Sam (16:53):
Um, I would say, like I kind of perceived it um that I
was being perceived differentlyonline and it wasn't like I was
trying to like hide, right, Ifeel like it just doesn't matter
yeah, no, it shouldn't matter.

Daijné (17:08):
It shouldn't matter like it should just be your skill
set.

Sam (17:11):
Yeah, if you have the skill it, it don't matter just bring
good music, for sure um, so Iwasn't really trying to like
circumvent it.

Daijné (17:20):
It just so happened to be that way, yeah and but what I
did?
Realize it, I was like, okay,I'm gonna use it as you should,
absolutely yeah and yeah, I justyou did what you had to do, did
what I did do what anybody elsewould do.

Sam (17:36):
Yeah, sir, like they just produced music.

Daijné (17:38):
Yeah, okay, cool.
I was just curious, not like I.
Like I said, I feel know, useyour, use any advantage that you
can, but I was just curiouswhich one came first.

Sam (17:47):
I will say, though, like um , I do realize that, as a black
woman, and me being aware that Iam a black woman, yeah.
There's also a part of it whereI'm also coloring my own
experience by that.

Daijné (17:58):
Yeah.

Sam (17:58):
Yeah, so it's like and I'm I'm taking ownership for that
now, because the beautiful thingabout being online is that
that's completely removed and Icould be whoever I want to be.
Yeah, but when I go into a room, I'm now realizing how much of
it is, how much they perceive meas a black woman and how much I
perceive myself through thatlens as well.
Yeah, if that makes any sense.
So not to say that it could notbe equal parts.

(18:20):
Maybe it's equal part, but atthe same time now I'm like
realizing I can carry myselfeven more confidently yeah.
Regardless of what, how theyperceive me Right, I know I got
the skill.

Daijné (18:30):
You know who you are, I know who I am, and that's all
that matters, for sure.

Sam (18:33):
And that's like one of the biggest gifts that the pandemic
has given me, is like just skillthat god gave you the skill to
be able to put out good musicand if they, don't receive it,
dust off your shoes and walk tothe next right, they're not the
people that you should be around, anyway, exactly, exactly.

Daijné (18:50):
So, yeah, okay, I love that.
I love that, okay.
My next question is what's beenyour most fulfilling experience
so far in the music industryand what are some things that
you would like to achieve?
Wow, okay, most fulfillingexperience um, and that can be
like personal fulfillment,professional fulfillment, like
any sort of fulfillment?

Sam (19:10):
um, yeah, it's, it's an ongoing process of growth.
Yeah, for sure, for sure, um, Iwill say.
Then the thing that has reallyfulfilled me was being a part of
the vocal class and being withunder craig darian and his
tutelage, because he taught notonly just like the ins and outs
of like vocal performance, butjust like like spiritually.

(19:31):
He really helped and just likemaintained us in like faith, and
that really helps a lot because, the industry not only is
changing a lot, yeah you'redon't have time to rest and you
always have to like, oh my god,what I gotta do now, what I
gotta do this?
yeah, we all know how infamousthe industry is and now the

(19:52):
terrible stuff that goes behindclosed doors.
That's now coming to light rightin recent years.
Yeah, um, but that part of likespiritual fulfillment and faith
is really needed, especially inan industry that can really
like disrupt your psyche yeah, alot.
And through that I kind of likehad a lot of fulfillment

(20:13):
personally, because it's reallyled me to reconnect with my
faith, okay, and just reallyhave God in my life as like a
stronghold so that, no matterwhat room I walk in, no matter
what deals in front of me, ifit's not for me, I have the
discernment to be like no thisisn't for me.
Yeah, I don't want like itdoesn't matter how much money
you're giving me.
Yeah, your morals are yourmorals are more important.

(20:35):
It doesn't matter who's at theparty, who's at the studio.

Daijné (20:39):
Yeah, I'm not going.

Sam (20:46):
Right, it's not a good place to be.
Yeah, so that has been the mostfulfilling part of it all just
gaining the faith to carrymyself through that and,
honestly speaking, um, right nowI'm in like a season of
learning peace yeah because,like I'm not sure if you noticed
it, but like in in tiktok, likeevery other person's trying to
make their song go viral, everyother person's trying to make
their song go viral.
Yeah, the other person's yeah,and it's a lot it's ever
changing and it's easy to findways of excitement, yeah, but to

(21:09):
find, like you can look at alot of artists interviews, like
even big artists, like all theway at the top from the weekend
and I don't know, like whoeveryou could think, right, you can
look at their interviews.
They can manufacture excitementthey are excited.
Things are always happening,big things are always happening.
But one thing I don't see a lotof the times these days is peace

(21:32):
like no one talks about peacejust being at peace, just being
at peace, like when the curtainis down, when the stage light is
off, when you're by yourself.
Do you have the peace for yourmind to not go a million miles a
minute?
Right, yeah, a lot of us, a lotof them don't a lot.
I didn't have it for a while,yeah, that was like a new
revelation to me, like recently,and so, like um back to the

(21:57):
earlier question of like, oh, mymusic comes out really organic.
That's one thing I've reallybeen taking into account.
Not producing to try and likemanufacture excitement or like
yeah like try and quell myanxieties.
Like oh my gosh, what if Idon't become like?
famous or anything, yeah we know, like especially that dochi

(22:18):
song going around yeah, I lovedochi.
Yeah, I don't know aboutsinging about anxiety, I'm sorry
, oh I love, I love her.
But like, after a certain whileit becomes like a mantra in
your life to be saying that I'mlike.

Daijné (22:32):
I like the song I can't be listening to it, yeah, bad,
see, I see, and I feel likethat's such an interesting thing
about, um, music is likeeveryone has their own
interpretation of it.
Yeah, and I feel like it's kindof.
I love the song because Istruggle a lot with anxiety.
Yeah, and the song to me, likewith all, like the overlapping
voices and stuff, it's like amusical representation of what

(22:52):
my anxiety feels like, and sowhen I listen to it, I focus on
one voice at a time and like,when I am going through anxiety,
that's what I have to do, yes,and so it helps me, like,
remember to do that in real lifesituations.
Does that make sense?
So, but I can also understand.
The other interpretation islike you're kind of speaking
things into existence as wellyeah, yeah, yeah, you're kind of

(23:15):
like focusing, yeah, existenceas well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah You're kind oflike focusing on it.

Sam (23:18):
And, honestly speaking, that perspective, the reason why
I think it's so popular thatsong is because it's showing the
state of the world right nowyeah.
And like everyone's feeling ityeah.
So when the song blew up, itblew up at the time it did
because everyone's feeling it.

Daijné (23:31):
Everyone's feeling anxiety right now.
Everyone's feeling anxietyright now.

Sam (23:33):
Everyone's feeling it right now.
Yeah, and I don't blame them?

Daijné (23:35):
I really don't.

Sam (23:36):
And it's just I know that I also, like, had struggled with
it for some time Mm-hmm.
So like it's a relatable song.
But because it's relatable,everyone has different reactions
to it.
Right, like you love it becauseit's like relatable I'm like
it's too close to home.

Daijné (23:52):
Yeah, I yeah, I understand.
No, I told and that's totallyokay.
Yeah, yeah, so that makesabsolute sense to me too.
Second part of the questionwhat's something like you hope
to achieve um, something I hopeto achieve.

Sam (24:04):
Um, another body of work would be nice.
I'm I'm currently working onanother.
Well, I'm always like writingstuff yeah stuff.
I always enjoy it.
Yeah, I would like to doanother body of work and um,
like an album.
Yeah, like an album.
Okay, um, I'm working with alot more natural sounding
instruments so instead of like808s and like process kicks.

(24:27):
Um, I'm trying to like use morelike sampled uh drum, like live
acoustic drums and stuff.
I like to change my sound alittle bit.
I'm liking a lot of rock stuffright now, but we're going to
see how that pans out.

Daijné (24:41):
Yeah, how that pans out.

Sam (24:43):
How it naturally comes about.
I'm not too troubled if I don'tget that exact achievement, but
it's like something that I liketo do, like to accomplish.

Daijné (24:53):
And I think that, again to the, the um organicness of
your music is like you, youdon't force yourself, you're.
You're doing it because youlike to do it, and if it doesn't
work, it doesn't work, we trysomething else, and if it does
like that's cool too.
So, yeah, I think that thathelps your music just sound very
organic and again speaks to the, the passion that's in your

(25:14):
music.
Thank you, I agree.
Yeah, of course, speaking ofyour music, um, what has been
your favorite song that you'vecreated, and also your least
favorite, if you?

Sam (25:25):
have.
Okay, oh, interesting.
Yeah, let me see my favoritesong that I've created like
fully created, like my song, orcan it be like something I
contributed to?
Also something, yeah somethingyou contributed to also so I
will talk about the story tillthe cows come home.
I love the song.

(25:46):
It's called crazy, and rightnow it's out under um my friend
whose name is amber lee.
She's a phenomenal singer okay,I gotta love her.
Um the song's called crazy byamber lee, and I actually wrote
that song.
Oh and um, I think it was likea little bit into the pandemic.
Um mike shinoda from lincolnpark, the amazing rock group wow

(26:09):
, all come to know.
Love, yes, I guess he was justlike he's a insanely creative
guy first of all like this guyjust does not stop creating and
I think that's one of the waysthat he like coped with the
pandemic.
Yeah, like he just kept drawingand writing and producing, like
this guy's creative out thewazoo, so you could see why
lincoln park is as prolific asthey are, yeah, um.

(26:31):
So he was like, oh, I'm justgonna produce fan written songs,
yeah.
And I was like I have this songsitting around.

Daijné (26:37):
Let me just submit it to him, right?

Sam (26:39):
Let's see what happens, yeah, and I posted it on
Instagram.
It got a lot of likes, but hedidn't see it there.
So then I posted it on Twitter.
It got damn near no likes, buthe saw it.

Daijné (26:49):
Isn't that crazy how that works.

Sam (26:58):
That's works.
That's so crazy.
Like okay, you said period, sohe he was like, okay, I would
love to produce the song and hedid.
And like I got my friend tosing it because I wasn't as
confident as a singer at thatpoint gotcha, but I was like
I'll have her sing it and like,honestly, I just I just adore
that whole, how it came to be itwas.

Daijné (27:10):
I love that.
Yeah, it was so fun, that's socool, um and least favorite song
.

Sam (27:16):
That's a more interesting question yeah, let me see, let
me see, um, um, let me be, letme be totally honest.
There's always something likeabout each one of my songs.
I would say, okay, alwayssomething I like about each one
of my songs.
It's kind of hard for me to.
I'm also trying to like gothrough my discovery.
Yeah, and the thing about it isthat I always remember my

(27:37):
favorites yeah always rememberyeah I won't say I won't say I
don't dislike the song.
I won't say that I adore thissong.
So many people adore this song,um, and it's actually one of my
most streamed songs yeah uh,it's actually also one of my
most vulnerable songs, yeah, butthe reason I want to say this
song in particular is justbecause my voice has changed so

(27:58):
much and I think I was trying togo for this effect of like
being this beyonce like whitney.
Yeah, yeah, and I guess it doessound good, but I'm just like I
don't know if I'm like that's avocalist.

Daijné (28:12):
Okay, it's called winter flower, no sam I, I will not
accept any winter flower slander.

Sam (28:21):
No, no okay, I adore the song.
I think it was written to thenines.
It's just the performance.
I've grown okay that's fair.
That's not fair, that's why I'mlike maybe it was the wrong
song to pick up for like least,but I'm just saying like it's
just, you're not that personanymore.

(28:42):
Yeah, if I could redo theperformance, I would I I would
perform it definitelydifferently now yeah it's just
interesting to hear how my voicehas changed has changed, yeah
okay, but let me, let me see ifthere's actually no, but that
makes sense.

Daijné (29:00):
I I understand, like, obviously, again, I just keep
saying this.
But you, I can tell that youput a lot of time and effort
into your songs and a lot ofpassion.
So I figured that that questionwould be a little bit like you
know, like trip you up a littlebit.
Yeah, um, that's the reason Iasked it I actually like that.

Sam (29:17):
I was like, oh yeah, least favorite.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do haveit, but like there's always
something to enjoy about everysingle one of my songs yeah,
even if it's like, notsubjectively the best song in my
opinion yeah, I'm like I putthis out because I really like
this part right, I really likehigh performance, right right so
I always enjoy something aboutmy songs I think, that's just.

Daijné (29:36):
I'm blessed to enjoy it yeah, and that's that's the
beauty of of being a creative isyou enjoying your own work?
That's like the most importantthing I feel like in in my
creative journey and anyone'screative journey is just
enjoying what you put out like.
No one likes my videos morethan I do.
I promise I am my biggest fanand I feel like that's so
important with being a creativeis just doing what you like.

(29:58):
Yes, and then that also, like Ifeel like that helps with your
um, your authenticity, and Ifeel like a lot of people are
searching for people who arejust genuinely authentic,
because there are a lot ofpeople who are posing and not
who they are in real life yeah,out there, and so I love, I love
when people are just themselvesand you can also just tell when
you can tell like people theydon't like their own music.

(30:19):
Yes, you can tell their ownstuff.

Sam (30:20):
You can tell it's just like well, what are you doing?
Like, why would you do thatthing?
Yeah, you're not enjoying it.
Why am I supposed to expect youto enjoy it like?

Daijné (30:29):
questions that need answers.

Sam (30:30):
If you don't even like it, what you want me to like for,
you know like girl exactly, soyeah, okay, oh my gosh, I was
not expecting that reaction oofyeah, I don't.

Daijné (30:41):
I don't enjoy that slander.

Sam (30:43):
Hmm, stream went to flower, y'all no, literally.

Daijné (30:47):
And also my other favorite song, and it's also the
intro and outro music wg wg tow.
Yes, what does that stand for?
It's a short story, because I'mlike it's not, I don't.
I've been trying ever since Ifirst heard the song.
I'm like where is that in thesong?
So I'm glad that I said that,because I wanted to ask you that
.
Okay, so you get to hear thestory of wg tow.

Sam (31:09):
Yes, um, I was chronically online okay, sorry, I was
chronically online.

Daijné (31:15):
God forbid a woman have hogs.

Sam (31:19):
But yeah, I was just looking at all these.
You know the red pill was superup there at the time yeah, and
I was just like hate watching alot of these things.
First of all, that's never ahealthy thing to do right, I was
like rotting my brain yeah,stupid takes.
But I was just, uh, so there'ssomething in the red pill.

(31:40):
It was really small, it wascalled men going their own way,
so mgtow, oh.
And I was like, oh, we're justgonna go and do our own thing.

Daijné (31:49):
I'm like, please do like , please don't.

Sam (31:51):
Don't threaten me with a good time, like, please, please
and then so like I kind of justthere's an even smaller group of
women who are kind of like thattoo, which is like kind of
fascinating to me.
But, um, I kind of just flippedthe m to a w and I'm and that's
kind of what the song is about.
Like, um, why do you alwaystreat me like I'm nothing?

(32:13):
Might as well just go your ownway like.

Daijné (32:15):
That is my favorite line of that whole song.
I'm so happy you said that Likewhy you always treat me like
I'm nothing, when you didn'tneed to come my way.
You didn't need to.
You could have left me alone.
Like, please.
So literally.

Sam (32:27):
That's what it's about.

Daijné (32:29):
I'm like y'all, you could just go in peace if you
don't want to be around womenlike please kindly exit stage
left, let go yeah and it's just.

Sam (32:40):
It was a fun process making that that production came
together so well.
Yeah, um, the lyrics cametogether, so I it was just a
yeah blessed with it.

Daijné (32:50):
I guess, yeah, one of my favorites too.
Also, love that song, love thatone, okay.
Next question what's the bestpiece of advice you've ever
gotten?
The worst piece of advice andthe craziest piece of advice
best piece of advice I've evergotten.

Sam (33:03):
I will say one piece of advice that um well advice, but
just kind of like reading, uhthat I've picked up it from the
word.
Um, so I won't say someone haslike told me this advice yeah
but like I've learned it throughscripture, yeah, is that just

(33:24):
god always got me.
He will always provide.
So there's no reason for me tobe like desperate for anything.
Yeah, like doesn't matter.
Like if it's a lucrative deal,it doesn't matter if someone's
like oh yeah, I want to workwith you and we got this big
placement, that's going to go to.

Daijné (33:40):
I'm like all right, cool .

Sam (33:41):
Like I just I don't.
It sounds bad, but I don't takeit as seriously because it's
like I used to.
At the beginning.
I'm like, oh my God, I got tohurry up, get this big placement
, got to do this gotta do that,Um, and it's it kind of induced
a lot of anxiety.
I was like, oh my gosh if Imiss this?

Daijné (34:01):
this is it.
The boat has passed.
I'm never gonna.

Sam (34:03):
but that's not true, Like if, if you're given the grace to
do something, God will make ithappen.
And not to get nervous aboutsome person in the way of your
success.
No person's in the way of yoursuccess.
No one is.
You just have to have the faithto believe that that is
something for you.
And it might not look like whatyou think it's going to look

(34:25):
like yeah.
But that doesn't mean it's notgoing to like happen for you,
happen for you, so like that'ssomething that has been like a
part of my spirit lately andit's in my heart and that's like
what I've been going off of.
So I don't like feel like Ihave to, like you know, post a
million.

Daijné (34:42):
Yeah.

Sam (34:43):
Short today, a million.
You know, overrun yourself,overrun myself thinking I'll
never make like no, yeah, worstpiece of advice I've ever gotten
.
Hmm, there's a ton like there'sa ton of bad advice out there.

Daijné (34:59):
Oh, I just feel like so many people just use their free
will all the time and love thatfor you sometimes, but sometimes
like you shouldn't use yourfree will yeah, like do that
please yeah please don't oh oh,I would say this is advice that
I've heard for years.

Sam (35:15):
um, and it kind of stunted me a little bit be original and
then know how it sounds at first, like of course you want to be
your own self and find your ownvoice.
Right, but the thing is, whenyou're coming into a new
industry, there are people foryou to learn from.
Right, and there's especially ifyou're going into the space of
rock music, you want to learnfrom the people who came before

(35:37):
you Absolutely and like peoplewho who have learned about the
art form Dance, music you wantto learn from people, you want
to study how they have donestuff so you can see why it is.
You enjoy what they do Right,and then you can use that and
adapt that to yourself and thenlike have it be your own thing.
It's not the best piece ofadvice because it kind of kind

(35:58):
of like puts the pressure on theartist to come up with
something totally unique andlike totally new.
Nothing's new under the sunright, we all using the same 12
notes and if you use somethingother than that, there's
probably a chance it doesn'tsound all the way yeah oh, truth
be told, like you could be asunique as you want.

Daijné (36:16):
If it don't sound good, it doesn't sound right like okay
, cool, this is unique anddifferent.
But yeah, you know, it's goodfor you, right like?
We love that.
That's really nice honey, solike yeah, it's.

Sam (36:29):
It's always good to learn from the people who have come
before you, and then it's theamalgamation of learning from so
many people yeah, that thenbecomes like who you are right.
So, even though we can alwaystie back like an artist from
today to someone that camebefore oh oh, she sounds like
this, oh, she reminds me of thatyeah, at the end of the day

(36:50):
they're still an individual andyou can see like, oh yeah, they
have their own thing going onregardless, right, and that's
kind of what I wish I would haveknown from the beginning from
the beginning, because here I'mlike oh my god, I gotta come up
with my own image, my own stuff.
Yeah, it's like I did not know Iwas not learning from people
who came before me.
Yeah, I did not know what I wasdoing.

(37:11):
I needed that guidance, right,and I just needed to like study
and then see what I liked andthen adapt that to myself, right
.

Daijné (37:18):
So yeah, so kind of piggybacking off that before we
get to the third part of thequestion who are some of the
biggest people that you'vepulled inspiration from, whether
it be singing, songwriting,production?

Sam (37:29):
So I really, really love Banks.
I love Banks, Banks, fka, twigs.
I love her, tezza Talks she'scoming up.
She's severely underrated.
I love her, tezza Talks, she'scoming up she's severely
underrated.
I love her.
Who else?
Who else?
And in terms of like myinspirations, right now that I'm

(37:51):
pulling from, I really like I'mstreaming a lot of Bad Omens,
if anyone knows.
Like Max Space, I really likeBad Omens.

Daijné (37:59):
And oh, of course, rihanna of always one million
percent like she's the blueprintfor me.

Sam (38:05):
Yeah, like a lot of people are like, oh my gosh, you remind
me of like rihanna.
I'm like, oh, please, yes, likeliterally, even though she is
not releasing as much now, yeah,if you go through her catalog,
she's really hit every singletime.
Yeah, she's done rock.
She is not releasing as muchnow.
Yeah, if you go through hercatalog, she's really hit every
single yeah, she's done rock?
She's not abm.

Daijné (38:24):
She's.
Yeah, she really has.
Now that I'm like thinkingabout it yeah, I never really
like thought about it so much,but anti was, I think, the most
r&b she got.

Sam (38:33):
Yeah, because before that she was doing a song called what
, which was like a rock ballad,and she was doing what was it?
I think it was.
Was it with David Guetta?

Daijné (38:45):
She had a whole EDM thing.

Sam (38:46):
She was like the princess of EDM when it came out.

Daijné (38:49):
She had a whole summer with that.

Sam (38:50):
So, in terms of genre fluid .
I want to be like that.

Daijné (38:56):
Yeah, that makes sense.

Sam (38:57):
She was just.
She came out doing like, uh,dance hall music and she went to
edm and pop and I love all that.
Yeah, that's who I'm learningfrom too a lot, and just so many
artists inspire me, so I lovethat.

Daijné (39:13):
I love that.
I love like when, when artistsare are genre fluid because,
yeah, genres are a funny littleconcept, aren't they?
So I love.
I love when people just don'tlike they break out of the boxes
that whatever like industry orworkplace they're in, I love
when they break out of thoseboxes and be like no, fuck your
rules, I'm not doing that, andit's becoming crazier these days

(39:34):
yeah like you're hearing genresthat don't even sound like they
go together right and then put,and then you put it together.

Sam (39:38):
It's like oh, that's interesting, Right, yeah.

Daijné (39:41):
It's kind of I don't like this.
Yeah, the flaps, I love that.
Okay, okay, so craziest pieceof advice you've ever received.

Sam (39:50):
Craziest piece of advice.
Well, I am a woman, so oh boy.

Daijné (39:57):
I'm already sick.

Sam (40:05):
I know a man did it.
I know a man did it, but always, like just you know, trying to,
it's not from a specific person, like literally right now.
When I'm pulling these examples,it's like over time yeah of
course, um, but just trying tobe more sexy, or like post
afforded image and it's like Idon't say it's like the craziest
because, unfortunately, Iunderstand where the sentiment's

(40:26):
coming from.
Yeah, like it sells, it reallydoes.
Yeah, unfortunately,unfortunately, so unfortunate,
but it's just right now.
That's like the one that'scoming out of my head.

Daijné (40:36):
Yeah, Like the craziest piece of advice.

Sam (40:38):
It's crazy to me because I'm like, if I'm blessed to have
this skill and to put forththis skill, why does it matter?

Daijné (40:47):
It shouldn't, it should not matter.
And yeah, that is definitely acrazy piece of advice because,
again, it shouldn't matter.
It shouldn't matter, youshouldn't have to, your physical
shouldn't matter more than youractual skill set Exactly,
exactly, exactly, yeah, oh mygosh.

Sam (41:03):
As soon as I end this example, I'm like oh, there's
another.
I won't, I won't say it's thecraziest piece of advice, but I
think it's definitely somethingthat's prevalent in today's
culture, especially in new yorkcity yeah, working yourself to
the bone.
Oh, like this, this workaholismculture, it's crazy, it's not
healthy, and I've had to learnfirsthand that working super,

(41:26):
duper hard on paper and in frontof people looks, looks nice.
It's like, oh my gosh, she'ssuch a hard worker, You're such
a oh my God, it's definitelygoing to happen to you because
you work so hard.

Daijné (41:36):
Yeah.

Sam (41:38):
But it's not healthy.
You work so hard, yeah, um, butit's not healthy, it's it.
It can kind of jade you alittle bit because it's like if
something doesn't happen on yourschedule, on your time, it's
like I'm putting in all thiswork why is it happening?
Yeah, and it can like reallymake it feel like, um, it can
really harden your heart to likebeing a creative yeah it and

(41:58):
it's just it's not healthy.
It's not just creatives, butlike anyone in general, yeah, I
agree, anyone doing anything inany career, if you're constantly
working hard, expecting aresult and it's not coming about
, like you just have, it's notthat you don't deserve something
.
Perhaps, if you got it, it'sprobably the most detrimental

(42:20):
thing that could happen to you.
Yeah, so you're missing it fora reason, right?
Um, and perhaps if you'reworking it this hard, what I
realized, if is, if I work hardto get something, I probably
have to keep working that hardto keep it.
Yeah, that's not healthy.

Daijné (42:35):
It's not healthy yeah.

Sam (42:36):
So I'm just like that's not a good piece of advice, because
sometimes you just got to sitback and have the grace to have
things come to you right and tojust receive them, yeah, and
realize that there's so manypeople in this world who have
just received things and itseems like they don't deserve it
yeah, and it can seem unfairyeah but it's.
It's like if you allow thingsto happen like that for you, it

(42:59):
can happen it can happen.
Yeah, yeah, so it's not.
There's no need to be jadedlike.
Everyone gets their blessing indue time right yeah, don't burn
yourself out.

Daijné (43:08):
Yeah, and I feel like that happens a lot because, like
, especially in this likeworkaholic culture that we're in
, a lot of people want likequick results exactly, and it's
like the thing like it's gonnatake time, like you have to put
in work to put to um, get tolike your goals or whatever.
You know what I mean.
So and I feel like a lot ofpeople are like okay, I put this
thing out, like where's my um?

(43:29):
Yeah, where's my profit orwhatever morality?

Sam (43:32):
yeah, it's my like going like getting millions and
billions of streams, yeah, andit's like, okay, see that you're
working hard.
But also, maybe the wholeprocess wasn't just about you
putting in the work to make theproduct happen yeah, maybe it
was about working it in you yeah, maybe this version of you is
not supposed to have it.

Daijné (43:52):
Right, wait, I love that , keep going.

Sam (43:55):
And the version of you that's supposed to have it will
come about.

Daijné (43:57):
It'll yeah, just be patient, don't bring yourself
out.
Be, you know, consistent andsustaining, but don't bring
yourself out because you know,right, of course, absolutely, I
love that Delayed gratification.
That's what I was trying to say.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Delayed gratification is likepeople don't like that.
They want the gratificationimmediately.
Yeah, no, not healthy, okay, um, just a few more questions.

Sam (44:19):
Sorry, I'm like talking to your ear off okay.

Daijné (44:23):
So who is your dream music collab like artist
producer?
Do you have any like?

Sam (44:29):
um, I will say I I look you suck at collaboration.

Daijné (44:36):
I'll go hold you, I get.
I thought we had greatexperience, see, never mind
shining view.

Sam (44:42):
Take that back, retract that.
But um yeah, no, I think it'san inner feeling.
That's not true.
I feel like I suck atcollaborations, um so like when
I get in the room I always getnervous, or when I'm saying
something I always feel like I'mnervous, right, right, but um,
moving forward.
In the future, my dreamcollaboration would be going

(45:02):
back to the rock band bad omens,their lead singer, and I think
it's so like, indicative of thetimes their lead singer is also
pretty much their lead produceryeah, like he produces a lot of
their stuff.
It's so amazing yeah, that'samazing tutorials well, not
tutorials, but he has like livestreams of his process, like of

(45:22):
him producing the music.
Um, his name is no, no,sebastian, and like it's.
I would love to collab with him, yeah, on some stuff.
I guess that would be like mynumber one dream collab, um, and
a bunch of producers that arebehind the scenes.
I always love like looking atthe credits to see who's there

(45:44):
yeah, but yeah, it's I, I thinkhe, I think out of everyone, it
would be him right now.
But also I'm just kind of likerealign right, aligning what I
do and like figuring yourselfout figuring myself out so while
he's up there, up there in theair, um, I think, whoever comes

(46:06):
at the time, that they do and.
I'm ready for it.
It's gonna be a greatcollaboration.

Daijné (46:10):
Yeah, of course that is yeah, okay, nice, I love that if
you could erase a song fromeveryone's memory and re-release
it as your own.
What song would it be, and why?
What would you change and whatwould you keep the same?
Oh, that's such a greatquestion.

Sam (46:27):
Oh my gosh there's a whole bunch of songs I'd steal.
Oh my gosh, uh, erase it fromeveryone's memory.
That's so like, meticulouslyworded, thank you, thank you, I
would say I don't know if Icould like, maybe I would rework

(46:48):
the key.
It's in.
Okay, maybe Limits by Bad Omensit's really nice.
Okay, I really like that one.
Um what Now?
By Rihihanna, because why not?

Daijné (47:01):
why?
Why not go pick up some rihanna?
All right, what would youchange?
Or keep the same about what now?

Sam (47:10):
I would keep it the same.
It's such a beautiful song yeahit is a good one.
It's like it's a it's a pianoballad that goes into a rock,
ending it so well crafted.
I love it.
Yeah, I adore it.
Yeah, I think I'll stay withthose two for now.
Yeah, but I promise you likeafter this I'm going to be like
oh, this song is my favorite,yeah, yeah, and like a lot of

(47:34):
the songs I would steal actuallysound kind of like depressive,
but I would like to steal somehappy songs along the way too.
Yeah, um, but I'm just drawing ablank right now oh good, oh
good, um okay.

Daijné (47:50):
So what are some things that you've been working on?
What's some new stuff you'vebeen releasing?

Sam (47:55):
yes, anything like that.
Um, some new stuff.
Well, I released a song a lastyear called.
It's such a depressing title.
It's called Alone in the World.
It goes back to earlierquestions about one of my
favorite songs I made.
That one's definitely up there.
Oh my God.
I did that one from A to Z.

(48:16):
That one's on me so you cansearch up Alone in the World,
sam Champagne, and you'll findit, and absolutely adore that
one Stream, that one yeah it's agood one, please, so it's
really good.

Daijné (48:25):
It's a good one.

Sam (48:28):
But I've been working a lot of stuff production-wise and
just rearranging my sound.
But the biggest thing that I'vedone recently, which was so new
to me but I'm so glad I got todo it because I never thought I
like it this much was I actuallyreleased the book.
Yeah, amazing, I released thebook and I was like the downtime

(48:50):
between releasing songs andlike the whole hype behind
releasing songs or doing shows.
Yeah, it gets a little bitboring.
I'm not gonna lie to you andlike, as a producer, because of
technology, I'm usuallyproducing on my own.
Yeah, so it's like I was.
I guess I was bored one day andI just started typing out all
this stuff about productionbecause I like okay, it goes

(49:12):
back to me sucking atcollaborations, it's like, even
though I feel like I don't dowell with collaborations.
That's all in my head.

Daijné (49:20):
Yeah, clearly.

Sam (49:22):
Even so, I still want to collaborate and I still want the
feeling of bouncing ideas offof someone else or something
else to draw the idea out.
So I wrote a book that ispretty much a copy of my brain.
I love that and literally I putdown all this stuff in there

(49:42):
that I would use to bring myideas to life.
Okay, because even though Ihave all this knowledge, for
some reason when I sit in frontof a computer, not all of it is
accessible to me all at the sametime.

Daijné (49:52):
Right, right.

Sam (49:53):
I don't know why that is yeah, but I'm like I have all of
this and I know I can do allthis and some days I forget that
I could do certain things.
Yeah.
So when I put it down in thisbook, I'm like I could go back
to this book and like draw fromthat and like remind myself oh,
I could do this, oh, I could dothat and continue to spark those
ideas.
So um, the book is called yeah,what's it called?

Daijné (50:15):
where is it available all that good stuff?

Sam (50:18):
so the viewers who are watching, you'll be able to see
the, the book itself, but ifyou're listening, it's called
collab bro.
Collab bro, based on theexperience of, you know, being,
uh, not known as a woman.
Yeah, female producer, yeah andgetting dms about collab bro.
Yeah, I love that, I love it.

(50:39):
Yeah, so it's like a littlecheeky title and, um, basically
it's about like well, it has theblurb in the back written to
help you find your creativesource, build confidence in your
songs, guide you through eachstage of your project and give
you tips for every steps, everystep of your music creation
process.
Nice, and it's like a book thatyou can collaborate with, so

(51:01):
like, if you don't like, findcollaborators that are like,
that are like really gellingwith you, yeah, struggling to do
that, but you still want anoutside source to collaborate
with.
This is what I would I love thatbecause, like sometimes, like
like you said, it's it's harderto find people to collab with,
but there's also people whoaren't at that stage yet where

(51:23):
they feel comfortable collabingexactly and so like the book can
help with that as well, exactlyliterally there's a part in the
book where kind of just hypesyou up, yeah, and it gets you
confident in your ideas because,especially when you're new to
the music industry, you feellike everyone knows more than
you, right, and like their tastein music is somehow better than
yours, which is not necessarilytrue.

Daijné (51:45):
Right you love music.

Sam (51:46):
You love certain music for a certain reason.
It gives you a feeling, itgives you an emotion, yeah, and
it's basically teaching you tohave confidence in that love
that you once enjoyed thatgenuine love for it.
You can never go wrong withtrusting in love right never,
never, never so, um, the bookkind of goes into hey, trust in
the fact that you love this songand that it's your baby at the

(52:08):
end of the day and, um, it pullsa full idea out of you.
So when you go into a room andyou like hear other people's
ideas, you aren't too easilyswayed like, especially if
they're like no, no, this, no,this is going to be great, this
is going to be great.
Disagreements might come about,right, things might like pull
you from one side to the other.
So it's like if you knowexactly where you want this song

(52:29):
to go, or if you know that, hey, I don't really feel that idea
yeah, you can this?

Daijné (52:34):
book kind of like.

Sam (52:41):
You feel confident in saying that, confident in saying
that, like, I know where I wantto take it, right, right.
So, yeah, that's based off ofmy own experiences and what I
wish someone would have told meor taught me.
yeah, especially as a producer,in some of these rooms yeah and
a producer on my own, really andthese things would definitely.
All these tips are made to helpcultivate your sound and like
give you ideas and easier waysto like figure out where your

(53:04):
sound is and to lay it down andjust pull a full song idea.
So it's not just for musicproducers, it's for music
producing artists yeah, yeah, soI'm not sure if that's a term,
but that, like that's the mostsuccinct way I could put the
term.
Yeah, music producing artists Ifeel like most artists these
days, because of the technology,is so, you know, out there and

(53:26):
like available to everyone.
Yeah, that's where most artistsare now.
They're producing their ownmusic, they're recording
themselves they're, they'rewriting their own songs and it
can get isolated a little bitand you kind of get stuck in
your head.
This book can help you get outof that a little bit I love that
, I love that.

Daijné (53:43):
And going back to what you were saying about like, just
like knowing who you are whenyou walk into a room, because
like you were saying earlier,like the music industry, a lot
of the stuff that goes behind onbehind the scenes is really
scary really, and you can getsucked into that world quickly.
So I love that you know it.

Sam (53:59):
It's a book that can help you like basically just stand on
business stand on business andespecially going that back to
that point, it's just becauseit's the music industry like I
hear a lot of stuff about thenews that's going on and a lot
of these big studios that usedto be around new york city, a
lot of them are shutting down.
Um, I'm not sure exactly whatthe reason is.

(54:20):
I can't.
I'm not the expert on why thatis maybe it's a combination of
factors I believe.
Um, a lot of them are shuttingdown and the the rise of the
home studio is kind of likehappening, where it's like
everyone built a studio at home,got it, so they make music at
home.
So what's happening withcollaborations these days is
that people are inviting othersto their homes, which can be

(54:44):
very, very yeah, not the safestnot the safest, yeah um, so one
of the things about this book,um, it's not a technical book.
I will say that it won't go intolike the ins and outs of
technicality.
Yeah, because, um,interestingly enough, even
though it is hard, I feel likethere's a lot of information out
there that can help people torecord and start making their

(55:07):
own songs.
Yeah, but other than that, itcan kind of help to uh
circumvent some of those umsituations yeah yeah, so like,
if you don't exactly feelcomfortable going to someone
else's houses to to collaborate,you can have this book to kind
of pull a full idea out of you.
You could send it off to theminstead.

(55:28):
Um, it's kind of unfortunatethat some of these things happen
the way that they do.
Yeah, for sure, but that's why.
That's why we're blessed tohave the access to technology,
if need be, the access, accessto resources and the access to
the information I put in thisbook and in the interwebs, of
course, always to the audience.

(55:50):
Whenever you're going intocollaboration, stay safe, bring
people with you whatever you gotto do, and, if anything,
there's always a way for to likework that you could send it off
to a person rather than goingto where they are.
I always want to put forwardsafety first of course,
absolutely above all else likethe creativity and the
collaboration can be fun.

(56:12):
Just make sure you're safe.

Daijné (56:13):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Great advice, great advice, um.
And if you're ever looking forsomeone to work with, where can
they find you, sam?

Sam (56:24):
um, they can find me at sam champagne, nyc on pretty much
all platforms, I believe and ifyou're in the new york city or
new york area, um, I do engineersessions and record people and
produce beats, as you can seeand they're amazing.
Yes, yes and yeah, just reachout.
Say hi.

(56:44):
If you have any questions, I'malways here to answer.
I love engineering, I lovemusic.
It's all my bread and butter.
So please, please, reach out.

Daijné (56:53):
Don't hesitate to reach out, I'm always happy to connect
, yeah, and not only is she wellversed and has the education,
she's passionate about it, and Ifeel like that is so important
as well to not only is she wellversed and has the education,
she's passionate about it, and Ifeel like that is so important
as well to not only work withpeople who know what they're
talking about, but also peoplewho love what they're talking
about.

Sam (57:09):
You know what I mean, and I love this I love this so much
um also stream of music on, well, all platforms everywhere,
everywhere.
I stream on spot, but everywhere, everywhere, and yeah, I love
to hear your thoughts and allthat stuff.
Oh, if you get this book ohyeah, where can people find the
book?
Right now?
It's on Amazon.

(57:29):
Okay, leave me a review.
And I have another book outthere for producers as well,
called the Producer's Notebook.
Okay, it's just a notebookspecifically for for producers
and engineers, but super helpful.
I use mine all the time, socheck it out, and I think that's
the whole schlep of all thethings I'm doing amazing I love
it.

Daijné (57:48):
I love it, I love it.
Um any final thoughts, finalpieces of advice, just anything
else you wanted to, yeah um, Imean thank you for having me
here.

Sam (57:59):
Thank you, oh my God.

Daijné (58:01):
I was so excited because this Sam, as you guys know, is
my first person who's come onthe pod and I was so excited.
I was nervous for some reason,I don't know why, but I was just
so excited when you texted andwere like, and not you asking,
is it still an option?
Of course, it is always anoption.
Like I want you to come back,like I love whenever we get to

(58:24):
connect, and I just love yourenergy and you're just so much
fun.

Sam (58:28):
I love your energy as well, thank you, and just like, your
ability to carry conversation isunmatched.
I adore it.
Oh, thank you, I adore it,that's so sweet and yeah, just
to, like I said, just to see howfar this podcast is coming.
I am so excited, thank you.
Like I'm the first, definitelynot going to be the last, so
guys keep an eye out and we'regoing to see more amazing topics

(58:50):
from you as well.

Daijné (58:51):
And more amazing stuff from Sam as well.
I just love people who arefollowing their dreams, and this
is always something that's beena dream for me.
I can tell that music issomething that you're super
passionate about, and a dreamfor you as well, and I just love
seeing especially women becauseI love women follow their
dreams and do whatever they wantto do.

(59:11):
So thank you for coming.
I appreciate it so much.
Thank you, my love.
Thanks for tuning in to today'sepisode.
Follow Sam, stream her music,buy her book All of the things.
Yes, do we have an outro yet?
No, I just kind of say peaceand love.
Talk to you later.
And then your music comes out.

(59:32):
Yes, yes, yes, oh wait, okay,yeah, so let's do it.
Okay, let's do it together.
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
The napkin in between, hostedby dajane jones, produced by
dajane jones, post production bydajane jones, music by sam
champagne and graphics by ismavital.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe.

(59:54):
See you next episode.