Serena Ryder – HuffPost 4.28.10

[Note: This is an excerpt from my interview with Serena Ryder that might be informative for new artists.]

Mike Ragogna: When you record, what is your process?

Serena Ryder: I’ve always gone in with a group of songs already created, and for the most part, I enjoy it and I’m most honest when I write by myself. So, I go in with finished projects usually. Every record’s different. I believe that there’s no real way to do it for me because I’m constantly changing what I like and what I think is proper.

MR: And having an overview of your project right from the start in the studio seems pretty efficient.

SR: It was very efficient.

MR: When you’re writing, are you writing from the perspective of the first person?

SR: I try and sing from the first person as much as I possibly can, even if it’s a story that started out about someone else. I personally don’t think it’s right to write from a place that you haven’t been personally, because then, you’re being the most honest, you know? For me, it’s about writing about things that I know and that I’ve felt and I’ve been through. And sometimes, we’re relating so wholly to a story or an inspiration or something that you’ve seen happen or heard, that you relate wholly enough to experience it emotionally. Then I think you have every right to write about it.

MR: So, you really are singing from an area where it’s not about the world at large. It’s more about your place in it and people relative to you.

SR: Yeah, it’s funny because it’s like I think we’ve made a lot of mistakes by seeing the world as the world at large when it’s really the world inside of us that counts.