Pop Culturalist Chats with Margo Seibert

Margo Seibert has graced stages across New York, most notably on Broadway in Rocky and In Transit. Her strong vocals and on stage presence are impossible to ignore.

And now she has an album. 77th Street defies genre. There’s a range of styles and sounds on the album that showcase Margo’s versatility and talent. To celebrate the release of her debut solo album, she has a show at Joe’s Pub. So, we chatted with her about her love for performance, what it is like writing music, and how 77th Street came to be.

PC: When and how did you know that you wanted to make music and theater your career?
Margo: From a very young age, I was always singing. My father had a cover band and played the sax so music was always around. It always felt 100% right to harmonize with the vacuum cleaner and the gears on the bus. It was only years later that I was like, “Not everybody does that?” [laughs] And, I absolutely love telling stories. I feel like the merging of theater and music to tell stories through music came very early; it felt very natural that that is something I would want to do.

The songwriting aspect of it came much later. I didn’t quite know what I had to say. I knew I loved portraying other people, or people that I had never met; theater and musical theater sustained me for a very long time. I would say only in the last five years had I started to realize that I had a lot of lyrics and little poems and thoughts and fragmented lyrics [in me]. I had a whole file of melodies that would come to me when I was out and about—or in the shower. Then, I started putting them together and realized they were songs that needed to come out of me. For a long time, I thought other people just woke up and they were songwriters so I didn’t get to do that. I’d just sing their work. It was incredibly liberating and frightening to think that could be part of who I am. We’re all multi-faceted human beings. I realized I had something to say through my own songwriting. I just had to figure out how that was going to happen.

PC: So as you were writing your songs and creating your album, was that more of a solely solo process for you, or did you collaborate with people? How did you approach that since it was a new process for you?
Margo: I always wanted to make an album, but I didn’t know what it was going to be, or when it was going to be. I also knew it probably wasn’t going to be “Margo Seibert Sings Rogers and Hammerstein” or Broadway classic songs. I think that’s what’s expected of a lot of folks who start in theater or are in musical theater. That never really felt like the right fit for me. I knew that my musical influences and tastes were more eclectic than that.

So, the album kind of came from realizing that I could write these songs myself, and it was a very private process. I would try to put these songs together to see if I even had a song, and then the collaboration came from my band members. My record producer at Yellow Sound, Michael Croiter, is the drummer of the band as well. So, once he heard that I wanted to start on this process and write some music—even though he didn’t know what the sound was going to be—he just wanted me to write. He said, “Just do it. If we’re going to make an album I want to make one with you. I love your aesthetic. I want half the album to be your own music.” And that was terrifying to me at the time. The songwriting process for me at the beginning was quite solo and became collaborative. I also don’t play the piano or the guitar so most of my music is created with vocal layers; I take that to my band, and they translate it.

PC: Since half of your album is comprised of your original songs and the other half is made up of covers, how did you choose which covers to include? For your original songs, were there ones that didn’t make the album?
Margo: So the album also came to me thematically. There are all of these moments in life that are very in-between: you’re leaving one job, you haven’t yet found the next; you’re anticipating a terrible break-up, or you need to make a huge decision. We spend the majority of our life in these in-between states. We, at least for me, much prefer when things are neat, and we know what to expect and what’s next. As an actor, there’s SO much in-between time. You have a gig for three months, and then there’s nothing on the horizon. Anything could be next. I wanted to make an homage to that period of time, the in-between. My originals came to me at an in-between moment. “Whitman” is about grieving the death of my sister. For “Make Up Your Mind” I was stuck between, “Do I want to try to resurrect a relationship, or do I leave it and pursue something else?” It was pretty much done, but I was afraid of leaving it.

I picked the covers specifically because thematically they felt really right. In “Head Over Heels,” something happens, but I don’t find out until I’m there. It’s ambiguous, and then I find myself just completely and utterly in love. Then, “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story is about the anticipation. I don’t know what’s coming, but something’s coming at me like a freight train. It’s that kind of in-between feeling that I wanted to put on it’s own pedestal and shed some light and put music to that feeling.

There are a handful of songs that didn’t make it on the album. But either it felt like they weren’t of the same, or they weren’t quite ready to make it out into the world. There’s also that very interesting thing about writing songs about people, and then you go, “Oh, they’re going to know. Do I put it out there? Or when do I put it out there?”

PC: Out of the songs that are on the album, do you have a favorite? Or one that you’re excited to share with people?
Margo: I feel like the songs that are my originals are all my children, and I love them all! I’m really really happy with how “77th Street” turned out. I grew up, in my middle school years in the 90s, with very formative music. I love grunge, and I love the anger that was expressed. My husband actually said to me “I feel like half of this album is if Margo were in the 90s. You made the album you wanted to listen to.” [laughs] So, I love “77th Street” because it takes me back to the 90s and rocks out in a way that feels very close to my heart and lets me release some rage. I’m really proud of that. I feel like it’s a really fun jam.

PC: Was there a lesson you’ve learned during this process that you will stick with you?
Margo: It’s been a tremendous amount of work and a huge confidence builder. I absolutely love being that kind of tool for other people. Making 77th Street has shown me that I have such a wealth of creativity and possibility. Just because I’ve done one thing for a while doesn’t mean that I have to [do just that]. It showed me that I do posses that creative fire for myself, and there are stories and moments in my life that need to get out of my body through song. I think it’s just really kind of invigorated me and excited me. I have so much fun singing it. I hope people love it too…and if they don’t, it will just be me and my husband rocking out to it in the living room!

PC: Looking ahead in your career, is there a dream role or a bucket list item for you? Has this album changed that?
Margo: I think it shifts all the time. When I first got to NYC, I could have told you I want to play Louise in Gypsy, but it’s really shifted for me. It’s shifted from dream roles to originating new roles in new pieces. There’s so much incredible new work happening, and I think that I’m a really valuable part of a team on a new musical—at least my experience has taught me that. So, a new musical or play where you get to be in the room with the playwright, talking about what they’re trying to say, helping everyone make this story be the best it can be is [what I want]. That fills me up in such a way that I never really imagined. To realize that people are writing all the time to create stories of the moment. I’m doing a new play at Playrwights Horizons called The Thanksgiving Play, and it’s very of the moment. That’s the job of new work: to reflect the times we’re in. I hope to continue to create new work and write my music and play live. I have a lot of fun playing with a band so hopefully that is what we’ll be doing in the future. And maybe throw a TV show in there. [laughs]

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last TV Show You Binge-Watched
Portlandia

Favorite Movie
All I want to watch right now are Muppet movies because they make me feel happy inside.

Favorite Book
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Favorite Play or Musical
Of the moment…What the Constitution Means to Me at New York Theatre Workshop is pretty phenomenal. Favorite musical of the moment is The Band’s Visit.

Artist You Could Listen to on Repeat
Joni Mitchell

Place You Most Want to Go
Morocco

Person You’d Like to Meet
Carrie Coon

Learn more about Margo Seibert here and follow her on Twitter and Instagram. To get tickets to her album release show at Joe’s Pub, click here.