Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Greer.
Hi Sara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I could sing before I could talk. Piano was my first instrument, then guitar. I started writing songs around 9 years old, and started posting music online and performing locally when I was 13.
I then put out a couple of records as a teenager, none of which performed well. I went through a brief period after graduating where I thought I wanted to give up. I worked fast food/retail jobs full-time, with odd-ball sound-engineering gigs here and there.
I had always posted music publicly, and had always posted my stances/opinions privately; but I recently decided to start doing this publicly as well. I had several viral videos; and though I was still posting my music as well, it wasnt gaining nearly as much traction.
Until September, when I posted a video of me singing “Bella Ciao,” a famous historical protest song, acapella in my bedroom. That collectively garnered over 3 million views on both instagram and tiktok.
Not too long after that, I posted a simple clip of me playing/singing an original song that I had just started writing, called “Lorelei.” I started the video off by saying, “this is a song about when two avoidants fall for each other and if it doesnt go viral, I will be deleting it because its based on a true story.” For that reason, I almost didnt post it. Until a couple of my friends talked me into it. Sure enough, it went viral, and garnered over a million views from people all over the world. People have posted covers of themselves singing it and have also made their own videos to it. Someone even made an animation to it on YouTube. I have since started a Patreon that has helped fund the recording process, and that song is now set to release 02/06/2026, and I will be having a release party for it in my hometown, Newnan on the 7th. I will have some other amazingly talented artists performing with me as well.
I have another song called RIOT! that will be coming out later in the Spring too. I wrote it about being queer (i am nonbinary) and being neurodivergent, and reclaiming your power. It is also my love letter to marginalized communities all around the world.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I was 15 I had to take a brief hiatus because I had scoliosis surgery. Both of my lungs had to be deflated during an 8 hour long procedure that took me around 3-4 months to recover from, so naturally it took me months of breathing and vocal exercises to catch my vocal ability back up.
When I was 21, I got married. I went through two years of all sorts of abuse before divorcing at 23 in January 2025. I had stomach ulcers and all sorts of other health problems that arose from that mess. During that marriage, when i was 22, my doctors told me that I was autistic (in addition to receiving an ADHD diagnosis when I was 17). I was advised to stop suppressing certain traits about myself for the sake of my mental health. This unfortunately was not met with any grace from my ex-husband or his family. They cyberbullied me for several months, even after the divorce was finalized in January last year.
My parents initially did not approve of the divorce either, because for a while they did not believe me about the abuse and the bullying. So during the months of November-December 2024, I was couch surfing and even slept in my car a couple times.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Above all else, I strive to be authentically myself in all that I do; whether that be through music, standing up for what I believe in, or simply being goofy. I once heard someone say that expression is the opposite of depression, and that if you find yourself depressed its because you arent expressing yourself authentically. I have found those words ring true.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
With the current state of the world, I highly recommend The Diary of Anne Frank. History is bound to repeat itself if we refuse to learn from it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realsyrene?igsh=eDYzNWdpc2p0YXFs
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@realsyrene?_r=1&_t=ZT-92kkqDTWn4X
Image Credits
Wade Allen Photography
