When Vude Queen Laisa Vulakoro heard Sarah Blake sing her original song ‘To Love and Be Loved‘, she broke down and cried.
The heartache and pain spelled out in the lyrics, and the way Blake poured her heart out musically in the Fiji Performing Rights Association room was too deep to ignore.
“Most of the music I create comes from my experiences in life, certain struggles or heartbreaks — I write them down on paper,” the 26-year-old flight attendant said.
“To Love And Be Loved, is about pouring your heart and soul into someone and not getting the same response or same love back.
“It’s also about learning to love yourself first.”
Blake was flying thousands of feet up in the air when Erica Lee from the Australian High Commission tried to get a hold of her last Friday.
The Fiji Link cabin crew had no inkling she had made it into the top 10 finalists list in the Domo Vou Talei song contest.
When the aircraft touched down and she got the opportunity to read her messages, Blake broke down.
“I saw her message and opened it after getting into a taxi from our flight.
“I cried in front of all my colleagues, my captain kept asking me ‘what’s wrong?’
“I could not believe it because my audition tape was not that great and I was not very confident in putting my music out, I just did it and cried when I got the call.”
Blake said music had always been a part of her life growing up.
“I have nine siblings and I am the youngest of eight girls.
“We all sing, including mum and dad.
“Instead of watching TV, we use to sit around as a family and play instruments and have a sing-along.
“I got my music from dad because he used to play songs from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s and I grew up listening to all the old music.”
Blake said her father taught her the basic chords on the guitar and every time she heard a song on the radio she liked, she would search on the internet and learned how to play it.
She said the Domo Vou Talei song contest was her first competition.
“A friend of mine had tagged me on a post on Facebook, I saw it and I was not sure until the day before it closed.
“So I recorded a demo, not the greatest demo, but I submitted my song at the last minute. Blake said it was a blessing to be amongst talented contestants who were part of the competition.
“Sitting in a room with everybody whose amazingly talented has been very humbling.
“The mentoring from Sunia Soko Loga has been amazing, listening to his experience and what he has to offer with coaching and advising us.
“The whole experience has been great.”
Blake encouraged members of the public to support local talent by coming out to the Woodstock Uprising Music Festival on July 9 to hear the 10 finalists perform live.
The Fiji Times is a sponsor of Domo Vou Talei and putting up the $5000 prize-money, along with Westpac who are putting up the $3000 People’s Choice Award, Australian High Commission, Communications Fiji Ltd, FPRA and Knox Entertainment.
