Singer/Songwriter Savanté Unveils Creator-Driven Video for "Beautiful"

Words by Mallory Thompson

Graphic by Emily Lantzy

With all the craziness right now, singer/songwriter Savanté wanted to shine a little bit of light. With COVID-19 delaying his music video plans, he turned to TikTok to find new talent. With help from family, fans, and popular creators, he created a music video entirely composed of short clips from TikTok. A few weeks ago, I had the chance to sit down over Skype and talk with Savanté about his career, inspiration and why the world needs to feel “Beautiful.” 

How are you doing with all the craziness in the world right now?

I’m doing well; my business partner and I decided early on that we were going to make this an opportunity. We’re working out constantly, eating a lot healthier, and working a lot, probably 3x more than we would be. There’s a lot of people around us that are struggling, so [we’re] balancing between staying compassionate and working hard. But we’re treating this like an opportunity. I think that it’s a time to come together, a time to connect more and talk about things and not be so busy.

That’s definitely a great way to look at it, I’m trying to use this as a time to be really productive, but not force myself to do anything. Nobody knows when the end of this is, and that’s pretty ominous. Trying to make the best of it is a good idea. So tell me a bit about you, I know you go by Savanté, is that a stage name?

Yes, Steven is my birth name. Savanté is my singer/stage name. When I was a baby - people say that you don’t have memories before 3, but I must’ve been about 3 - I would listen to my music box and pick out the different notes in different colors and play them in my head. That's one memory I have that's very distinct. I was always performing for my family with my siblings, just around the house. We’d put on productions and write scripts. I had always dreamed of doing that and would watch artists like Michael Jackson and Prince and people like that and daydream about that. When I was a teenager, I was severely unpopular at school and didn’t have that many friends. I was also one of the first biracial people in my school which was predominantly caucasian. So I would dive into music. I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning before my 6 am bible study, and I would have my tape player recording and I would practice my scales every single morning for an hour from Monday through Friday before I went to bible study.

That is dedication!

Yeah, that was my high school career. And then that took me into doing statewide competitions. So I did county first, then district, then regional competitions, and then state. I was the first male at my high school since 1972 to go to ‘all easterns,’ which were nationals. So I did that until my senior year and then went to college for music. After college, I played Simba in The Lion King and started touring China and Japan. [On] the last performance in that tour, I got scouted and got asked to come audition for a record label in Korea, which had primarily KPOP with artists such as KARA and a few other 90’s pop legends, stuff like that. So I went there, got signed as a solo artist, and then got put into a boyband. We practiced Monday through Sunday. We had to work out from 9 am - 11:30 am, and then we were in the studio from noon to midnight, 7 days a week, 365 days a year - even Christmas.

Wow! That’s intense.

Yeah, so that was KPOP life. I did that for about a year and a half and then got scouted by SoftBank in Japan. SoftBank is like the Verizon of Japan. They were piloting a record label, so they brought me on as their first pilot act to start a record label. So I left [the boy band] to do a solo contract in Japan and was there for a little bit, and they kinda weren’t sure what to do at the time, so it was taking a while. I ended up meeting Andre Fuentes who was the creative director for Britney Spears at the time. He ended up directing one of my music videos. So him and I became good friends. One day Andre said, “Why don’t you just move to LA? You can do whatever you want, you can start a record label, there are so many opportunities, I can get you dancing with Britney.” So I said okay. I left my really nice contract in Japan, my really nice apartment with my bed and everything, and moved to LA and I knew nobody. The first night [in LA] I remember, I slept in a cockroach filled motel. I kind of took a leap of faith; my contract in Japan was ending and it was either ‘re-sign with the label’ or start something new. After some crazy experiences I went to find some ads for people in the music industry. I found a flyer for another boyband audition. I went to the manager and said, “I already know how to do this.” He was going to start a multinational boyband group. He had me audition for it and then he auditioned everyone else. So we started writing a TV show pilot which later became ‘Big Time Rush.’

What! That’s crazy, you were almost in Big Time Rush.

Yeah, so Nickelodeon ended up taking Big Time Rush; the concept and the idea was that they wanted 4 white guys. We had every race and they didn’t really want that and they wanted 4 white guys, so they took that concept. After that, I ended up working with the gentleman who found Gwen Stefani. He was the co-founder of Interscope Records. We did a couple showcases and sold out a couple places in Hollywood [with the guys from the boyband]. We started doing gigs everywhere and then some of the guys [started dropping off]. One guy wanted to start a family, one guy wanted to be in a movie. So, my best friend and I looked at each other and then realized that we should do our own thing. I started to book 5 shows a month in LA; I played The Roxy and the El Rey Theatre, and if you’re familiar with LA, you know that those are the big clubs. People from Warner and Interscope started coming through and they said “You’re wonderful and you’re awesome, but you’re 3 years ahead, so we can’t do anything right now, so keep going!” And that’s what I heard, every single time. I ended up meeting a songwriter named Adrian Newman who introduced me to Ryan Stewart who co-wrote “Call Me Maybe.” I ended up writing “Beautiful” with him; he’s a co-writer on there. We were working on a public release for an EP, and then the song got put on hold. I started working with a publicist in LA and we were doing lots of red carpets and stuff like that, and I was doing an event for Desperate Housewives once and I started to feel empty, like I was chasing things and working so hard and feeling empty, and to me, it didn’t add up. I thought I was supposed to be fulfilled. So I took a couple months [to] recollect and gather myself and really kind of ground myself in everything. I then ended up going to Korea right away to do a TV show called Superstar K, which is like the American Idol of Korea. I got on Top 10 for that and did really well. I then came back to the states and met my [now] business partner and said, “I have this song called ‘Beautiful;’ I’m going to write a couple songs that I’ve been working on for an EP. Now’s the time to do it, so let’s do it.” So we started to get the EP together and release the music, and then COVID-19 hit, so we’re like “We gotta plow through and release this stuff,” so here we are.

Awesome, so all of this sounds great. You have such a crazy story; when you were saying Big Time Rush, I honestly had a flashback as that was part of my childhood. I know all of their music and the show, but to hear about how it was built is so interesting. You’ve seen the craziness of LA as well as the KPOP music scene and have such a unique career that's really prepared you for what you’re doing today. So I wanted to dive in a little deeper to get to know more of your name and your inspiration so firstly, you go by Savante, what is the meaning behind that name?

Yeah absolutely, so it’s the french word for ‘to be wise,’ and I don’t really consider myself completely wise, but I do take my study really seriously. I study people, I study the world, I study music and what people really want. I do my best to learn as much as I can and then simplify and put it into music. I like to give the music substance and purpose. 

So transitioning a bit, what was the inspiration for your song “Beautiful,” which was written with the songwriter from “Call Me Maybe?”

Yeah, so initially I wrote the demo, and it was originally called “Simply Invisible.” I wrote it on the porch of my childhood home with my sister and there was this melody I had written and it always stuck with me. This melody never left my head. We wanted to create an anthem for girls, for women, for guys for younger and older people - for everyone, honestly - that's a self affirmation. There are a lot of songs called “Beautiful,” but typically they're slower and a little bit more sappier. I wanted more of a banger, a dancier song called “Beautiful.” I wanted people to be proud of who they were. There are a lot of times when I have been proud of myself and other times where I haven’t been proud of myself, but that self care and self confidence to be able to love who you are and love what you’re doing. I wanted people to be able to love their mistakes and love your past as much as your future. So I wanted something that people could hang onto as an anthem. When I went on TikTok, I noticed that a lot of girls that would repost the TikTok videos would write in their caption ‘I’m not beautiful.’

That’s interesting.

I noticed in the human condition, we are seeing that a lot of girls don’t think they’re beautiful, and maybe that's why makeup does so well. I do think makeup is great and creative and beautiful, but I think that the inner makeup we need to do is that self affirmation.

So I saw that you started the #IAmBeautiful campaign on TikTok, so I wanted to know, how did it come to be?

We were having a meeting about what to do for the music video because of COVID, because we couldn’t film anything. My parents own a restaurant, and there weren’t any customers, and I had actually seen on Facebook that they went outside in the parking lot and started dancing to “Beautiful,” and I said “Oh my gosh, this great.” Then a few videos came in on TikTok, so we kind of came up with the #IAmBeautiful challenge. We posted [the challenge] on social media saying we’re doing this video, if you wanna be in the video, go on TikTok and have your friends post it, and we had them pour in. There are about 50 submissions in the video. 

I saw that people did a specific dance to the song; was this something that was created by the users on TikTok, or did you come up with this?

That was not something I did, people just did it.

What made you decide to go on TikTok out of all the platforms? Why not Instagram or Twitter or one of those.

Well I noticed that TikTok was a little less formal, more fun, and more quick, and I had never really been on TikTok. A couple of people had sent me videos, but I had never really grasped what it was. There are lots of dances [and trends] on there. It called for more than Instagram and Facebook. 

Yeah, it’s definitely an app that's done a lot for the music industry, it's helped a lot of songs grow and ‘pop off,’ because once they go viral, it creates a domino effect. It has definitely helped the music industry. Do you think you’ll advertise future songs on TikTok?

I think so; every single one of our songs that does get released gets distributed on TikTok. Any social media is media, and anybody that you can reach that you wouldn’t normally be able to is great. Maybe that's what the girls on TikTok need, maybe they need to hear that they’re beautiful. I try not to say no to an opportunity if it calls itself.

Why did now seem like the best time to release “Beautiful?”

Because music was not pop. There’s a lot of emo rap and a lot of R&B, so once this whole pandemic hit, I was thinking “Oh my gosh, did we do this at the wrong time,” but no, this is the perfect time, this is what people need. So, I remember December of 2019 feeling like next year [2020] was the best time to release it. Whatever reason that is, it's here now and we’re doing it. 

If the pandemic would have not been as big, do you think you still would have released it?

Yeah absolutely, We had planned to release it before the pandemic hit, and then it hit and actually it wasn’t even a question. We didn’t debate whether or not we would do it.

What would you say is the most important thing about making music? 

I think the quality of it, what it’s saying. I know now with Spotify and Apple Music, we kind of just hear lots of songs that we scroll through. I remember when I was younger, and you probably have these too, there were so many key songs that were such a part of your life. They were a soundtrack to that moment or that year and that feeling or that time period, and I think music is one of those intangibles. We think we can buy it, but we can’t. But I think the most important thing about making music is being able to influence and shift people and help people and express it for other people. 

 What can we expect from you for the rest of 2020?

We’re working on an album. We’re working on a music video for release in summer. We’re going to be doing an iHeartRadio Showcase. You know, things are probably going to be different after corona. But we are fully prepared to strike whatever avenue is hot after this happens, because things are going to change. We thought we had it all figured out, but this is shifting things. We’re gonna work hard; release lots of music and lots of content. We also have a clothing line called The Beautiful T-Shirt that goes with the video. It comes in black, white, and pink, and kids can buy it and so can men and women. It says ‘I Am Beautiful.’ We also have another one that says ‘Future Boss, Established 2020,’ inspiring people to be their own boss, entrepreneur, and CEO of their life! Not work for anyone. We have the label t-shirt for ‘Werner Marshall’ and the “Beautiful” cell phone case. That's releasing at the end of the month. People will be able to listen to the music, watch the music and then be able to wear the music and see it. We wanted them to be able to touch the heart of everything that’s going on. With everything being so digital with Apple Music and Spotify, we’re trying to figure out how to get the message and the concept and the feeling of it into the hands of the people, cause people don’t buy CD’s anymore. 

I wish they still bought CD’s.

I know, same! I have a couple records and CD’s since [they] used to be released on Tuesdays. I would go to this place called MediaPlay every Tuesday and buy them. I was a pop fanatic when I was growing up.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share before we wrap up?

Thank you for taking the time to interview me. We really believe in the message of the music that is going out. In a time where people are feeling a lot of unrest, we want them to feel good. We want to be a part of that movement that actually makes this time better and easier. It’s great to be able to make music and have fun doing it.  

Make sure to check out Savanté’s new music video for “Beautiful” and follow him on his social media to stay updated with everything he releases in 2020, including his new merch line! @officialsavante