In just one watch of Symon's impressive “Lonely Girl" lyric video on Youtube, it's safe to say that she is not your average aspiring pop sensation, especially since she incorporates American sign language in the video, something that's rarely done in pop music these days.
Her love for sign language isn't just a fad, or element she just incorporated in the lyric video to be edgy, as Symon says it's a language that got her through one of the darkest moments of her life, including high school.
“I went to a very demanding high school, and a lot of languages were mandatory there," Symon tells SWAAY over the phone. “I remember I was picking my third language, and I saw that sign language was an option and I thought: wow, how cool would that be."
Connecting instantly with her sign teacher, sign language definitely became Symon's emotional outlet back in her teenage years, as she faced bullies and experienced the loneliness and uncertainty many teenagers still experience to this very day. Signing also allowed her to bridge both passions of language and music together, something she would go on to do later on in life. “I fell in love with sign language in the midst of high school, especially since there were a couple of really nasty girls who were really horrible to me," she explains. “My outlet was sitting with my sign language teacher during lunch and just talking and learning sign. I became really fluent fast. I thought it would be really cool to bridge my two passions together (sign and music) and I knew at some point I would. I didn't know when."
Although sign language has not influenced her songwriting, Symon notes that it's something that continues to inspire her on a daily basis. The thing that draws her most to the language is that it's all about connecting, a skill this people-loving singer says she excels at. In addition, she notes that by incorporating ASL in the video, she hopes to shed a light on the deaf community, a community that is not much heard about or gains proper representation in mainstream media.
“Through my lyric video I wanted to shed a light on the deaf community," she says. “People always think deaf people are silent, and I wanted to prove them wrong and shed a light for the community."
Of course, writing “Lonely Girl" was also about showing the backstory of the dark periods (not limited to just high school) she has experienced. But instead of dwelling in sadness, she wants to remind and relate to others that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, even when things seem grim.
“I hope this song resonates with people as it's not only about being a lonely girl, but it's about all of us," she explains. “Someone recently said to me you're not lonely, and I said let me tell you something, you can be in a room with a ton of people and still be the loneliest person. You can also be in a room by yourself and not feel lonely at all. I think each of us have moments in our life where we'll always be lonely, and there's a part of our hearts that always feel this way. That's what I want people to feel from it."
The single has already achieved instant success, something Symon herself, never anticipated. The song currently is 47 on the pop chart, and the lyric video already has 200,000 plus views on Youtube. Symon never imagined the success she received through the video, as the song achieved 50,000 views in five hours. However, she feels the reliability of it, is what really struck a chord with viewers.
Symon
“The reaction to Lonely Girl has been really interesting, as it's just me being me, straight from my heart, and as authentic and vulnerable as can be," she says. “I didn't know how people were going to react at first, and I was very terrified. However, I literally had 50,000 views in five hours, and my Youtube crashed. It's been refreshing to see that people truly want authentic things. I think people are honestly sick of bullshit."
“Lonely Girl" may be Symon's latest hit, but her other song “Say" is equally enticing, especially since it's the catchy pop single we all love when the weather gets a little warmer out. However, “Say" did not use ASL in the lyric video, making “Lonely Girl" a true gem on it's own.
Aside from taking the music world by storm, Symon also proves to be a double threat, as she also currently hosts SiriusXM's Hits 1 in Hollywood (the show has over 40 million viewers) alongside hosts Michael Yo and Tony Fly. However, instead of just limiting herself to one thing, Symon sees the opportunities in her future to be completely limitless, as TV and film is something she's currently looking into going forward.
“People always say where do you see yourself, and I tell them I honestly I see everything. I love the different formats of art and the way they make me feel whether that's going to be in TV and film. I know that I am ready to try anything and for things to come my way, and I'm definitely like bring it on." -Symon
WRITTEN BY
Courtney Leiva