Interview with særa

I’m immediately drawn to how “Choosing Myself” turns self-love into something intimate rather and triumphant. særa’s one-take acoustic guitar gives the song a vulnerable core, while the cinematic production gradually surrounds it with field recordings and oceanic textures that make the whole track feel strangely immersive.

I particularly love how the song avoids the usual motivational clichés. There’s uncertainty and emotional honesty in its message, which makes the decision at its heart feel earned. For me, the contrast between the raw guitar performance and expansive production is what makes this so compelling. It feels personal and genuinely liberating.

Interview with særa

(^)> "Choosing Myself" began as music for a surf film before evolving into something deeply personal. What was the moment you realized the song had become about much more than its original purpose?

It started with some vague ideas about making a surf song for a surf camp’s clip, I had a playlist, some mood pictures and we got to working with NYPE. He started to improvise on his guitar and I remember this like wow it felt like he read my mind for this song, and there were some sounds where I said wait, let’s go with this one… then the whole thing just started to live very quickly, adding all kinds of sonic layers, and as I was looking through the potential for lyrics for this song, it somehow became the obvious choice, the one that fits the mood of the song, and also the stages of life I was in at that moment.

(^)> The title sounds simple, yet choosing yourself can often be the hardest decision to make. What does that phrase genuinely mean to you today?

It is challenging, and I don’t mean it in the sense of being selfish, but in a way of putting yourself first, even if that means making decisions not fitting societal norms and expectations. Decide for yourself, choose yourself when making a decision about your life, and not someone else’s (perceived or otherwise) vision, ideas or expectations.

(^)> You describe the song as a dialogue with yourself. Were there moments during the writing process when it felt uncomfortable confronting those inner conversations?

It didn’t, I am a very instictive writer - I just pour the words out and then follow my instincts. I feel the uncomfortable part happens while I fight my way through those challenges in life and when it becomes a lyrics or song, it is a story I instinctively tell through music.

(^)> The acoustic guitar was captured in a single take. What made you keep that performance instead of pursuing technical perfection?

I thought for this song it was important to keep the natural element, make it more organic, make it sounds more live. And it is also about the emotions, how it waves throughout the song and the guitar part should express that and the only way is to not loop a section but to move together with the other parts, elements and dynamic changes of the song.

(^)> Ocean-inspired textures and field recordings give the production a cinematic quality. How did those sounds help express emotions that words couldn’t?

I think that is sort of like sonic painting, I like immersive experiences so to speak - where not everything is literal but some things are just part of an atmposhpere and the listener becomes more instict driven and less thought driven.

(^)> Rather than promoting toxic positivity, the song embraces a more nuanced view of self-love. Why was it important to avoid easy motivational clichés?

Honestly, toxic positivity pisses me off. They became today’s cliché for announcing meaningless things, for promoting things, and for up keeping a shallow way of connecting. It became the anti wave of “work hard, play hard”, and it just forgets about nuance, it forgets about people being different, experiencing things differently, and it just became as plane as anything else. And it became pushy. I wanted to express something that is not “pushy”. Like so what if self-love today is staying inside while the sun is out?

(^)> Your personal journey involved stepping away from external expectations surrounding career and success. How has making that decision changed both your life and your creativity?

It made me feel lighter, more free, and more down to earth. As for my creativity, it let it breathe. There was no chance for my emotions to boil enough to then turn into songs, to then work on them without the space it needed. Space in time, because a career and chasing success is time consuming and fast paced. Creation is deep, not fast.

(^)> Working with NYPE began as a student-teacher relationship before becoming a creative partnership. How has that dynamic evolved over time?

Luckily, it was very natural. Although still today, there is the element of teacher-student to our relationship as he is a lot more experienced musician, composer and producer than me. However, he is very open to sharing his knowledge, already in the beginning he told me that I’m welcome to sit next to him as he works on the songs and learn from his process, and I seek his advice when I’m not sure about how to go about things.

(^)> The basement studio in Budapest seems to represent more than just a recording space. What kind of environment were you trying to create there?

It is NYPE’s working studio and he shares it with a Hungarian band, there is a couch, there are many instruments, and the lighting is moody, and it’s a whole vibe, but it’s also what it became throughout time as I created more and more in that space. It is a safe space for me to express, sing, create, escape from reality, do something I love. Sometimes just lay on the couch, and listen from there. It is a very easygoing environment.

(^)> Your music feels intimate without becoming overly confessional. How do you decide which personal experiences belong in your songs and which remain private?

This is a process and I think I am becoming “better” at it, my earlier works do feel confessional to me. But I am moving towards expressing emotions, feelings, moods, sonic atmospheres rather than literal feelings. They should be there just enough to understand what a song is about.

(^)> "Choosing Myself" marks the beginning of a new chapter. In what ways does it represent a departure from your previous work?

I am moving towards a more organic sound, and favoring guitars in instrumentation. And also how I tell my stories, what is in the lyrics (see previous question). We even sat down with NYPE and he helped me articulate what direction I want to take with my music, and I wrote it down as some sort of vision/direction/era statement. It helps filter and decide what songs to make next, and how. So it is more conscious then before, but I think I do need to keep some parts of being very instinct and flow driven and implement it into this somewhat more defined path.

(^)> As someone now expanding beyond guitar to bass and other creative roles, has learning new instruments changed the way you approach songwriting?

It helps me understand more parts that shape a song, but I think in general, I am quite boxed into my usual process of songwriting - for now? :D There is only one of my songs, Lonely as I am, where I actually based the song on the bass guitar part - I usually went with lyrics, then melody, then finding chords on the piano, and then the rest.

(^)> Many listeners struggle with prioritizing themselves without feeling guilty. What do you hope they hear in this song that they might not tell themselves?

I hope this can become an anthem or a mantra, and as far as mantras go - you keep repeating them, until they become part of your belief system. That should help with the guilt if you really believe you CAN choose yourself if you want.

(^)> Looking back, do you think the person who first started writing "Choosing Myself" would recognize the artist releasing it today?

Hmm, not at all, when I wrote the first part, the lyrics part of this song, I had zero studio experience, hell, I didn’t even know I will have songs released and people listening to them within a year.

(^)> Finally, if this single becomes the song people associate most closely with særa, what would you hope it says about who you are as both an artist and a person?

I hope it says that I’m not afraid to choose myself, that I work hard on making a song as good as possible, and make the next song even better, that I wait for the right moment, and right person to collaborate with (there is an electric guitar solo part in the songs from Andras Schlosser who is a recognized jazz guitar player in Hungary). And that I take pride in the craft of music making, but also that I let things be organic enough so it doesn’t feel too made.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out særa on the Pigeon Opinion Playlist