LINDSEY STIRLING: "Snow Waltz"

Published Nov 28, 2023, 8:00 AM

Amazing songwriter / violinist / dancer, Lindsey Stirling, has become on of the worlds most innovative and beloved performing artists. She's also a treasured friend, a fellow crafter & seamstress, and hilarious prankster. She is sparkle and light and brings joy to billions - yes, billions as evidenced by her YouTube viewers... and guess what? She's here with us today!

We're having a long over due catch up on all things Lindsey, her newest album, "Snow Waltz" & the "Snow Waltz Tour", her viral Tik-Tok hit, "Sleigh Ride", and the opportunity to soak up some of her infections joy. Please join us! ~ Delilah

So how was your Thanksgiving? Was your turkey a little overcooked or a little dry? Were the homemade rolls a little undercooked? Was the green bean cast role not up to your standards? And did any of that even matter? Noah didn't. Did you have a heart full of gratitude for all the blessings in your life? Because if you did, then your Thanksgiving holiday was arousing success. My friend, this time of year, it's easy to succumb to rumination and worry. When the days are shorter and the nights are longer, it feels oppressive. But if you can shift your focus to all that is right with the world, count your blessings, hug loved ones close, then you'll be writer's rain. New music always helps me. New music, great music helps lift the clouds, blow them away. That's where today's podcast guest comes in. I met this amazing performer, special Lady several years ago. She's visited the farm a couple of times. On one occasion that she was here, we were blessed that morning with the arrival of a new baby goat, which we named for her, Sterling. But it's been a while since we've seen each other, and I am excited to have this opportunity to get caught up Lindsey Sterling. She is an amazing violinist. She's a songwriter. She is a dancer. She's a performing artist, presenting choreographed, otherworldly violin performances in her remarkable costumes, many that she makes herself live and in music videos on her official YouTube channel. She has humbly become one of the twenty first century's most innovative stars. She has millions of fans worldwide. She's garnered nearly twenty seven million m million followers across multiple channels, and her YouTube channel bosts nearly four b billion, four billion views. Lindsay Sterling has had six Billboard chart topping albums, two top electric dance albums. Her third studio release, Brave Enough, debut at number one on the US Dance Electronic Albums Chart, number five on the Billboard Top two hundred. Her list of accolades and awards goes on and on and on and on. You get the point. She is sensational. Last fall, she released her latest holiday album called Snow Waltz, and embarked upon a massively successful holiday tour that span twenty six cities in the US She just wrapped up another three month US tour with Walk Off the Earth, and due to popular demand, she is expanding her Christmas tour. Her Christmas tour is going to be US and then a little European leg and then back to the US, and she's going to finish in Chicago. We'll be having a long overdue chat with the beautiful Lindsay Sterling today, right after I give props to another holiday star, a podcast sponsor that helps to make these great conversations possible. When temperatures drop, it's time to turn up the heat. Heat Holders will keep you your feet warm and your toes to They're the warmest thermal socks around because of their three stage process. A Cashmere like advanced insulating yarn is used to make the sock. Then it's brushed intensely so it traps warm air close to the skin for longer. All this softness keeps feet warm and oh so comfy. I've got animals to feed in many chili chores to be done on the farm this time of year. Heat holders are the perfect companion. Pamper yourself and let heat holders walk you through the cold weather. They come in all sizes. They also make hats, gloves, scarves, throws, and many other cozy things perfect stocking stuffers and holiday gifts for young and old. Promo code Delilah that's d l il Ah will save you fifteen percent off your order at Heatholders dot com, and there's free shipping for orders over twenty five dollars. That's Heattholders dot Com. Promo code Delilah heat Holders Making life warmer. Hi, beautiful, Lindsay, welcome back to love someone.

It's been a minute, it has I mean it's been years, but it's so nice to see your face, and like just seeing you does bring back like wonderful memories for me, So thanks for having me.

Does it make you want to go snuggle a little baby goat?

I was gonna say, like, last time I saw you was such a magical experience. I did get to hold like a brand new baby goat that had just been born. We had like a fresh meal from farm to table, like at your farm. Like it was such a like fairy tale experience. So yeah, I do want to snuggle a goat.

So you'll be happy to know that, Lindsay, the goat that was born that morning and named after you, is a mama three times over.

Wow, good for her. Yeah, I hope this is manifesting something for me.

Well I could do a little prayer and make that happen. But welcome aboard, Welcome back, my friend. You've been busy, busy. I see you have four billion, not million, four billion views on YouTube.

That's a that's such a crazy thought and number. And yeah it's billion.

Yeah, it's a little bit mind blowing when you know, you try to put like the reality to like a number on a screen. But yeah, I feel very lucky. Sometimes I can't believe that people still show up to my stuff. I'm like, I can't believe this is still working after all these years.

And I just feel very fortunate that it is.

Don't you think a lot of it is because number one, you're adorable and talented. But number two, you're constantly coming up with new ideas and new ways to present things. And I know that your your faith has always been the center of who you are, but you come up with new and creative ways to show to show all of us that faith and that beauty and that I think you give permission to people to be themselves.

Oh well, thank you, you know, and I really appreciate that because I think as artists we do try to give someone a reason to come back. You try to give someone something new, and whether it's like new music or music videos or new tours, I'm always thinking, Okay, what am I going to do you know different that's interesting, that will make people glad they came back to my YouTube channel, whether they that they bought another ticket, you know. And and I think part of that I realized I've had to learn to also be uncomfortable. And by that, I mean like let go of a lot of perfectionism and a lot of those things that very much so keep us in what we know and what we're comfortable with. And I've had to accept that, you know, if I'm going to stretch myself, especially as like a live performer for example, it's like I have to accept that that means that I I might make some mistakes in the show, or I might not be perfect at something. Otherwise, you know, I don't think my show would have ever grown. I would have never learned some of the new skills I've learned or had the courage to do them in front of an audience when I was you know, because you have to do it in order to get good at it. So I think that's a big thing of like, this whole journey for me is giving myself permission to be uncomfortable and then also to not be perfect.

If you if I always tell people, it's when you step out of your comfort zone that you shine. In your comfort zone, you know you might be perfect, but so what it's when you step out of your comfort zone and try that new thing. My sister and I were just going to we got to go to Shar's house and I'm like, what am I going to wear? What am I going to wear? So I go in my closet and I'm like reimagining, like my jackets and I'm going to paint them and I'm going to do this. And my daughter says, no, you are not allowed to craft anything to wear to SHARE's house. Go buy something. Knew you're not allowed to craft anything. And of course I didn't listen. But my comeback to her was, I just watched a YouTube video of Lindsay Sterling making her costumes for her show, So if she can do it, so can I. She goes, You're not Lindsay Sterling, Mom, You're not putting on a show. You're going to SHARE's house. Do not paint or craft anything to wear?

Well, okay, I need the end of the story. Did you craft something?

I did. I got a kind of a red kimono and I put beads and sequins on it, and then I went to my favorite thrift store and I found this amazing scarf and I'm like, okay, out with the kimono that I just spent hours beating, I'm going to wear this amazing geometric print five dollars scarf from the thrift store. So that's what I did. I did just a black jumper with this. Oh fine, yeah.

Well, I mean I do feel like there is something so like therapeutic and calming for me about like beating or like crafting.

So I hope you at least enjoyed the process I did.

I did very very much, and I will wear it.

I love it when a magical outfit just like comes together, and it comes together and all the pieces you saw in your brain or maybe you were trying to figure out, like I really am a little a little crafter, like my deal are you?

You are my favorite crafter to watch because like the skeleton thing that you did.

Oh, those were my I think that's the one I'm probably the most proud of.

I was the most proud of you. I was feeling I was having a mom moment. I was like, oh my gosh. You know, I was like, you are such a talented young lady and it's so cute. And then on stage because at the end of the crafting thing, you show it.

Mmmm girl.

Yeah.

Well for any of my crafters out there, I just want to say that. So in my experience in making these skele to rib cages and I like painted them gold, I will say I learned that hot glue guns are.

Like how would I say it, A They're kind of like.

A poor man's three D printer because they will form into whatever shape you like create the you know, it dries in, it'll make that shape and it's kind of mouldible. So anyways, it's one of my new favorite go to tools, is like using the hot glue gun as like a structure.

Oh yeah, and if you if you paint with it, like if you do art, you can give like all sorts of dimension art for likes. Yeah, you just use the hot glue gun and you can make shapes and like outline tree trunks and yeah.

Oh yes, oh I can totally see that.

You know what, next time you come, you got to come to the farm where we're not going to do like a concert. Well we will because I want to hear you perform, but we need to do a craft date. Would that be fun?

Would get my girls?

When one of my daughters got married a few years ago, we did a crafting day at the farm because she envisioned like these balls hanging from trees here at the farm for her wedding. So we got yarn and we wrapped them around balloons with like paper mache, and the pt the balloons and had all these like fairy lights. You could do that in your show. You could do, we could do. We could craft string balls for one of your shows. We got to do.

Oh my gosh, I love it.

And there's something so exciting and fun and just satisfying about when you've crafted something and like and then at the event or at the show, like there's just this little extra sense of like excitement and pride because you've seen the whole journey of like what people are now experiencing.

So Lindsay Sterling, a lot of people probably only know you now as the woman with or billion views, but I got to know you when you were kind of just starting this explosive journey. I don't know if if many people know your backstory and like you didn't just wake up one day and go, I want to be a world superstar like you. Put in a lot of work.

Yes, you know, I've played the violin since I was six.

I actually asked my parents for lessons, like I wanted to play as a six year old, which.

Is unlike most of us who force our kids to you know. Yeah, I gave that after.

A year, you know, And I was not a prodigy by any means. Years and years of work and classical training. And I think the thing that people don't maybe realize because you kind of you look at a violinist and you realize, like, okay, that took years of work, but I have a violin lesson today. You know, I still work on my craft just as much as I ever, well, probably more, you know, obviously, but I feel like it's been years of work, but it's also years of maintaining and making sure that I'm still at the top of my game.

You're not just a violinist, You're spitting in the air, wearing a costume you made while you're playing the violin.

You know, I you got to keep it interesting. And someone once also told me, and it was great advice. They said, if you get bored as a performer.

You know, that's on you.

You have the ability to And so, like when I first started this journey of like wanting to be like this kind of eclectic, you know, violinist, I wanted to be an entertaining performer visually and not just like you know, through audio meeting. And so I did start to learn because I was never a dancer. I always wanted to be, but my parents could never afford the extra lessons, you know, for dancing. So it was when I was twenty five that I was like, all right, I've started to write this music. It's really dynamic. I gotta be able to be dynamic in my movement. So I started to teach myself to like not even dance. It was just like how to kind of like jump and like lean and sway, you know, just be dynamic. And it's kind of amazing where that journey has taken me. I don't I never would have imagined that I would be you know, go from just kind of trying to walk and play to like learning choreography and dancing, like actual real dancing, and then being able to go up in the air and play.

Upside down and spin and yeah, she.

Just says that, So casually go up in the air and play upside down. You do. You're spinning upside down while you're playing this rocking, amazing violin piece. And I'm just I sit there with my mouth open, going, how how how is that even humanly possible? I can't walk into gum at the same time.

Oh my gosh, you can spin upside down swinging over ten thousand people below while playing an amazing song on the violin.

You know, it's I can't actually, I thank you, I And you know, the funny thing is is that and I've learned this now, and so it kind of has made the process of learning something new so much not easier, but like more manageable, because I've realized that everything always felt impossible, Like you know, the thought of like spinning upside down and playing the violin that remember the first time I tried it, you know, I was like, I don't know, I've learned of like I had taken aerial classes, and I was like, oh God, maybe I can combine it with my violin, and I remember hanging upside down and just like, the mechanics of it were awful. The bow couldn't stay on the string, and you know, I was like, I know how to dance and play wid you know, this is obviously impossible, but I'm like, no, no, no, that feeling of like, oh, this is impossible to like walk into gum at the same time, you know, it always is the way it starts, and then it's only through like really giving it time and attention and figuring out the kinks and practicing and practicing practicing, that you get to actually realize if it is impossible or if it's just something that you've never done before, so your body is super confused, you know, And usually.

It's the latter in my experience.

And it's kind of a fun thing though, when something feels impossible, I'm just like, well, walking felt impossible when I was two, you know, so we got this, we.

Got this, well you got it. And it's it's such a joy to watch you, whether I'm watching you as a fairy, l for watching you know, you create the costumes for the skeletons or whatever, whatever it is. I just my heart thrills to see you perform.

Oh, thank you so much.

You're just You're a whole package of joy wrapped in skin.

Oh well, thank you.

No, I got to litter and talent and joy and then and put it in a package named Lindsey.

Oh my gosh, You're just You're gonna makee me cry over here, you know, I will say whenever I perform. My dancers tonight, we and my band we do a little meditation and a little breath work before we go on stage.

And one thing that I always visualize.

Or sometimes I'll walk them through, like a visualization is like my heart just growing and growing and growing in all the like sparkles and pixie dust or whatever. It is, the energy from my heart like literally expanding over the audience.

And because more than anything, more than like, oh I hope they you know, they think I'm the coolest.

Thing ever, I just always am like, I mean, of course I want that, but more than anything, I want people to leave feeling loved.

I want them to leave feeling just joy.

In themselves and so that sparkliness that like I try my best every night to help like to be that, and I spend a lot of time like mentally practicing.

Just helping people feel loved at my show. That's my biggest hope you succeed.

You succeed because I don't even have to be in your show to feel that, Like I can watch you on YouTube and I feel that, Oh, thank you, God is answering that prayer when you're asking for that to expand, because I definitely feel it. So you just finish your tour. How many dates did you play? How many performances?

You know? I think it was about it was somewhere between thirty and thirty five.

Somewhere, and somewhere in there a lot. And you're starting a Christmas tour that I thought was just a European tour, but no, no, no, there's a European leg to the tour. But you're going to be here. Yes, how many cities here?

I think it's twenty two cities total, I think, And so that means there's probably eighteen in the States.

And you're finishing in Chicago right, yes, on New Year's Eve, and then you get to have a little break.

Yeah, so we're all going to go home for Christmas and then we come back for New Year's Eve and then yeah, then we all go home officially for.

You know, and have like what a seven hour break before you start again. That Well, remember baby Delilah, my littlest daughter when you were here. She is having her sweet fifteen birthday party the weekend after your final performance.

Okay, yeah, she's so grown up. She's fifteen.

She was so tiny last fifteen. Yeah, and she's so pretty tiny. She's not even five foot tall. She wants to have a big celebration, a big ball for her fifteenth birthday. And we did a little research and found out that in her culture in West Africa, they do have a celebration for fifteen sixteen year old girls. So we're gonna be using some of the fabric and things from her culture, from her native culture.

Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing. Yeah, come to a ball.

Yeah, and we could we could even get together beforehand and talk about costumes and make dresses. I mean we can have sorts of Yeah.

We could get there in time to make our ball gowns. We could get week and week early.

I'll have like two or three, no, because you're performing a week early, but I'll have like two or three glue guns for us. You know, the sparkle glitter kind and the clear glue kind. We could have all sorts of fun.

Lindsay, I love it.

Oh my goodness, it is so delightful to spend time with the lovely, the ohso talented Lindsay Sterling. I'm not ready to let her go just yet. I'm going to pause for a moment, though, so I can share the goodness of another podcast sponsor whose support I am so grateful for. Where would I be without my Laura Geller beauty products lost. That's where the sparkled primer makes my skin look and feels so fresh. It's the first and sometimes the only thing I put on my face in the morning. Laura's new Italian Marble Artistry collection is so fabulous. It's an all in one, coordinated selection for eyes, cheeks, and lips. It includes her show stopping baked eyeshadow palette with five marbleized shades that even comes with a special brush to create a beautifully blended masterpiece. The coordinating Italian Marble blush stick adds a romantic flush to your cheek, and it's enriched with vitamin D to help soften your skin. I never leave the house without my lips on. And this collection includes the Italian Marble lipstick with blended swirls of pigment for a sumptuous cream lip color that helps you feel like you can take on whatever the day holds. Get the best of Laura's Italian Marble favorite it's with your own Italian Marble Artistry collection at Laura Geller dot com. That's Laura Geller dot com, the place to go to look and feel your best. Okay, So, what's the name of your Christmas tour.

It's called the snow Waltz Tour.

It's kind of a continuation of like what we did last year that was the snow Waltz Tour because my album is snow Waltz.

And we're going to all different markets.

So, and can we talk about sleigh Ride. How many people are using sleigh ride as they create their little TikTok videos.

You know, it's funny when sometimes songs will come out.

And surprise you that that's like you know, and I was very excited that that one was one of the ones that the fans kind of shows from this album because that was.

My dad's favorite Christmas song and you know, my dad is no longer with us, so I've made sure. When I was making that arrangement to make, I was like, this one has to be really good, and it's so fun.

To perform live.

And it's been really fun to see that even in the summertime, people are still using that sound in their TikTok, their TikTok summer yeah, which is so fun.

Thousands and thousands of them. I have, you know, roses popping up to Sleigh Life.

You're right, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I love this and you know, so I can't wait for, you know, a chance to get to performed again and to.

You know, flass social media like I do with Sleigh Ride.

I don't know how, you know, I was. I was asking my my podcast producer, how do you create that much content for social media? Like, I don't get it. I struggle to get one little video of my chickens pecking a pumpkin to pieces or canning apple sauce on on you know, it takes me hours, it takes me days, and you and Michael Boublay, it's like every seven minutes something pops up in my feed.

Well, first of all, love Michael Boublay, and I'm honored anytime I'm in the same sentence as Michael Boublay.

We'll get that out of the way.

But you know, I it's a lot to love. There By the way, there.

Is Oh, I'm here.

You've met him before, I'm sure, right. Isn't he just the most charming human on the face of the earth.

Yes, he is.

Oh my god, I couldn't help it.

Like I've only met him once and it was very brief, and you know, chatted for a moment, and I just was bright red, blushing, like for no reason, just because.

He's so charming.

But I do like creating lots of content, and I think that's part of my little my little heart, just another thing that I really enjoy. Ever since I was like a kid, I was making little videos with my friends. And you know, if TikTok had been around when I was a teenager, I honestly don't know if it would have been a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if I would have been a TikTok star or if I would have just been the most awkward human on the planet.

Largely the latter out of school because you're staying up all night on TikTok's that's the story I have with my teens.

Yeah, it would have been a problem, I think, But because I've always had that love for like storytelling and visual storytelling and creating things, I do think it's actually quite fun that we have.

I mean, it can be really overwhelming. I'm not gonna lie.

Sometimes I'm like, the last thing I want to do is create content right now. But overall, I do think it's really fun that we have all these tools where you can take, you know, your music or whatever it is that you do as an artist, whether you're a dancer or you know, a personality or a radio host. You can find ways to do little mini storytelling through these apps.

And it's actually, oh no, no, I find it quite fun.

I don't have the bandwidth to do that. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's also it's like a different part of the brain.

And sometimes, like, for example, I kind of took a little bit of break from it. I got burnt out, and so it's like I'm gonna give myself a little bit of a break from social media, and and you know, because sometimes you do you're just like my brain doesn't want to go there anymore, and I got to honor that, you know, and then it gives me that motivation what it is time to ramp up on a Christmas tour and do all that. It's like, all right, let's go, let's do this. I put on that thinking cap and like I can go.

There, Landsay Sterling. You are delightful. You are like I said, You're just sparkle and glitter and joy all wrapped up in human flesh. And I'm so glad that God gave you to the world.

Oh thank you. You're just showering me with sparkles.

And I appreciate the fact that you've made the violin cool. Like there's a few artists there. I don't know if you could have made the trombone cool, but you have made the violin cool so that kids are hungry to learn an instrument that's thousands of years old. And you know, back in my day, it was the most uncool thing in the world. It was like, oh, your mom's making you take violin. I made little Delilah take violin because you know, I thought it was good for her. But you've made it be something people that young people want to learn. And I like that. I love that aspect too.

You know, it is really exciting and it is really fun when I see little kids at the shows that you know, will at meet and greets tell me that they, you know, they learn the violin because they watched you know, my videos.

And that's quite a you.

Know, just a humbling thing to be a part of somebody's journey like that and to think, oh, maybe maybe this will be a huge part of their life.

I don't know, but it's a very like humbling thought.

And also I will say I just remember off of what you're saying, Yeah, the violin was not cool when I was a kid. It was like being an orchestra. You're like, you're you're an orc door. Yeah, it definitely was not the.

Cool place to be.

And I remember, you know, always want or I guess, never wanting to perform for people, like at a talent show or at anything because I was just like, it's the dorky instrument and it's actually not fun for them because you know, there's the dancers that are fun, are people singing pop songs. But to like, I was like, no one wants to hear a concerto when you're you know, thirteen, and so I.

And you've made it fun, You've made it cool, You've made it fun, you've made it dance, You've made it all those cool things.

Well, you know.

And one thing that was really important to me when I first started, like.

You know, putting my music out there.

I ended up making sheet music for all my music. My sister actually does it for me because she annotates it, and then we make backtracks so that like if a kid wants to play in their talent show, not only do they have like the sheet music to learn it, but they can play along as the soloist over my backtracks and like have the dubstep in there or the rock or the pop, and and I see sometimes videos of kids at their talent shows or whatever playing to those tracks, and it just, I don't know, that makes me so happy because.

I'm like little Lindsey inside of me would have loved to have something like that when I was, you know, a tween.

A tween and instead playing concertos.

Exactly, you know, because I mean, I will say I don't want to There is a place for that, for sure. And they're so grateful for my classical training, and I have so much respect for the classical musicians you know, it's so hard and so yeah, so much respect, but you know, when you're.

When you're thirteen, you want to be cool.

You want something with some rhythm and you know.

And that you can wear your Doc Martins or your you know whatever. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, well you're cool to me and to our listeners. And if somebody wants to get tickets to one of these twenty two shows that you're going to be performing this Christmas, where do they go?

You can go to Lindsay Sterling dot com and all the dates are there.

Even if you wanted to go all the way to France, you can go all the way to France.

But don't worry, we're actually coming much closer to you. So we're all over the States.

Okay, So find a city near you and go. Be blessed. Lindsey. Thank you, I love you, love you too, Thank you so much. Happy Holidays. Lindsay Sterling is one of the most beautiful, unique, eclectic, talented songwriters performers I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Her innovative combination of violin and choreograph, dance performances, and costumes has made her a worldwide sensation. As I said, she has millions of fans billions of views, but her kind, generous, humble heart drums on through her many endeavors. I'm proud to call her my friend. If you've not done so before, look up her official YouTube channel, Lindsay Stomp and treat yourself to one of the hundreds of amazing videos there. You won't just watch one, I promise you'll watch dozens. You'll probably recognize many of her songs as they are used prolifically on Insta, Reels, TikTok, creations, a number of other platforms. You can keep up with her at Lindsaysterling dot com and find all of her social media platforms. Add snow Waltz to your holiday album collection this year if you have not done so. The Deluxe Edition with two bonus tracks is available at Target and you will definitely want it in your holiday collection. Sleigh Ride is my all time favorite, and when you hear that Lindsay Sterling is at a venue near you, jump at the opportunity to go watch her perform. There's absolutely nothing quite like it. It is dazzling. Lindsay and her art are one of the many things I am grateful for in this season of gratitude, right up there with second and third helpings and pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving leftovers. I think we might make it to Christmas. Not in this household. No, that's a lie. Not in my household. It is the love of my family and friends that sustain me throughout every season, every year. Without them, I would be lost. I love spending the holidays with you. I hope you're enjoying all the Christmas music we're playing right now on the radio show, and all the great calls and stories that we are sharing with you. Let's do this again in a couple of weeks. Join me here for love Someone with Delilah. Until then, you know what I'm going to say. I'm going to tell you to slow down and love someone

LOVE SOMEONE with Delilah

In a world that can feel divisive and bleak, it's easy to get caught up in feelings of hopelessness, 
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