Serious Songwriter: Heather Sommer

Heather Sommer

Location:

New York, NY, USA

Tell us about yourself:

Hi! I'm Heather Sommer. I'm a singer-songwriter, and visual artist from NY. Dogs are my favorite. I really love greek food and pizza. When I feel overwhelmed, my favorite thing to do includes taking unnecessarily long drives to nowhere while blasting music and overanalyzing songwriting structures and chord progressions.

Name of your most recent release:

I like You More In My Dreams (comes out July 17, 2020)

Why are you a songwriter?

I hope that by being vulnerable, raw and honest with the music I write, it'll allow listeners to be able to relate, connect, and feel understood. Music is all about connection.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?

I recently just passed 35 million streams on Spotify and I am so grateful. I know numbers aren't everything, but I can't say this wasn't super exciting! Every year I write down my goals, and a few months ago 'pass 35 million streams on Spotify' was one of them. It's always an amazing feeling to accomplish the goals you set for yourself.

Share the most interesting writing experience you ever had:

Probably when I participated in Songathon last summer! It was definitely a really invigorating experience. The challenge of being paired up with complete strangers coming from different places and backgrounds was amazing.

What makes you unique as a songwriter?

Sometimes I refer to myself as a vocal chameleon in that my vocals allow for me to jump from one genre to another. While my background over the past 3 years has been centered mainly in the world of electronic music, my pop-centered singles, '632' (self-produced, performed and written), 'We Used To' with Richie Nuzz and Kunis, and 'The Problem' with Adam Turley are more in the direction I am headed in the future.

If you could write with anyone (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Julia Michaels, Lauv, Chelsea Cutler, Jeremy Zucker, Shy Martin. The list goes on but these are a few of my favorites- they're all unbelievably talented and I'm deeply influenced and inspired by all of them!

How can the Serious Songwriter community help you?

I'm always interested in connecting with people who I can learn and grow from. One thing that I really valued from last years Songathon was how the judges were so open and willing to speak with all of us throughout the entire process. To this day I still talk to Alex Bilo! He's become a mentor to me, Sara Sommerer, and a few others I know from Songathon.

What can you help the Serious Songwriter community with?

I'm always open to listening to new music from up and coming talent. I love giving honest constructive feedback to other songwriters as well!

Fun fact about you:

I'm a New Years Eve baby- was born on December 31st 1994!