Bridge: Hi Shandy and Eva, thanks for sitting down with us today. Let’s start off by taking it back, when can you each remember your love of music starting?
Shandy: My love for music started very early on in my life. I believe I was 6 or 7 years old when I first held an instrument in my hands during one of my father’s choir rehearsals back in Curaçao where I’m originally from. Ever since then I could not stop doing music. For me there were many moments where I fell in love with music all over again but the very first time is always the most memorable.
Ewa: I don’t really remember the exact moment when my love for music started, it was also very early for me. My dad is an actor and ever since I remember I was always asked by adults who I want to be when I grow up, whether I’d want to follow my father’s footsteps or not. I always answered that I wanted to be a singer!
Bridge: How did the two of you meet and decide to start making music together?
We met at Los Angeles College of Music in Pasadena, CA. We were both part of the vocal program there. We started playing music together pretty much right away, three months into the program we started meeting for rehearsals. The decision to form the duo came a little bit later after we realized that singing in harmonies as a duet is our strength. And even though our individual voices differ a lot when we sing together we are one voice.
Bridge: Do you have any themes or motifs that show up over and over again in your songwriting?
Like we mentioned before our niche is when we sing all the way through in harmonies. It was not always great, but over time we became quite good at this and we keep developing it and pushing boundaries whenever we can. Most of our previous songs that were released were written by Ewa and for sure here and there you can hear similar themes and motifs. Nevertheless every song is different in their own way. We come from different cultures and musical backgrounds, we listen to a variety of genres and it reflects in our music, you can’t get bored 😉
Bridge: What’s the scariest part of releasing music for you?
To meet expectations! And mostly our own expectations, not even our fans or friends and family’s. Over the years we have learnt to let it go. Of course it’s impossible to put out music that every single person in the world would like. But we play for everybody, no matter the social or political differences, we want to unite rather than let people grow apart, we see too much of this in the world at the moment.
Bridge: What are some challenges you’ve faced so far as you enter the music industry? How did you overcome them?
Ewa: The main challenge for us is being female musicians. Especially for Shandy who plays drums and percussions and sings at the same time. This has caused a lot of uncomfortable situations over the years. Being judged before she even gets the chance to show that she can actually play the instrument.
Shandy: Yes, that is true! I know that it’s changing but there is still a lot of prejudice out there. For Ewa as well I have noticed similar behaviour especially when dealing with sound engineers. She actually followed a pretty extensive course in sound production at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA, where she got her Master’s as a Performer Composer. So many times she had to lower her head and try to take the high road just because some person believes that we are “just singers” and we don’t know what we are talking about. Usually after the first couple of minutes into the soundcheck people change their attitude and the way they turn to us. We try to stay calm and talk about it whenever we get a platform. We are both music teachers and it is definitely one of the topics that I cover with my little female drummers. The industry is slowly changing but us, women, need to look out for each other.
Bridge: Tell us about your most recent single ‘Where My Heart Belongs’!
We are so happy that we got to release this song before the end of this year. Since we finished our studies in 2019 we have been searching for the next steps or a new home, as we sing in the song, not only in our careers but also in our personal lives and the journey it takes to get there. The song took on a life of it’s own and we are very happy with the outcome.
Bridge: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us today! Real quick, tell us where can we follow you online?
Thank you very much for having us! You can follow us on Facebook (shandyandevamusic) and Instagram (shandy_and_eva). We have our own website www.shandyandeva.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel Shandy & Eva.
