Capone contemplates making your musical dreams come true, with PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW subject Samantha Montgomery!!!

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

In a story that might give you hope that good exists on the internet (okay, I realize that’s maybe stretching your core values), PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW tells us two stories. The first is about Samantha Montgomery, who goes by a stage name “Princess Shaw” when she sings in New Orleans, often to empty rooms on open-mic nights at a local club. Her day job is as a health care worker in an assisted-living facility, and she seems like a genuinely caring and warm person, which is made all the more evident through her song lyrics that we hear through a series of a cappella YouTube clips that she posts hoping someone will hear her and possibly come up with arrangements for her songs.

The other character in this story is a fairly well-known music artist from Israel named Kutiman, who finds these types of clips, sends them out to his followers, and slowly but surely builds a music track around the vocal using individual video clips sent to him featuring a bass line or drums or keyboards or guitars. The resulting finished track is as much a visual experience as it is an aural one, and Kutiman (who makes no money off his endeavors) never informs the original singer about what he’s doing, even when he’s finished. Not surprisingly, they find out anyway, and the moment in this film when Princess Shaw first hears (and later sees) the fleshed-out song gave me chills. And that’s only the beginning of her journey. Israeli director Ido Haar makes a strong case that the online world can be a vessel for positive connection, and I’m all for that. This film is a genuine treat, whether you care about music or not.

I had a chance to sit down with Princess Shaw herself a few weeks ago in Chicago, and she was as open and honest about her troubled past as she is about her hopes for the future. Montgomery is a rare and wonderful soul, and you’ll see that when you check out PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW. Please enjoy…


Capone: How long have you been singing seriously?

Princess Shaw: Like three or four years.

Capone: That’s it? What was the moment that you remember finding your voice and thinking “This might actually be something I’d like to do for a living”?

PS: I think it was before I started doing my YouTube videos—maybe like 2011 or something. I was in the shower in New Orleans.

Capone: Where all great singers begin.

PS: I was singing, but it wasn't the voice I used to use. It was this different voice, and it was easy for me. It wasn't like I had to force it out. It was natural. I was like “God, that’s me. That’s my voice.” And from that point, I’ve been singing ever since.

Capone: How long after that did you write your first song?

PS: I’ve always been a writer.

Capone: Even before the singing kicked in?

PS: I used to write poems and songs. I’ve always been a writer. Lately, I haven't been writing too much. I’m more of a freestyler. I think my talent is more as a freestyle artist—play a beat and just sing to it and make a song. I can get in a studio and just write. I actually prefer to get into the studio and write then and there, because the beat speaks to my life. Most of the times, someone will say, “Let’s write a verse,” and I’m like “No, let’s play a beat and record it.” Then I just come with the song.

Capone: So you’ve done that before, when someone gives you a music track and you write something or make up something?

PS: Yeah, all the time [laughs].

Capone: Who were some of your musical influences? Who were the singers that you wanted to capture their vibe, if not their sound?

PS: The vibe that I probably wanted to capture was that feel-good music. That music that makes you want to smell a daisy. Something that’s not like a rose, something that makes you feel great about life. Those songs like “Summer Breeze” and The Bee Gees, “How Deep Is Your Love.” Who else? Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Etta James, Kings of Leon, John Legend. Those kind of people. That feeling. That essence. I love “Sara Smile” by Hall and Oates.

Capone: Sure. I’m still trying to figure out why this Israeli filmmaker—he’s following you around before this moment when you hear the finished song. What was the reason he gave you that he was following you around?

PS: So when he first started, Kutiman was doing my song already. They knew each other, right? So I guess he was with him and saw him doing this song. The director wanted to do a documentary about YouTubers and behind the lives and what’s behind what they do. So it started out as a documentary about YouTubers, and it just closed in to like me and Kuti. That was the beginning. He contacted me and said he wanted to do a documentary about YouTubers, and I was like “Why not?”

Capone: But at that point, he knew the song was coming.

PS: Yeah.

Capone: So he was misleading you a little bit, because he wanted to surprise you. In a good way, though.

PS: Yeah, I don’t like that word “misleading.” [laughs]

Capone: But he wanted to surprise you.

PS: Yeah, because I feel like if he would done it any other way the way, I would have known. It wouldn’t have been worth doing it, because I probably would have came off a certain way, because I already knew. I think form me not to know results in the greatest surprise possible.

Capone: The whole point of the film is that moment of you sitting there in Atlanta, hearing it for the first time. As much as you say you like feel-good music, some of your music is very melancholy, and people are crying listening to it.

PS: [laughs] Crying is okay.

Capone: Of course. There are many reasons to cry. Are you good with people having that reaction and finding it s moving?

PS: It should move you. I think the reason people are moved by it is I go deep within and bring that emotion out. It doesn't matter if I’m having a good day or not, when I sing a song about something, it comes deep from within. It doesn't even have to be a song about my life. It can be a song about something we talked about or you’re upset about, and I feel your emotions. I take that with me and I make a song and it comes out like that.

Capone: In the video of you that you put up on YouTube that he found, I think you actually ask people to add music to it.

PS: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Capone: Have people done that for you before?

PS: Yeah, when I came on here that was my mission. When I first got on YouTube, I had a lot of songs. I couldn’t make beats or tracks, so I was like “If there’s anybody out there…” That was my mission. Other people have done it too. I’m not trying to take anything away from them, but it’s nothing like what he did.

Capone: When you’re first watching the video on that big screen, did you realize that all those musicians were strangers to each other? They just contributed individual tracks. That they didn’t know each other.

PS: I didn’t know anything about any of it. Nothing at all.

Capone: Have you met any of those people since?

PS: I met one. I think he lives in Amsterdam and he came and played with us. He played “Give It Up.”

Capone: Do you remember who first alerted that the video was out there? In the movie, suddenly you’re just getting messages.

PS: Yeah, that’s what happened. I don't know who it was that first alerted, but it was a random person. “This Kudiman guy remade your song.” And I’m like, “Okay.” Because other people have done it, and I’m like “Let me see what it is,” and I have a really jacked-up phone. It would not catch a signal. It would not work. Then I got another message. “A Kudiman storm coming your way. You’re about to go viral.” I’m like “What is this?” So I pushed a button. It wouldn't work. I finally got it to play. I didn’t even know what song it was. Then I saw my face and oh my god. It was a song that I had in my head for the longest, and that beat that he put to it, it’s like “Oh my god. Music to my soul, my ears and my spirit.”

Capone: The moment we see of you performing to an empty room. Is it in New Orleans? [She begins to laugh.] That alone would have crushed me and stopped me from ever singing again, but when we compare that to the Tel Aviv concert, it’s incredible. In your mind, were you seeing a crowd like that—receptive and loving it and knew the music. That moment in that club what were you thinking?

PS: No, it’s normal. It was a showcase, an actual showcase. They saved me for the last. They hadn't heard my music or heard me sing before, so they didn’t know what I could do, so they put me way at the end. So when I was there, people were there. When it was finally my turn, their people had gotten up there and already sung, and after that they leave. They don't stay there and cheer you on and support. They leave. So when I opened the curtain, I’m like “What the hell? Well to the people that are here, I’m still going rock it and play the music.” I’m here for that, so I’m still going to rock it. If there’s two people, I’m going to rock it like there’s 20. You can have 1,000 people in the audience and not have the energy that you can have when it’s like 10 people. There can be 10 people, and it seems like there’s 10,000. You can have 1,000 and seem like there’s 10 people. It all depends on the energy.

Capone: Which makes you more nervous, played for two people or that giant Tel Aviv concert?

PS: Neither.

Capone: Really? You looked a little nervous backstage in Tel Aviv.

PS: Did I? Maybe you were nervous [laughs].

Capone: I was nervous for you, for sure.

PS: I was just sitting there relaxing. It’s an excitement you get. I’m looking at everything. First of all, I’m in Tel Aviv, then I’m singing in front of these people, then I’m looking at the backstage as they’re getting everything together. Nervous? No. Excitement? Yes. I wasn’t nervous. If I’m nervous, then I won’t be able to enjoy the moment.

Capone: I’m curious about the rehearsal footage. Was that the first time that you worked that intensely with other musicians that you didn’t know?

PS: We were all there to support each other. It was like, their spirit was like in it. We met at the rehearsal, and they were just great. It was so awesome to do it. You have no idea how it felt to do it, to be up there. Even to go in a van, going to other places to sing. I’ve always wanted to do that. I always wanted to ride in a van with the band and the equipment. It was beautiful.

Capone: It looks like there was a smaller club show there as well, and at the big show, you looked graceful and everybody was very collected. But then when you got on that smaller stage, you were just rocking out.

PS: I think it was a second show. [The bigger, formal show] was for Google. I rock out when I sing. But with Google, it was more like “This is for Google,” so everybody was in their suits, and everybody’s looking at you like this and you just sing your song, and I sang “Give It Up.” I don’t really rock out with “Give It Up.” But then when I went to the other club and we had the horns going, the energy was so alive. My spirit was jumping out. It was different.

Capone: When you got to the rehearsal, Kudiman had a couple of other arraignments of other songs by you. He not only did this one song that blew up all over the world, but then he had a couple more arranged songs waiting for you. How did that feel?

PS: I was excited. I’m like, finally. I feel like Kudiman and I are kindred spirits. We connect automatically. When I sing, I have melodies in my head with the music. So what he did, he heard the melodies in my soul and transferred them into sound, so it was way above what I imagined.

Capone: I don’t remember if the moment is actually in the film, when you and he first talked. Or is the time you met him for rehearsal the time you first talked?

PS: Yeah.

Capone: Oh, it was? That must have been weird. Your first moment together is on camera. Although you live a lot of your life on camera.

PS: I’m always on there. But see, it’s different. The thing about it is Ido, the director, it’s one camera, one man. It’s not like we’re followed around with a microphone over your head. You’re mic’d up, but it’s hidden and after awhile you don’t know. The moment was so real and so alive that I forgot Ido was in the building when I met Kudi. It was like “Oh my God. It’s Kudiman, and at this event, and I’m going to sing,” and I have a microphone and I was so excited, I didn’t even pay attention to the camera.

Capone: The way he structures the film, he opens with that show that Kudiman did at the Guggenheim, so we know that he plays live versions of the songs he does on YouTube, and we suspect that it’s leading to you possibly playing live, you doing something like that.

PS: I never even paid attention to that. That [concert] was for Google too. I didn’t put two and two together like you did.

Capone: At what point did you realize “This is like a real movie that’s going to be seen by a whole bunch of people”?

PS: I thought it was for YouTubers the whole time. Until I went to Israel and I saw the poster, and I’m like, “Shut your mouth. What is going on here?” But the whole time, I didn’t really pay too much attention to, what is this about? What is it for? I just knew it was about YouTubers and I was just happy to be a part of something like that.

Capone: What has that been like traveling around with the film, hearing the reaction from people? It’s one thing to live it and it’s another thing to see how people react to it.

PS: It’s really been very positive, really emotional sometimes. People are very emotional. “Don’t cry. It’s okay.” But it’s been very positive and it’s been a wonderful experience. Any opportunity in life, you grab it, no matter how small it is. To me, it was just YouTubers. Ido had no idea this was trying to be something else, because when he started in his head, it was about YouTubers too, so it just got smaller and smaller. I’m traveling around. I’ve always wanted to travel, meet people, receiving love and that energy from people, and I love to talk, so sitting in a Q&A talking to people about it and expressing myself is so great. My soul was hurt for a long time, and getting that out and telling my story is a beautiful thing.

Capone: You say in the film that you’ve had pain in your life. Is there a difference between talking about it versus singing and writing about it?

PS: You know, it depends. It all depends on what way you talk about it or sing about it. I know people say that we all have pain in our life, but some people have had pain you can’t imagine. You couldn't imagine the kind of things that have happened to some people, so sometimes if you talk about it with people, it’s like you’re avoiding the issues. I think talking about it is better because it’s straight forward, in your face. Singing about it has a different effect than talking about it, when a person straight up tells you about it. I think when you talk about it, it’s more in your face. People can’t take that, so they’d rather listen to songs. If I started telling you all this stuff, it’d be too much. But if I sing about it, it’s easier for you to take it in without falling to your knees or running out the door.

Capone: Towards the end of the film, we see you after the concerts—you’re back in New Orleans, you have a different job. But you’re going back to what most of us consider a normal life. How was that, coming down after that experience?

PS: Reality. Coming back to reality [laughs].

Capone: Exactly. Was that a bit of a shocker?

PS: No. It was like a break. You go do all this stuff, people want selfies—it’s a beautiful thing, but sometimes you just want to go and be home. In the film, you see me, I’m in there washing clothes; I love washing clothes. I’m singing songs taking my clothes out the dryer. In my head, I’m not thinking “I was just on the stage.” I’m thinking “I got clean clothes. I’m going to put this on after a shower and I’m going to put this on tonight and I’m going to be so comfortable in my bed.” That’s what I was thinking.

When I’m done with this, I go home and I’m excited to go home. For this tour, I think my last stop is Minneapolis, and then I go home for two weeks. I’m so excited to go home. It’s fun to do this, but it really doesn’t knock me off my—I’m centered. I guess I’m centered, I’m grounded, and I’m humble. So like it’s a blessing to do it, but sometimes you have to go back to reality, and reality is a good thing.

Capone: Musically, what have you been up to in the last year, since the concert happened?

PS: Just recently, when I came from Israel, I just finished putting my last lyrics down for my album, my first official album. Kudi’s the producer. I’m done on my part. I’m just waiting for Kudi to take it.

Capone: Do his magic.

PS: Yeah, do his magic. I’m traveling around. I’m living my life. When I go home, I’m not going to work; I have to get a little bit more time off because I’m tired. When I go home, I’ll go wash my clothes again, get me some clean sheets, clean my house, stuff that I’m comfortable with. To me, I feel like I live a comfortable life. I can pay my bills. I’m comfortable.

Capone: In addition to your album, is there going to be a soundtrack for this movie? Or are those songs going to be on your album?

PS: Hopefully. That’s what people ask me. I need to figure it out. I think I probably want them on there.

Capone: That’s true. You probably want your biggest hits on your first record.

PS: Yeah, you have to.

Capone: Thank you so much.

PS: Aww, thank you. You rock sauce, honey.

-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
capone@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter