Sarah Hester Ross On Embracing Social Media as an Artist and Preventing Burnout

On today’s episode of Creative Space, we have the pleasure of speaking with Sarah Hester Ross, star of social media and stage, known for her unique blend of musical comedy that gets the conversation started around hot-button topics.

You may know a few of her hits like “No Babies” or “Stop Giving Men Microphones” or have seen her latest comedy special, “Don’t Mess With A Redhead,” which is now available on Amazon Prime and most other streaming platforms.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including Sarah’s career journey so far, finding her authentic voice, the struggle with imposter syndrome, and how she's incorporated social media into her creative process. We also touch on preventing social media burnout, an important topic that most artists can appreciate.

For more on Sarah Hester Ross, visit: https://www.sarahhesterross.com/.

To sign up for the weekly Creative Space newsletter, visit: eepurl.com/h8SJ9b.

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SHOW NOTES:

1:50—Sarah’s early life

3:30—Falling in love with the stage

4:14—Learning piano

5:15—Biggest influences

6:00—From worship music to musical theater to musical comedy

12:00—Finding your true voice as an artist

13:00—The greatest challenges so far

17:23—Sarah’s definition of creativity 

22:32 — Sarah’s practice routine

24:00—Advice for artists afraid to speak their mind

29:10—Sarah’s purpose as an artist

32:00—Sarah’s first viral social posts

36:00—Staying balanced with social media and life

41:00—The making of her comedy special, “Don’t Mess With a Redhead”

45:00—”TikTok is a huge influence.”

46:15—The influence of Bette Midler

Transcript

Jennifer Logue: 0:43

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Logue, and today we have the pleasure of chatting with Sarah Hester Ross, a musical comedian and singer-songwriter who's built a fan base of over 2.4 million on social media at the time of this recording. She's been featured on America's Got Talent and her music has over 30 million streams on Apple Music and Spotify. She's also been named Best Comedian by the Las Vegas Review Journal and Best One-Woman Show by Las Vegas Weekly. Her comedy show Don't Mess With the Redhead is out now. I couldn't resist. All the songs are really catchy. No, it was perfect.

Sarah Hester Ross: 1:32

I'm buying for a backup singer spot. We're going on the road. You and me Love it.

Jennifer Logue: 1:36

I'm thrilled to have her on the show. Welcome to Creative Space, Sarah.

Sarah Hester Ross: 1:40

Thank you so much for having me.

Jennifer Logue: 1:42

Oh, you are wonderful. I had so much fun watching your special.

Sarah Hester Ross: 1:45

Oh, that means the world? No, really it does. I mean at this point I'm so happy that it happened and it's done and now it's out there. Now the hard work begins of trying to get people to care about it.

Jennifer Logue: 2:03

Yes, yes, yes, yes. So where are you calling from today?

Sarah Hester Ross: 2:08

I'm based in Las Vegas proper, so I'm a little outside of Vegas my house but I work on the strip. I'm a piano bar entertainer, so that's, I live in Vegas now.

Jennifer Logue: 2:21

So oh, wonderful, I didn't know that about you. That was part of your life. So, yeah, cool, and we'll talk about that more. Sure, where are you from originally?

Sarah Hester Ross: 2:31

Originally from Florida, born and raised in Tampa, the Tampa Bay area, but I lived in Orlando for about 10 years before I moved to Vegas.

Jennifer Logue: 2:40

Very cool, and who inspired you growing up?

Sarah Hester Ross: 2:45

I grew up in a musical home. My mom now retired was an elementary music school elementary teacher for about 36 years, and so music it was always a very big part of my family. Both my brother and I are musicians, and as adults, and my dad well, not as a career, but he was just a funny Jewish man, and so I think that that's where my comedy comes from, and so put the two together. It was inevitable for me, like this is what I'm made to do and this is what I'm going to do, and there's no plan B, so this is it for me.

Jennifer Logue: 3:30

Well, love it, love it, Love it. When did you first fall in love with music? Was it your mom?

Sarah Hester Ross: 3:36

I mean, I think so. I think I fell in love with the stage before I fell in love with music, if that makes sense. Okay, I love being on stage. I love performing in front of a live audience. That's when, you know, the pandemic hit and I lost my my live gig. Getting online was a huge change for me and I appreciate my online following so much, but there's nothing like being on stage like lights, microphone, camera, let's go, and the applause and everything like that. I just so, probably to answer your question, at a very young age I was put on stage doing like mother, daughter pageants, and I had my first job at Bush Gardens in Tampa doing a show called Rock and Roll Review. I was 11. And yeah, and I just I fell in love with the stage. I love live performing, so, but I do love music, but I think it was the stage that really hooked me. Yeah.

Jennifer Logue: 4:46

Cool. Were you always performing with piano and singing together, or?

Sarah Hester Ross: 4:51

Always singing Piano was a little later in life. I learned piano at a very young age but my mom was my teacher and if any parent out there has ever tried to teach a child their own child to do anything, it's like literal torture. And you know, if my mom is listening to this, forgive me so much for being being a child. So I didn't catch on until college. I got back into piano in college because I was a vocal performance major so I had to have a secondary instrument and piano was the easiest one. So that's kind of where piano got in, but it's always been vocal definitely.

Jennifer Logue: 5:34

Cool. Who are your biggest vocal influences, would you say definitely cool.

Sarah Hester Ross: 5:42

Who are your biggest vocalists? Vocal influences, would you say, um well it. It depends on if you're talking about writing comedy or writing quote-unquote normal songs.

Sarah Hester Ross: 5:48

Um, probably my normal songs would be sarah borealis. Uh, lady gaga is a huge influence of me, not necessarily her pop songs, but like her Joanne style stuff. I mean, I love her as a performer and I actually got to see her here in Las Vegas during her jazz show. I would totally recommend it. If you guys have the time in Vegas, have the money, go, go see it. It's wonderful. But those are probably my biggest like songwriting influences. And then my comedy is more like Bette Midler, rachel Bloom. Those would be my comedy music influences and something that I'm striving to be myself.

Jennifer Logue: 6:35

So I see that now. Yeah, that's awesome. I love it. I can't think of any performer right now who mixes the two like you do. You're so original, thank you.

Sarah Hester Ross: 6:46

There are a lot of musical comedians out of, for example, like Garfunkel and Oates. I don't know if you know them, but they're fantastic and they are very musical like comedy. But they don't. They really focus more on the comedy instead of the music. And I feel like I do the opposite. I'm very musically inclined, that is my strength, and then the comedy kind of like sneaks in just because of the topic of the song. So that's why I relate myself more to Bette Midler, because she is very known for her ballads and stuff like that. But her comedy came out in the movies that she was in and in her cabaret shows that she used to do in New York and that's. But she is ultimately, at the end of the day, a musician. Yeah, that's why.

Sarah Hester Ross: 7:52

I would never call myself a comedian per se. I would always call myself a musical comedian, just because what I do is very different than like standups.

Jennifer Logue: 8:03

Yeah, I've talked to a few comedians on the show and there's a very different process. So I'm really interested in hearing about your process with writing a musical comedy, because it's like this mix being a musician is hard enough, now you're throwing in the comedy too. So when did you first get into comedy?

Sarah Hester Ross: 8:24

About, I would say, proper comedy about six years ago. But I've been writing comedy songs for a long time because, of, how I mentioned earlier, I'm a dueling piano bar player and if you've ever been have earlier I'm a dueling piano bar player and if you've ever been, have you ever been to a dueling piano show? Yeah, they're really fun, love them. Yeah, they're fun and it's an all request show. But it's very heavily comedy and improv and working with the audience and, like you know, kind of like poking fun at the atmosphere and stuff like that. And that's kind of where I realized that comedy was a big part of my, I guess, musical future.

Sarah Hester Ross: 9:10

I started writing my own bits for Dueling Pianos, for my show of Dueling P pianos, and then it kind of turned into and it started out with parodies. So, which is not on the special per se, but I do have a musical video out on YouTube and it's out on Spotify called vibrators are a girl's best friend. That's the kind of stuff I did in the piano bar. And then it turned into writing original music. That is not a parody of anything. So it just kind of snowballed from there and I kept writing and posting and people seem to dig it as I like to say, and that's, that's history, I guess.

Jennifer Logue: 9:56

How did you evolve, like when you came out of came out of college, what was your vision for your career? Did you have any idea that you would be doing musical comedy? Like this?

Sarah Hester Ross: 10:07

Absolutely not. Actually, this is going to be a huge shift. I was a very heavily involved in my upbringing of my religion at the point coming out of college. I was a worship pastor for a probably about seven years out of college. I went to college for vocal performance, but it was to focus on getting a job in a church and leading worship and writing worship music and stuff like that, and so, no, what I'm doing now is very different, very different, from what I'm doing now, and so that was the plan for my career.

Sarah Hester Ross: 10:53

So that was the plan for my career, but when I moved to Orlando, I started getting involved in with you. I was realizing that I was using worship music to boost my ego in what I wanted to do on the stage, and so it wasn't authentic. I mean, I loved it and I loved writing it, but it wasn't authentic. And so, moving in the direction of musical theater and then getting being raised in a religion and then having to teach yourself as an adult like what do I actually believe? What do I think which I think I do vaguely get into that in my comedy and I would like to get into it more in the future, but that's very heavily my storyline.

Jennifer Logue: 12:24

Wow. So that is quite the journey and finding that true, authentic self that you're expressing as an artist that is man.

Sarah Hester Ross: 12:35

that is a journey for all artists out there, like myself included, like figuring out what your voice is like, what your soul is actually trying to say and share with the world yes, and I feel like it's hard to do that as a young person, especially with with my background and being heavily influenced, uh, by religion, and then coming into an adult, as an adult, and being like, okay, do I believe this, or do I believe this because I was taught to believe it, or told to believe it, or my family told me to believe it, or my loved ones, you know, and so, uh, that's was a was a trend, a big transition for me, but a good one because, like I said, I realized very quickly from the two different stages of worship stage and a performance stage that I was trying to make the performance stage into the worship and that's, it's not real, it's not, and I have my own opinions about that and that's not necessarily part of the topic of the moment.

Sarah Hester Ross: 13:46

But so I had to transition out of that and finding who I really was and what I really thought and what I really believed, and that influenced my music very heavily.

Sarah Hester Ross: 13:58

So wow, what would you say, have been the greatest challenges to get to where you are right now in your career. Imposter syndrome is probably one of the big ones, just because, how I spoke earlier about not saying that I'm a stand-up comedian, that I am very, very adamant of calling myself a musical comedian out there that are doing the like, really hustle work, and they've been doing it for 14, 15, 20 plus years and still, you know, are not where they want to be, or blah, blah, blah. And I I feel like, uh, I I don't want to say cheated the system by doing music, and music is catchier, so it grabs attention easier than just speaking or stuff like that. So imposter syndrome, meaning like do I deserve this, do I deserve this attention? Or I haven't done the work I haven't put in the time, granted, I've been doing it for a while.

Sarah Hester Ross: 15:20

But in comparison, I guess and that's where imposter syndrome comes in you compare yourself to others in the sense of like well, they've been doing that, why am I not there? And mine is the opposite of like well, I haven't been doing that. Why am I not on their level, Like I'm? So it's. I think that's probably the biggest challenge, and also trying to explain to people what I do. Just like you said earlier, like you think you haven't seen anybody doing what I'm doing, I, I wouldn't call myself a trailblazer by any means, because there are other musical comedians very successful. Bo Burnham is a prime example. But you know, I don't feel like I am like Bo Burnham because my, I don't know, I just I don't. I don't feel like I'm anything like him. It's just that we play piano and sing. But that's, that's the similarity. I would definitely gear towards more. Rachel Bloom, Are you a fan of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Did you watch that show?

Jennifer Logue: 16:28

You know what? I've heard so many great things about that show, but I haven't seen it myself.

Sarah Hester Ross: 16:33

If you get a chance, you should. It's fantastic because it really talks about very serious issues like depression you know manic episodes being on medication, and she puts it to song, which ultimately makes you know, it go down a little easier. And I like to say that what I do makes like you know, it makes the patriarchy go down a little easier, it makes the feminism go down a little. Putting it to music you know what I mean. And so the challenges of trying to explain to people what I do without losing them Be like I'm a musical comedian, like, oh, I don't like musical comedy. Okay, that's great, but maybe just check it, maybe just see if you don't like it. But so that's probably been a pretty big challenge too.

Jennifer Logue: 17:28

Okay, they just got to see it. Like, don't tell them, show them.

Sarah Hester Ross: 17:33

I think so.

Jennifer Logue: 17:34

What about some songs you know? Just like bombard them right there. Yeah, and they'll probably love it.

Sarah Hester Ross: 17:40

Yeah. I mean or hate it. Either way there's an emotional reaction, and that's what you want, yeah.

Jennifer Logue: 17:47

You don't want to be in the middle. That's definitely one of them. So, Sarah, this is Creative Space, and I love asking this question of everyone. But what is your definition of creativity space?

Sarah Hester Ross: 18:00

and I love asking this question of everyone, but what is your definition of creativity? Um, I probably would say um drive. Uh know, I feel like that's sometimes manipulative in a way of like creativity, like needing an emotion, needing some sort of um, to get out of somebody else or for you yourself?

Jennifer Logue: 18:42

Yes, I agree, to get it out of somebody else.

Sarah Hester Ross: 18:46

I do feel like create your own creativity needs to be an emotion of, of, of yourself, of what your emotions are. Yes, but um, yeah, uh, um. I know it's hard, as a creative person, not wanting to have that emotion from other people.

Jennifer Logue: 19:12

Sharing in it.

Sarah Hester Ross: 19:13

Yes, or getting a response of what you expect, and if you don't get it, then you feel like your creation is less than If it doesn't connect. Yeah, but I would, yeah, I would have to say, um, drive and emotion and ultimately, connection with the audience that you're doing it for, or uh, I'm gonna take that back. Uh, not all creation is for an audience. So that's true. Yeah, so maybe just drive and personal drive and emotion.

Jennifer Logue: 19:50

Cool. So, as I said before, I have never experienced a performer like you before and your comedy special is amazing. I was like crying, laughing. I want to ask have you now? We did talk about this in the beginning of the interview um, you know how you were very different when you came out of college. Yeah, have you always felt this free and empowered in your art, like in terms of your voice as a comedy writer? You know, as a writer, not so much your singing voice, but your artistic voice have you always felt this empowered and free?

Sarah Hester Ross: 20:30

I think. So I really do. I think I am a perfect amount of um, of uh. I can't, I, I'm, I'm trying to think of the word um, I can't, I, I'm, I'm trying to think of the word um. Delusion and uh, and confidence. I really do. I mean, and I think that that's probably why imposter syndrome is one of my biggest things, because it's like I I do, just if I I feel so strong in my thoughts and in my beliefs, because it took me so long to get to my own original thoughts and beliefs. So now that I have them, I hold on to them very tightly and I'm I feel very empowered to speak about them. I mean, women's issues are a big thing that I talk about and my special it's a big component, and I just feel I get a lot of hate, like I get a lot, especially online, and so, yeah, I guess I feel like I've always had that in some sort of way always and delusion yeah oh my gosh.

Jennifer Logue: 21:52

Well that's. That's a wonderful thing for a performer, though it's like you need to have that confidence, I think that's also part of why the stage drew me.

Sarah Hester Ross: 22:02

You know, I just was like I was so sure of myself on the stage, even if I wasn't great at what I was doing at the time or I wasn't super sure. I had the delusional confidence that it was just like I don't care. I don't care what you think I'm, I like this. This is good. This makes me feel good, I'm doing it.

Jennifer Logue: 22:24

So when you get up on stage, you come alive. Oh, 100%. Have you ever had stage fright or anything in your life.

Sarah Hester Ross: 22:31

I think I do get nervous, depending on what I'm doing in the moment, like if I'm doing a new bit in my show, or it's something that I am not sure of, or I haven't practiced enough or I hadn't seen it. But ultimately the stage does not scare me, an audience does not scare me. It's really the material that I'm doing that I'm like oh, I want this to be good. Is it ready? Is it not ready? You know stuff like that.

Jennifer Logue: 23:04

I want to ask, because I've gotten back to practicing piano myself oh, cool yeah. What is your practice routine, like to get your like, let's say you have a new song that you wrote, um, like, how do you go about practicing it so you feel ready to take it to the stage for a live audience?

Sarah Hester Ross: 23:21

Uh, that's a really good question because I feel like I don't, like I never am. I am actually not a pianist by any means. I would never call myself a pianist to an actual piano player, if that makes sense. I am an entertainer that knows how to accompany myself.

Jennifer Logue: 23:42

Okay.

Sarah Hester Ross: 23:43

So piano is not second nature to me, so you will see me with my iPad on stage at all times. Very, very rarely do I memorize my own, even my own work, which is so embarrassing I'm'm.

Jennifer Logue: 24:06

I literally forget my own words all the time and it's like cringe, but it it is what it is but it's hard for me to remember chords, like because I I've learned so many songs and it's like, as long as the chords are in front of me, I'm fine yeah, exactly but then I say to myself, oh, I'm going to memorize this, and it just never clicks you know, and then I get nervous. And it's like okay, so iPad is acceptable, okay, okay.

Sarah Hester Ross: 24:36

And I mean, I don't know if it is acceptable, it's just what I do. I'm sure there will be people that have been like, oh, that's so, like entertainers mostly and professionals. They're just like oh, you should remember, I'm like I can't, I'd rather, I'd rather be prepared for forgetting. Yeah, then forget and be caught on stage with my pants around my ankles, you know.

Jennifer Logue: 25:00

Yeah, oh, my gosh, totally feel you, because then you get out of the moment, sure, and that's the worst. Yeah, oh, my gosh, totally feel you, cause then you get out of the moment, sure, and that's the worst Like you don't want that to happen. Um, uh, but so back to our original. I went on a little, uh, sidetracked conversation there with the piano stuff, but Sorry, I tend to do that, it's all good. Um, you're on the right podcast. Uh, what advice do you have for artists who may be afraid to speak their mind, to like censor themselves?

Sarah Hester Ross: 25:34

It is not for the faint of heart. Posting views online right now it's not no matter what side you stand on, you're going to get backlash. And so, just being prepared for that, I that people always say don't read the comments or don't read it I was like that's impossible. It's impossible for me. I like reading the comments, I always. I read all the comments and some of them are very supportive and some of them hurt my tiny little feelings and and, and I just have to get over it or stop. I mean, those are the only two options you either deal with it or stop posting.

Sarah Hester Ross: 26:32

I have learned to look at the comedy of it and use it for my benefit and fuel me but not everybody is like that for my benefit and fuel me, but not everybody is like that. And, um, so I would just, I would just be not cautious because I feel, uh, that's the wrong word Just be prepared, yeah, be prepared for the backlash. And if you don't get it, that's awesome, that's so great. But if you do, um, just take it with a grain of salt, especially the negative, even the positive, because people, you know, it's so easy to just to just like get the positive and be like oh my gosh, this is awesome, but always, you know, always remain in the validity that it's social media.

Sarah Hester Ross: 27:28

And I'm guessing that's what you're primarily talking about. Is like posting on, like social media platforms and stuff like that, or are you talking about like live as well? I?

Jennifer Logue: 27:37

think just art in general, like being brave enough to write a song that's really vulnerable or to write a short story that's very vulnerable. Like getting to that core, your authentic self, and maybe you have to say something that isn't widely accepted, going out on a limb.

Sarah Hester Ross: 27:59

Yeah, I mean yeah, that would be my advice. Just be prepared for the backlash. But if it's, if it's, always write it. Yeah, always do it. Yeah, even if you don't post it, write it, get it out, get it out of you yeah, and then make the decision of whether you you want to take that risk of posting.

Sarah Hester Ross: 28:24

I feel like writing is never a risk, you know, because it to share, not to share. Ultimately, that's not the point. Like we talked about earlier, that creativity is drive. What drives you? What? What do you need to get out? Um, not sure that I have done that in a while. I think the last time I did that was when my dad passed away and I wrote.

Sarah Hester Ross: 28:53

I wrote a song and I I did post it, but I think I took it down because I realized it wasn't for anybody else, it was just for me. So if that is an example of what you mean, just do it, just get it out of you.

Jennifer Logue: 29:09

Because we can create for ourselves too. And I'm sorry for your loss. That's really hard.

Sarah Hester Ross: 29:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah it was, but it was a couple of years ago, so healing is happening.

Jennifer Logue: 29:21

Yeah, okay. Well, that's good. I'm sure he's very proud to see I would think so.

Sarah Hester Ross: 29:28

He was a huge supporter. I don't think he got everything that I did, you know, but he was very supportive of me and I was very I'm very lucky, so Cool.

Jennifer Logue: 29:41

What would you say is your purpose as an artist? What would you say is your purpose as an?

Sarah Hester Ross: 29:44

artist empowerment. I guess I want to empower other women, specifically women and I mean again, my stuff that I've written, including my special is, is highly feminist in its nature, so I love to write things that will make women feel strong and make women feel like it's okay to feel this way and okay to talk about this and okay to not be okay with the status quo.

Jennifer Logue: 30:28

Yes, I heard your one song. I Don't.

Sarah Hester Ross: 30:29

Want to have Babies.

Jennifer Logue: 30:30

I don't I don't, I don't want to have babies. I felt so seen.

Sarah Hester Ross: 30:34

Good, oh, my gosh, that's so great.

Jennifer Logue: 30:38

Yeah, I could relate to all of it. You know, it's just so. You get judged so much. It's like, well, what's wrong with her? She's like, yeah, it's old already, Doesn't have any kids.

Sarah Hester Ross: 30:49

Like yeah, you know, and you think this day and age that doesn't happen, but it really does. And you know, and I don't blame people for doing that because, again, our culture, that's what you, what you do women and I'm ultimately very fascinated with the reproductive uh of our body, but I just have no desire myself to produce it. And, um, you know, when I, when I was sure of that in my own self, talking about it was so much easier and getting out there, and you know, because you do, you get those, but you might change your mind. And what happens when you get older? And it's like, oh God, like, are we really still there? Are we really still there? We really still there, unfortunately, but we are.

Sarah Hester Ross: 31:48

And so, again, putting it to song, yeah, kind of takes the sting out of it a little bit and allows people to, you know, share their thoughts and with, like, I've had so many people being like, you know, they send that song to their parents, you know, and it's just like, oh, that's what it's for, that's what it's for to be like mom. I'm not going to talk about this anymore, I'm just sending you this song, you know.

Jennifer Logue: 32:15

It says everything I want to say and it's catchy. It's a nice bop, and it's catchy and it's a bop.

Sarah Hester Ross: 32:21

So you can groove to it. And it's a bop, so you can, you can, you can groove to it.

Jennifer Logue: 32:23

So oh my gosh, it makes it's like, makes the medicine go down a little bit smoother 100%, that's exactly what I said. Yeah, love it, love it. Now, on the topic of social media, you have a huge fan base. Do you remember your first post?

Sarah Hester Ross: 32:37

Yeah, I do. Yeah, it was. I was playing my keytar. The song Truth Hurts by Lizzo had just come out and I was playing my keytar to post, and I mean it didn't blow up or anything, it was just that was my first post on TikTok. Oh on, not very much, and I never had, I never got any traction until TikTok. Tiktok really is where I blew up during the pandemic.

Jennifer Logue: 33:35

Got it. What was your first viral video, would you say?

Sarah Hester Ross: 33:39

My first viral video was either a Florida man video, okay yeah, so I started Florida man during the pandemic and if you haven't seen my special and you don't know me personally, go watch the special, you'll get it.

Sarah Hester Ross: 33:56

It's my Florida man. Or my savage daughter Mother that blew up really big. Or my Savage Daughter cover that blew up really big. And it's actually one of my biggest streams on Spotify Millions and millions of streams all over the world. I did a cover.

Sarah Hester Ross: 34:20

It's a cover of the song called I Am my Mother's Savage Daughter and I think that goes back to the idea that I didn't write this song. But this song made me feel so empowered and I did a little research on it, found that there was no professional studio recording of it. There's a bunch of live recordings, like the original artist has, like videos of her singing it live. She is of the Nordic community and so, like the recording that she has of herself singing, it is like her sitting around this campfire. It's beautiful, it's really lovely. But there was no studio version of it. So I got in the studio, recorded it, my boyfriend produced it for me and I put it out kind of as a mother's day present for my mom and uh, it just blew up. It was and again, it was because I connected with it so much. Because I connected with it so much, it wasn't a surprise to me that other women connected to it as well, and it was cool, it was really cool.

Sarah Hester Ross: 35:33

So that was probably my big, my first viral viral video.

Jennifer Logue: 35:37

And that came from such an authentic, true place. You know this is a gift for your mom.

Sarah Hester Ross: 35:43

I think so. That's wonderful for your mom. I think I think so. Yeah, yeah, it was. I think so, and I think that's part of again why people connected with it, and I also love that I was part of getting that song out into audiences that might not have heard it in its original form, and so how did you find the song originally?

Sarah Hester Ross: 36:08

On TikTok. Actually, I heard an audio of it and it didn't. The audio cut off before the end, which I was like, oh, that's so frustrating because I love the last line so much it's I am my mother's savage daughter, the one who runs barefoot, cursing sharp stones. I am my mother's savage daughter. I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice. And the audio on TikTok cut off before I will not lower my voice. And I was like, no, that's my favorite line, I love it. So I did a just like an acapella version of it, finishing it, and it blew up, wow, and that's why I decided to do a full recording of the song.

Jennifer Logue: 36:57

Very cool Now with social media. Some artists that I talk to say it's a drain for them. You know to do the social media stuff, but it's a necessary part of business and this is how you have built your career, you know, with social media, but how do you balance it with creating art and just living life? You know.

Sarah Hester Ross: 37:20

I treat it like a live performance and, if that makes sense, I treat it as a um. When I am thinking about a video that I want to post, I I I give myself a timeframe. I'm like this is what I'm doing, I'm going to record it, I'm going to post it and then I walk away it. I'm going to post it, and then I walk away, and then I give myself a couple days without looking at it, without researching it, without researching the next video. It's what I've had to do because, you're right, social media is incredibly draining, but, again, it's a necessity, as in touring or live performance, you're trying to get your stuff out to another audience, getting someone else to see you that has never seen you before, and so that's kind of how I do it. I give myself a schedule and a time frame.

Jennifer Logue: 38:17

That's wonderful and you take a few days away from it. Yes, so you're not posting like every day. Some people are posting like crazy, like every single day, boom, boom, boom. And I'm like yeah, I did.

Sarah Hester Ross: 38:28

I did that during the pandemic, you know, when I didn't have, when I was stuck in my home and I could, I posted three videos a day. That was the recommendation at the time, you know, to grow as fast as possible. Um, and I did, I posted three videos a day and it was exhausting. Now I kind of, um, maybe, post one or two a week Okay, definitely one a week and uh, um, the. The other time is me like researching, like, um, trends and stuff, uh, yeah so, but yeah, I give myself some space for sure cool.

Jennifer Logue: 39:10

That's good to know. Hopefully some other artists take that to heart like there's a way to have some balance oh, definitely scheduling too.

Sarah Hester Ross: 39:18

If you want to post every day, I would suggest giving yourself maybe two days a week of not posting, or not. Sorry, not not posting, but like two days to to schedule filming the content and then posting throughout the rest of the week, but not having to record, not having to actually make it. If that makes sense, okay.

Jennifer Logue: 39:46

Okay.

Sarah Hester Ross: 39:47

That's awesome. So scheduling is ultimately what works for you, but if you don't want to create and post a video every single day, take two days of the week and create five videos and then post them throughout the week.

Jennifer Logue: 40:06

Oh, that's a great idea. So, then it's all focused and then you can just you don't have to worry about it, you don't have to like, just focus on the actual posting of it and walk away.

Sarah Hester Ross: 40:17

Right. But I mean sometimes that's hard to do if you want to be a content creator, if you want your art to reflect what's happening that day or what's happening in a trend that is blowing up, or you know. So scheduling doesn't always work and sometimes if you are on TikTok or Instagram and you see something that inspires, you write it, post it. You know, like scheduling is just to help you not get so uh, I don't know stressed about having to do it every single day and blah, blah, blah. It is, it is.

Sarah Hester Ross: 40:58

I do think it is important to be as consistent as possible, especially in the beginnings of hosting on social being as consistent, but at the end of the day, scheduling will help you with that.

Jennifer Logue: 41:11

Cool, that's really great advice. I get that question a lot. It's like, oh my gosh, I really can't stand social media and I'm like, oh, I'm with you, babe.

Sarah Hester Ross: 41:21

I hate it too Necessary evil at this point.

Jennifer Logue: 41:25

Yeah, now we have AI too, so it's like another conversation for another day. Yeah, but now we want to talk about your comedy special.

Sarah Hester Ross: 41:37

Okay.

Jennifer Logue: 41:38

Don't Miss the Redhead. It's out on Amazon Prime now. How long did it take to put this show together?

Sarah Hester Ross: 41:46

I curated it for about three years. It was a big part of my one woman show here in Las Vegas. I had a residency on Fremont Street and that's when I started putting it together. But from that point until my comedy special the show is very different. And, um, then after my residency, I took it on tour on the road and just learning even more what works, what didn't work, what was better, um, and it changed even from then. So it was about three years and then I recorded it and not recorded it but filmed it, and then there was a year of editing. So it's been a process definitely.

Jennifer Logue: 42:38

Where did you tour? Were you touring comedy clubs or were you touring music venues?

Sarah Hester Ross: 42:44

you tour? Were you touring comedy clubs or are you touring music venues? Mostly comedy clubs. But uh, I was. I did a couple of city wineries which, uh, they do do comedy. Um, but that's kind of what I'm hoping this comedy special does. Um, it gets me into music venues and better theaters. I feel like my show belongs in smaller theaters and stuff like that, but ticket numbers are a big component of getting booked in those and I don't have the best track record as of right now. So that's what I'm hoping is this comedy special will inevitably do.

Jennifer Logue: 43:21

Well, you have a new fan in me. Oh, thank you. I think anyone who watches it is going to you know want to see you live, so I hope so. Yeah, it's so well done, so, so I want to go back to the song. I don't want to have babies, okay. What was the story behind writing that?

Sarah Hester Ross: 43:41

That was my favorite it's hard to pick a favorite, but you know, it's one of my favorites too, Mostly because it really is a conversation starter and ultimately that's what I want my comedy to do. I wanted to start the conversation. I want to open up the doors of people being, you know, open to hearing the perspectives of, you know, trend on TikTok of women talking about not wanting to have kids, and I noticed it was a topic of conversation and I kind of wanted to give a soundtrack to the conversation. A soundtrack to the conversation I want to say and I know I'm so sorry if this is crude, but I was.

Sarah Hester Ross: 44:45

I think I was on the toilet and and just like bopping and be like I don't, I don't, I don't want and I bite it, and I remember doing that voice. I remember I was like this is this, this could be fun, this could be catchy, this could be catchy, this could be like a 90s kind of style bop thing and um. But yeah, I think most of most of my original comedy comedy has started from me seeing it on social media as a conversation and me wanting to write a soundtrack for it. Cool, I've never even, I've never even thought of that before. That is literally the first time I've ever said that, but I think that's interesting.

Jennifer Logue: 45:28

That is interesting, and I love how you also use social media as inspiration, because we can't escape these things in our life. We can't escape technology. It's like as artists, we have to work with the tools we have in the context of the world we're living in, and I love how you've made it positive.

Sarah Hester Ross: 45:47

I do. I mean, tiktok is a huge influence on me and in my art and in my comedy I find something that I'm like oh my gosh, that's so funny, that's so clever. How do I write that in my voice? How do I? You know, how do I produce, like I said, how do I produce a soundtrack to this conversation? Because, you know, I'm not just speaking, I'm singing, I'm writing full length songs. How do I do that? And, yeah, it's a huge inspiration to me.

Jennifer Logue: 46:23

So I know you write other songs as well, like outside of comedy stuff. Do you have any plans to work on that music as well?

Sarah Hester Ross: 46:31

I like to merge the two and if you ever see me live, I do that. I wasn't able to do that in the comedy special because it was strictly comedy, but if you ever see me live on stage, I merge the two. I don't just do a comedy show, I perform Savage Daughter live most of the time and, yeah, I like to intertwine, like what I call my normal songs, because, again, the comedy is for empowering people and strengthening them into having the conversations and my regular music does the exact same thing. So, or is the goal of it? So I like to, you know, weave them into the show every time I play live.

Jennifer Logue: 47:26

So Because it's all you, yeah, it's all me, yeah, so I love that so much. We I think it's so easy for us as artists to like put ourselves into boxes sometimes because the world wants to put us into a box. We're more like like, oh, where do you fit we? You know, and it's just in this age we're in now, like anything goes, we just need to be ourselves.

Sarah Hester Ross: 47:56

Right. And and that's why I go back to Bette Midler, you know, that's why I use her as such a prime inspiration and example, because she did that in the sense where she got popular on the radio with Roses and Wind Beneath my Wings. But she was a comedian in her own right. So when you saw her on stage, when you saw her live, she would do Roses, she would do Wind Beneath, she would do covers of beautiful ballads and stuff like that, and then she would make dick jokes and you know, and that's who she was, yeah, and that's who I want to be, and that's who, well, wouldn't want to be. But like in my own skin, in my own self as an individual, but like that's who I am too. I have those levels to offer. So why wouldn't I? And um, I use that analogy of the idea of not putting me in a box because I can't do it, so why would I let somebody else do it?

Jennifer Logue: 48:51

Exactly what's next for you, Sarah.

Sarah Hester Ross: 48:54

Oh, I don't know. To be quite honest, I have absolutely no idea. I do have one show. I'm not sure when this is going to come out, but at the end of May in San Diego at the Mic Drop Comedy Club. That's the 26th of May, but that's the only thing that I have on the schedule at this point, and so I'm just going to be pushing and hard my comedy special and seeing where that takes me.

Jennifer Logue: 49:24

And can people still see you in Las Vegas as well?

Sarah Hester Ross: 49:28

They can. I'm at the Piano Bar at New York New York Hotel and Casino Fridays, sundays and Tuesdays, unless I'm on the road. And again, just to preface, it's not my show, it's not my comedy show, it is a piano bar show. But it's not my show. It's not my comedy show, it is a piano bar show. So, but it's fun and I love when people come in to see me and they, you know, do Florida man or do no babies or do stop giving them microphones and and all that stuff, and I try to appease. But again, it's not my show, so it's a little different. But yeah, you can always come and visit me. It's a, it's a good time.

Jennifer Logue: 50:19

Cool, I have to check out your song that you're talking about on Spotify, that you did for your mom. What is it?

Sarah Hester Ross: 50:26

called again. My version is called Savage Daughter. The original is called I Am my Mother's Savage Daughter, but yes, so it's on Spotify and it's a beautiful song and I'm so happy to be part of its history at this point. I guess there are other covers of it now that are just beautiful and powerful and just as beautiful, if not more, as mine, and the original is beautiful as well, too, so I would suggest to listen to them all, because they're different but beautiful.

Jennifer Logue: 51:02

Sarah, thank you so much. This conversation was amazing, you were amazing.

Sarah Hester Ross: 51:07

Oh, thank you so much for having me. This was fun.

Jennifer Logue: 51:10

Cool and y'all got to check out. Don't Mess With the Redhead on Amazon Prime. Where else is it Sarah?

Sarah Hester Ross: 51:16

Apple TV, youtube and Google Play.

Jennifer Logue: 51:19

Wonderful For more on Sarah Hester Ross. Visit SarahHesterRosscom and follow her on social media, and thank you so much for tuning in and growing in creativity with us. I'd love to know what you thought of today's episode, what you found most interesting, what you found most helpful. You can reach out to me on social media, at Jennifer Logue, or leave a review for Creative Space on Apple Podcasts so more people can discover it. I appreciate you so much for being here. My name is Jennifer Logue and thanks for listening to this episode of Creative Space. Until next time, thank you.