Musician Feature: Joe Saan
Written by Kayla Curry, photos by Katie Chandler
Joe Saan spends much of his time dreaming of living in New York or Los Angeles, living off of making music and taking every present moment with grace. To Saan, every daydream is a potential song, and every season of his life is a learning experience.
Hailing from Puerto Rico and Orlando, the 24-year-old musician decided early in his life to pursue music, with no backup plan. He decided to move to the most random city he could find, Springfield, Missouri where he recently graduated with a degree in Music and Recording from Evangel University. Now, he works part-time as a barista while recording dreamy R&B melodies from home.
Before the global pandemic hit, Saan planned to pursue his dream of moving to Brooklyn, but his plans were held back, forcing him to stay in Springfield a little longer. He decided it wasn’t the worst place to be— the city holds a special place in his heart.
“I’ve leaned into being a Springfield artist just because I came here when I was 18, I’ve lived most of my early 20s here, I’ve developed my sound here,” Saan said.
His appreciation for Springfield comes from the vibrant creative community as well. Despite being one of the only alternative R&B acts in a town where folk, indie, and alternative music is the norm, he feels an attachment to it.
“There hasn’t been much collaboration,” Saan said. “It’s been hard trying to find people who are under the same genre. In terms of the music community, it’s pretty vibrant, the people here are super supportive.”
Springfield is where Saan wrote his song “REWIND,” an otherworldly rhapsody about a dreamt up love from the past.
“It’s just funny because the more clout and attention the song gets, people are like, ‘Oh, a Springfield artist?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I guess I am,’” Saan said.
The song surpassed 1.3 million streams, making it his first hit. Saan wrote “REWIND” as part of his senior capstone project, a mixtape titled “FROM MY POINT OF VIEW.”
“I showed my best friend this song,” Saan said. “She was like ‘This is the one.’ I was like, ‘It’s fine. It’s a good song,’ but I never felt like it was anything. Then, it blew up. My manager actually had been pitching it to playlists and it was catching on.”
Along with millions of streams, Saan has over 200,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. As impressive as the numbers are, Saan’s confidence doesn’t come from numbers. Saan is a soft-spoken artist with as much humility as he has confidence in his music.
“I never lost motivation to keep making music because there has never been anything else I wanted to do,” Saan said. “I don’t care what I have to do. I will be making music. Being self-taught and having my own equipment, I can make music from anywhere. Right now, I record from my home… Ideally, yes, the dream is for music to pay the bills, but at the same time, I don’t care how long it takes because it’s the dream.”
Saan’s relationship with music has always been deeply personal to him. He uses music as a way to cope with situations life throws at him. From the day his mom bought him his first piano, he has always turned to music. As he began to produce music professionally, he gathered a team to help him develop his sound, but he hopes to keep the songwriting uniquely his own.
“Songwriting is the process I’ve been most possessive over,” Saan said. “It’s funny. Someone asked me who I write music for, and I was like ‘I don’t know. I write music for me,’ but I would say my music is for anyone who relates to the crazy situations that I’ve been in. Most of them are just about love...in the most non-cheesy way.”
As more listeners pay attention to his music, Saan, while excited, also feels overwhelmed by the complexity of the music industry. Saan’s friends and mother make up his strong support system, and keep him grounded. Saan says he often worries about the toxic sides of the music industry. .
“I think you just have to realize you’re not as big of a deal as people make you out to be,” Saan said. “I’m not that cool. There’s always going to be someone better than me.
“I just think being reminded of your own humility and realizing that there are millions of songs on Spotify and anyone is interested in listening to one of my songs, that’s what should motivate you as an artist.”
Saan’s current focus is releasing his debut album which is set to hit Spotify in early 2021, with hopes of a nation-wide tour next fall. He’s excited to produce his first cohesive piece and take the front seat of creative direction for this project.
“I just want to punch people in the gut with this album,” Saan said. “It’s going to be sad, but it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be sexy, but it’s also going to be super depressing. It's a hurt album. It’s about being hurt, so it’s going to be good.”
While Saan plans on finally making the move to either Brooklyn or LA soon, he owes much of his growth as an artist and person to a mid-sized, midwest city.
“I met all of my best friends in Springfield,” Saan said. “I kind of found my sound here, so I don’t regret any of it.”