Red Flag by Samantha Testa review
Samantha Testa is a singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist hailing fromOttawainCanada. Although only 22 years old, she has already performed to crowds of thousands and has been hailed by legendary producer Stuart Epps (Elton John, Led Zeppelin) as ‘the new Paul Rodgers’. Her music is highly commercial pop/rock in the vein of Kelly Clarkson and Pink, with this song being a perfect combination of the two.
The song begins with a brooding guitar figure and jagged beat before Testa’s distinctive voice enters, telling a familiar tale of a lover with a wandering eye who isn’t worthy of her. The half-time verse leads to a huge chorus in full time, a wall of rich electric guitars adding to the impact. It’s an immediately memorable chorus that shows off Testa vocal range and expressiveness to the max.
The contrast between chorus and verse works well dynamically, and the second verse featuring some feisty lyrics that recall Alanis Morrissette: “I’d like to tape up the mirrors so you can’t stare at your reflection, you like to look at yourself like you are perfection…”. After the second chorus there is an emotional middle eight that maintains the momentum and intensity of the song effectively.
Overall, this is an excellent choice for a single, with a polished commercial sound and faultless production making it perfect for Canadian and American radio in particular, though it has worldwide appeal. With a voice that rivals the best pop singers of the era, Samantha Testa has the potential to become a huge star with more songs of this calibre.
By Alex Faulkner
Exclusive Interview:
EV:How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?
Samantha: My Manager is constantly looking for blogs and reviews to get exposure and Exposed Vocals was number one on his hit list!
EV: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Samantha: I’m a Montreal girl born & raised! We moved to Ottawa and I started out as a athlete playing competitive fastball for many years. I’ve always sang, typical hairbrush microphone, until one day I sang the Star Spangled Banner for my dad and he realized that maybe we should start to pursue this. I started my singing career doing the anthems at baseball games and went on to doing little talent shows at school. The reception was great and the feeling of being on stage was like nothing I had ever felt before, that’s when I knew. Since then honestly it’s just felt like this is what I should have been doing my whole life, I taught myself piano and guitar as well i started to not only write my own music but collaborate with other artists.
How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
I was born with it so why change it!
EV: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Samantha: I think social media is the best way to share your music! Its fast its easy and people all over the world can take part. I do give my music away for free, its a better way to get people interested in your music, they don’t need to drop 5 or 10 dollars, they can get full songs absolutely free to enjoy.
EV: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Samantha: Don’t stop.. Never stop. Play at every bar, gala, fundraiser, school event possible. The more people who see you and hear you the better! You’ve got to start somewhere and no gig is too small. I’ve played to thousands and i’ve played to 5, anything you do is an experience and will help you in the future to perfect your craft.
EV: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Samantha: Of course! Who doesn’t make mistakes? When I was younger I would get embarrassed and it would be pretty obvious that I had done something wrong, but now when anything happens I usually joke about it, you’ve got to realize that sometimes things happen and you just have to laugh it off!
EV: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Samantha: I have toured, I went on an eastern Canadian tour last October. It was a great experience, working with different musicians, being on the bill with different acts. Although traveling and playing every night back to back was extremely exhausting, it was an incredible experience and I made some great lifelong friends. Lots of crazy things happened on tour, but we swore ‘what happens on tour stays on tour’, it was the greatest time.
EV: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Samantha: The best inspiration is things that happen daily. I usually draw from my personal life, whether it was something that happen to myself or to a friend/family member. There are so many places to draw inspiration; I try to experiment using books, reading people’s daily thoughts or even going to a park and trying to draw from the scenery. My all time favourite place to write is curled up on a couch with a notepad, although I do like to type up all my lyrics (mostly so I can understand what I wrote) I always start off with a pen and pad, its old school but the best way.
EV: Do you have a band website? Do you have a Facebook or Twitter? Do you use Bandcamp, Spotify, ExposedVocals or SoundCloud to share your music?
www.samanthatesta.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Testa/24822089462
www.twitter.com/samantha_testa
www.instagram.com/samantha_testa
www.reverbnation.com/samanthatesta
www.youtube.com/samanthatesta
EV: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Samantha: Hannah Montana… lots of it.. I can’t help it, it’s just so damn catchy!
EV: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Samantha: I’m pretty boring, I would probably put 90% in the bank, just to make sure I have money in the future. However I would go on a lot of vacations, take the opportunity to see the world.
EV: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Currently i’m working with a group out of LA & NYC, we’ve got a radio station which i’m the co-host. I co-write with an artist out of Alberta, and I’m hoping to head back down to Nashville to do more recordings.
EV: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Honestly building a social media empire is the best way to promote, twitter, facebook, instagram everything and anything. The fact that everyone is online 90% of the time, its become the fastest way to make yourself seen
across the world in seconds. I can actually share my music with people from all these different countries and that’s the coolest thing.
EV: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Kelly Clarkson & P!nk are two of the women I look up to the most in my life. They are strong, they are incredibly talented and they are both extremely humble. It would be a dream to sing with either of them in any scene just to share a song with them would enough for me.
Michael Jackson, obviously an idol to most but aside from wanting to sing with him, I would have loved to sit down and talk to him about what goes through his head and how he writes and creates his art. It’s a shame i’ll never have the chance but I know that his music speaks louder than words and I can always learn from that.
EV: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Samantha: The next step for me is just to get out and play. I’m trying to book as many shows as possible & work with as many people as possible. I’m opening all the doors from teaching to playing and im very excited for everything in the future.
EV: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Samantha: I have no clue! I’ve thought about that actually, if I wasn’t singing I would be writing music, if I wasn’t writing I would be producing music. There honestly isn’t anything in music that I could possibly not be doing. Who knows maybe I could’ve always been a professional wrestler!
EV: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Samantha: My very first album, that’s a tough one. It wasn’t my first album, but the first one that I purchased with my money was “Missunderstood, by P!nk”. I’ve easily played that album hundreds of times, I must have drove my parents to the brinks of insanity. There was just something about her angst and honesty in her lyrics that as a teen I really could identify with. Knowing that someone else felt the way I did and was able to help me with what I was feeling was indescribable… to this day that is something i hope to accomplish with my music.
EV: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Samantha: It’s hard to balance two lives. Part of me has to work to pay the bills, and the other half of my just wants to sit at home in my pjs and write until all of my pens run out of ink. I think i’ve managed to balance the two fairly well, i’ll always write a little idea down on my phone and come home and lay it down on the piano. I try to keep the creative process flowing 24/7, no matter where I am, i’ll write down lyrics on my hand, record melodies on my iphone just to make sure I don’t lose a potential song.
EV: What should fans look forward too for the rest of 2014 and beyond?
Samantha: More shows, more songs, everything will be bigger and better!
