In The Spotlight: Debbie Silva

Today in the spotlight is the lovely Debbie! She actually followed me on Twitter a while ago, and I love how her fan base has grown since then. She’s an amazing singer, and I thought I’d do an interview with her so that y’all can get to know her!

What are the five things you can’t live without?
Music, Internet, my phone, Netflix, video games (I admit, I’m a gamer haha)

Ten years from now you will be…
Wow, that’s a long time from now. I don’t know what the future has in store for me but ten years from now I hope to be a successful musician; touring all around the world, still sharing my music with everyone, etc…! I also want to open my own recording label someday so I hope that by then I’ve achieved that or I’m working towards that. I want to help develop and nourish new talent; help people who share the same love for music as I do tell their stories by their music… help them be heard and make their mark in the world! I wanna make a change!

But mostly, I want to be happy! Money, fame, success all fades one day and for me happiness is all that matters the most 🙂

What five artists/songs would I see on your recently played list?
Now this is a hard question for me as I’m always listening to music, hahaha.

I’ve recently discovered Halsey and she’s become one of my all time favourite artists. Her songwriting skills are simply out of this world! So she’s one of the 5 artists you’d definitely see on that list.
All Time Low (which is one of my favourite bands ever!) obviously is on that list too.
Errmm, let me see who else… Sleeping With Sirens, Nathan Sykes and Demi Lovato.

Now, the top 5 songs (as of today) most likely are (in no particular order):

• Trouble by Halsey
• A Party Song by All Time Low
• Kiss Me Quick by Nathan Sykes
• Cool For The Summer by Demi Lovato
• Go Go Go by Sleeping With Sirens

I could go on for days. This list changes everyday… even every hour to be honest, haha.

At what age did you start singing?
As far as I remember I’ve always been singing, I might even have started singing before I learnt to speak. I remember being around 4 years old and carrying my little radio/cassette player, that had a microphone attached to it, around the house and I would record myself singing over my mum’s cassette tapes.

She would put her (now forever ruined) cassette tapes playing and all you could hear was me singing the opening songs from Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon too, and so on… I did that for years and years and years. If I found a cassette tape laying around I would use it right away, even if I was making up my own songs on the spot. My mum obviously wasn’t too happy about it, haha.

Who are your inspirations?
My mum is my main inspiration. She’s been through so much and still she always has a smile on her face. She’s the strongest, bravest, most graceful person I know and I’m proud to be her daughter.

My closest friends too, who even after being through so much still manage to see the bright side in every situation.

Music wise: Demi Lovato, Avril Lavigne, All Time Low, The Veronicas, Kelly Clarkson and Nathan Sykes are some of my inspirations.

Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to sing as a career or just advice in general?
If you truly love something, that being singing or something else, never let anyone tell you you can’t do it because trust me, you can!

If you’re lucky to find something you’re very passionate about never let that go! Work hard and ALWAYS believe in yourself. One day it will all be worth it. Unfortunately, no matter what you do or where you go in life there’s haters everywhere and they’ll always hate.

My advice is: surround yourself with people who love you and who you love and who support you – they’ll help you through it all.

Work hard, always believe in yourself and you can do anything!

You write your own songs; where do you draw inspiration from when you write songs and what’s your favourite part of the process?
When I write my own songs/lyrics sometimes I write about stories I made up in my mind mixed with personal experiences or even just a storyline I made up! I love writing a lot, not only lyrics. I love creating stories that don’t exist yet anywhere else but in my head and give life to it.

Sometimes I get inspired by the world and people around me, movies and/or books, by friends, family or even total strangers on the street. I love to observe people and everything around me as I believe there’s always a story to be told… something to be said!

Over the years I’ve learnt to “read” people in a certain way and what they might be feeling and it inspires me. I try to put myself in their shoes so to say.

Then there’s times I write from my own life experiences; from the depths of my soul and heart. Not that I don’t do that with every single song I write because I do but this is way more personal. Those are the songs that make me feel the most vulnerable. It’s like I’m giving everyone who’s interested the opportunity to read my diary/journal; my deepest and darkest thoughts; my life story; my happy moments and the not so good ones… And although I find it exciting and fascinating to be able to share everything with the world I also feel, as I said, super vulnerable and also very exposed!

Writing songs helps me relax and take everything I’ve bottled up inside out and I can’t wait for the day where I’ll finally start sharing them all with everyone.

My favourite part is definitely giving life to a story/memory.

What is a typical day/week like for you?
I’ve been getting busier and busier as the days go by!

When I’m not working on my day job, I’m writing lyrics or doing something music related! I try to go to the gym whenever I can as I love working out, it helps me deal with stress and clear my head. Family is very important to me so I spend as much time as I can home with my mum, sister, my 2 kittens and my 2 guinea pigs (my kittens and guinea pigs are my babies, haha).

I hang out/talk with my friends whenever I have a day off/a break, but currently my free time is spent in my room writing lyrics. As I don’t have much free time as it is, the few that I have I like to spend at home chilling and watching Netflix.

I’m currently working on something very exciting that I will share with everyone soon, but until then it’s a secret, shhh 😛

Do you see yourself as more of a songwriter or a singer?
I share the same love for both!

And finally, if vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Not gonna lie, I kinda googled that question and the answers were really interesting to say at least, hahaha.

I had no idea how to answer that so I asked one of my closest friends, Stacey, and she replied “Steak!”, haha.

Check out Debbie’s tunes on Soundcloud! Her music video will be out very soon, and keep an eye out on her YouTube for new content!