By Corey Chun / Photos from Corey Chun & Jessica Tran / Album art from Sedona and Jasmine Rust

The first act is never an easy one for musicians. 

Singer songwriter Sedona Regan knows this better than anyone--in more ways than one. Few in attendance appeared to know much about her when she recently took the stage at a local Syracuse house show, as evidenced by the telltale body language all musicians dread: backs turned, loud, distracted conversations, more interest in the bar area than in front of the stage. Yet, note by note, Sedona’s bluesy vocals, lyrical craftsmanship, and commanding stage presence beckoned and seduced the crowd until she had every eye and ear riveted on her for the duration of her set.  

 We all wondered, “Who is this siren, and where has she been hiding?” The answer is a circuitous one because again, the first act is never an easy one. As it turns out, we are tuning into Sedona’s reset after an initial launch that was beset by challenges and setbacks. Now on more solid ground, both musically and personally, the 20-year-old San Francisco native is set to release her second album, Fishbowl, on November 8th.  

 Sedona Regan is the kind of artist who refuses to confine herself to a single genre. Her style consists of rich, smooth vocals, stripped instrumental foundations, and emotionally raw lyrics that will resonate with anyone who’s experienced the extremes of love. More recently, she’s turned to rapping, which is featured prominently in Fishbowl, but she defies the genre and gender norms typically associated with female hip hop artists by performing with a uniquely tranquil, seemingly effortless sound. With a distinctive, dynamic production style, she leaves open spaces for rapping when she really wants to articulate an idea, a style she picked up from some of her hip hop influences. Her words naturally flow in and out of the soothing, structural beat, inviting listeners to hone in on her lyrics, as evidenced by the spell she cast on that mesmerized house party crowd.  

 Recently, I sat down with Sedona and discussed some of the questions buzzing around those who had the good fortune to attend her Syracuse debut performance. 

 “Whenever I used to sing fast, my mom always told me she could hear my words a lot more. Since then, I’ve tried to do my own version of rapping instead of replicating others and it just makes me feel good. Progressing with this album, I started opening up more space for me to rap whenever I want simply because I feel the most comfortable in that space sometimes. “

 With her fine tuned, distinctive sound and a fairly large collection of previously released recordings, you would never guess Sedona performed her own music for the first time a mere month ago at an outdoor house show. Another noteworthy fact is that she managed to produce so much material while also muscling through multiple mental health challenges. She acknowledges that early on in her career, her struggles significantly impacted her creative process and delayed the release of her music, and they also seeped into her songwriting.  

Sedona’s first album Here, released during her freshman year, is a hidden collection of songs reflecting a rocky start to her first two years in college. Feeling displaced in a new environment, devoted more to distraction than reflection, and stuck in a fragile, long-distance relationship, Sedona views her first album as a rushed burst of heartbreak, but a valuable experience nonetheless. Still unsettled and uncertain about promoting herself to the music community, she limited its release to close friends and family.  

 Going home during COVID served as a necessary moment of reflection for Sedona, having undergone drastic changes mentally, and in turn, creatively. To catch her breath and once again center music in her life, she needed to return to an environment surrounded by the people she loved most. Slowly, she emerged from her protective shell, and the newest inspiration and context for what became her upcoming album started flowing.  

 “My mental health heavily affects my creativity and my heart. I made the album because I had all these feelings I had to express that were weighing on my heart, but now I associate a very uncomfortable time in my life with some of those songs as I was so far removed from being real with myself. In this album, I wanted it to be very real and organic.”

 In her upcoming album, Fishbowl, the songs started writing themselves once she allowed herself to open up and make peace with other people’s perceptions of her. Songs like “Drug Money” and “Blue Swivel Chair,” currently out as demos on Soundcloud, nimbly combine her raw perspectives on addictive elements in a relationship with a growing self-awareness. She notes that her process of writing the album was sporadic and likens it to a flowing stream of consciousness. Although the context differs between her first and second album, they both lure listeners into her emotional landscape through the honesty and transparency of her lyrics.  

 “This album is about the world outside of me and becoming more aware of myself and my perception of the world. Each song is a reflection of how I took an experience and turned it into a lesson. Even in the process of finishing the album, I cooped myself up in a room and just tirelessly worked on it until it was how I wanted. It is very much about my little world looking into everyone else’s little worlds.”

 During her first performance, Sedona entered the stage aware that this was the first impression she would make on an audience with such personal material. By the end of the show, her captivating presence left every person in the audience lining up for her next show. Fortunately, she has multiple house shows lined up in the upcoming weeks to promote her newest album and remind us why we fell under her spell the first time we heard her voice. In the meantime, check out Fishbowl on November 8th.