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Sydney Shae has never been one to toe the line — at least, not as far as her music is concerned. At just 24, the rising country artist has a pretty good idea of who she is and where she’s going.
Of course, part of that identity was forged in her native DeLand and the greater Daytona area before moving to Nashville to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter (locals might know her as Sydney Harp, her given name, but she swapped out her last name for her middle name, Shae, for the music industry).
Now, her music stylings bring her back to her hometown with her latest single, “I Miss Daytona,” released Aug. 29 on most music streaming sites including Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora.
Who is Sydney Shae?
On her YouTube channel, Shae is described as a “Nashville-based country artist known for her vivid storytelling, warm vocals, and fresh take on modern country music.”
Her love of music was obvious at an early age. She recalls being maybe 5 or 6 riding in the back of her mom’s car and listening to “Clocks” by Coldplay.
“‘And I just said, ‘What is that?’ And my mom said, ‘Piano,’ (the song starts that way) and I said, ‘I want to do that,'” Shae said in a recent phone interview with The News-Journal.
So her mother enrolled her in piano lessons — only to have her instructor start her on classical music. That was not going to work.
“I wanted to play only what I wanted to hear and was on the radio,” Shae said laughing. “I was definitely a little rebellious.”
Sydney Shae began to write her own songs on a ‘terrible, purple’ guitar
So with the help of a “terrible, purple little starter guitar,” she taught herself to strum the strings, and with a natural ear for music, she could sound things out on the guitar and developed her own sound. Meanwhile, she began penning her own songs.
By the time she attended Southwestern Middle School, Shae (then still Harp) was pretty much drafted into the school’s choir for her pipes.
“I was a real chorus kid,” said Shae.
And she took voice lessons to strengthen her natural instrument.
While a student at DeLand High School (Class of 2019), Shae was pretty busy with singing competitions and “completely focused to keep doing what I was doing to stay in music — I would do anything to make that happen.”
For Shae, the next logical step was Nashville, where she could get a degree in music at Belmont University and jump into the gigging scene at the same time. She took any jobs she could and interned at record labels, all the while making mental notes about the kind of artist she wanted to be.
“I really locked into my style and sound,” said Shae.
Since her debut song, “Take my Boots Off,” Shae has begun to make a name for herself in Music City, where she performs regularly. Her debut EP “Gold” made an immediate impact, earning spots on Spotify’s All New Country and Apple Music’s New in Country, with streaming numbers surpassing 100,000. In 2024, she was also a featured speaker at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville’s songwriting program. While in DeLand, she has played at the Country Line Saloon.
‘I Miss Daytona’ to be released to streaming sites Aug. 29
And now, as she prepares to release a second EP called “Gone,” Shae’s thoughts return to home with lyrics in “I Miss Daytona” like: “I wanna get outta town/ Somewhere on a beach/ I’m talkin drink in hand/ Toes are deep in the sand/ That’s right where I wanna be;” and “Soon as Corona with a lime/ Touches my lips/ I miss Daytona.” Shae co-wrote the song with collaborators Ashton Butler and Camryn Gardner.
For someone who’s comfortable striking out on her own and with a lot of DIY experience under her belt, Shae hopes she will continue to gain more traction with the listening public.
Asked where she hoped to be in a year, Shae said “I still hope I’ll be living here and able to do music and to put out better songs than ever before — oh yeah, and I hope my reach doubles in size.”
On the eve of her latest single to be released, Sydney Shae says she’ll be waiting in the early morning hours to see how the song charts, hitting refresh to check the number of streams.
“Music,” Shae said, “it’s a brave, new world out there.”
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