Savannah Hudson on Between Friend’s New Album, Social Media, and Barbra Streisand

Words: Rob Corsini | Photographer: Yasmine Diba | Stylist: Valeria Semushina | Makeup: Eden Lattanzio | Videographer: Camille Mariet

Savannah Hudson is an it girl. As you scroll through her Instagram, you’ll see her standing inside of a bodega, dressed head to toe in Sandy Liang; sitting in the front row of a fashion show; or perched on a stool next to a plastic great dane, ready to shoot a music video for her band, Between Friends.

For parts of her life, Savannah leaned into this categorisation as an it girl, but as we speak over Zoom, she confesses that the question “tell me about yourself” has taken on more weight as her band approaches the release of its second album. “I think if you asked me that a few years ago, I'd be like ‘I’m this fun-loving girl and I make music and I like clothes,’ but now I think answering that question means so much more to me, because I want people to see so much more of me.”

While social media has allowed people a window into Savannah’s world, how far she has chosen to open it has always been a considered choice. “I hope to get to a point with our audience where they feel like they know me and I'm their friend,” she explains, “but I also still want to have that barrier, I would rather show you my art.”

To maintain this degree of separation, Savannah treats social media like an extension of her artistic performance. Describing herself as the opposite of someone who’ll show you what they’re having for breakfast, Savannah instead creates glimpses that build towards a fully realised persona. “I get really attached to playing a character.” The singer notes. “How I wake up in the morning is how I want to be that day doesn't necessarily mean that's who I am every single day, but it's all parts of me – a piece of the puzzle.”

Turning every aspect of her public identity into a production is an ethos that the twenty six year old shares with her greatest inspirations. “I’m very, very drawn to big personalities. A loud, I-don't-give-a-fuck artist – someone that's fully in character. And Barbra Streisand was the first person to do that for me.” Savannah believes that there’s a difference between someone who performs and someone who lives as an artist – trying to evoke emotions and conjure ideas in everything they do.

“I felt like I was so grown up and that this was what I meant to be doing. But at the same time, I don't think I let that girl feel scared, or nervous, or honestly feel anything.”

As a child, she would sneak into her grandmother’s bedroom and they’d watch Streisand films together – Funny Girl, Funny Lady, Yentl. “I was frothing at the mouth,” Savannah laughs. When she’d sneak back to her room, her mum would find her crying on her bed – overwhelmed with her love for the films and their music. “I had this passion inside of me that I wasn’t able to get out.”

Even though she was so young, Savannah began to work towards her dream of creating music – collaborating with her brother Brandon, who is two years older than her. She smiles, “My family was always very protective of energy – finding your passion and sort of harvesting it with blinders on.” 

By the time they were just 13 and 15 respectively, Savannah and Brandon had made a name for themselves nationally, by reaching the quarterfinals of America’s Got Talent in 2013. Overnight, they became national celebrities - millions of people watched them on tv, they appeared on morning talk shows and attended red carpets. “I was so ready: I felt like I was so grown up and that this was what I meant to be doing. But at the same time, I don't think I let that girl feel scared, or nervous, or honestly feel anything.”

After finishing America’s Got Talent, Savannah and Brandon began to tour the country with a Disney band, a career move chosen for them as the siblings were still underage. By the time Savannah was 17, she’d performed over 500 shows nationwide, been signed and dropped by Capitol Records, signed two deals with Sony, and began working with a new group called The Heirs.

While Savannah recognises that the period was more abnormal than most people’s teenage years, it still fell squarely on the spectrum of normal for her – describing it almost as something she just got on with. “I really want to stop and appreciate things more, looking back. I wish I did it a bit more at the time, yet you’re in survival mode – you’re on the road for three months at a time and you're living on a bus,” she remembers. “Still, even when it was uncomfortable, I never really thought ‘I don't want to do this’”. 

As Savannah and Brandon navigated the tough periods doled out by the music industry – deals that fell through or bands that didn’t quite fit their vision – they continued to work on music together in private, using their free time to satiate their creativity in a space outside of the pressures of labels. “We've got this twin flame thing going, being in this world together and put on this planet as siblings. Any industry can feel really isolating and scary, and it's hard to trust people but we have this built in trust.”

One day, when a manager asked them what they’d been working on, they decided to show their hidden folder of music – and the band was solidified into their main project. The only thing that they couldn’t decide on was a name, until fate brought them two words. “We were in a really, really shitty deal and we had this big, secret call with our manager who was trying to get us out of it. And on the call he said, ‘Hey, can we keep this between friends?’ And Brandon and I just looked at each other and we knew that it was so perfect.”

Between Friend’s first album, I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy, came out in 2023 at the forefront of the bedroom pop movement that took hold during covid, and their second album, WOW! comes out in August. The new record was inspired by their experience travelling and clubbing across North America, Europe, and Asia.

“I think we've finally made an album that's indicative of exactly what's going on right now for us. Going through these feelings of growing up and having adult things to do and shit happening but then saying we're still going to go and party.” Savannah gushes. “We're still going to go celebrate. We're still going to go and see our friends. It's a push and pull the whole time.” 

And just as the album was inspired by partying, that’s the dream for the reception to the music too. “I want really big speakers, like really big ones!” She laughs, “And really big rooms with people in them. Filling them and listening to it and playing and performing it. That’s all I can ask for.”