“I would love for ice skating to be more mainstream, more well known. People watch and love it during the Olympics, but I think there is a real under appreciation of how difficult it is.”
These are words you may expect to hear from a coach, skater or judge, but less so from a singer-songwriter who has racked up millions of views on YouTube and secured a top 20 in the Official Independent Albums Chart.
Sarah Close has just released Liars Like You accompanied by a music video that features her performing a beautiful three-minute routine on the ice. For her, it is a combination of two lifelong loves; “It’s always been a dream of mine and this song felt right for it.”
The 27 year-old started skating on the Isle of Wight, in the kitchen in her mum’s roller-skates that were too big. At six she then started lessons at her local rink that led to competing up and down the country. Whilst moving away from the sport at 14, the lessons instilled as a skater have helped her through her career.
“The lessons I learned from ice skating, I have taken them with me into music, and life to some extent. Resilience, getting back up after being knocked down are all things that you really need in the music industry. Ice Skating gave me those skills from a very early age.”
So what does it take to not only write music, but pull together a three-minute routine? “It was hard. I was back to training as I did when I competed, up at 5am, training hard and then heading back to writing music”.
“When it was released I had people saying, ‘I didn’t realise how good you were, how did you manage to do it?!’.”
The reaction has been universally positive, with endless comments on the beauty of the video and song alike. Sarah will be releasing more music over the next twelve months, but also finding time to stay on the ice.
“I’ve continued with my lessons; I want to be able to land my axel again. I’d love to enter a competition again but knowing how demanding that is I don’t think now is the right time. But I would love to one day if possible!
“It might be a bit much to hope that this changes the interest of the British public in the sport, but I would love it If this can get one person to go to their local rink and try it out”
You can watch Liars Like You here.