Books of power
Susana has a book that she takes out whenever she performs at Southbank that she calls the “book of power”. The idea started from people approaching her during her sets to compliment her, so Susana thought that it would be a good idea to have these powerful thoughts documented for whenever she’s feeling under the weather.
“I have already got six of these books completely filled out at home.” She goes on to show me a few drawings and encouraging comments written by passerbys. “This is one of my favourites.” She shows me a scribbling that is clearly done by a child. “Two little girls came up to me and wrote on that.”
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program, led her to be a part of the top 10 finalists of the show. When her time in Portugal Idol came to an end, Susana had to go back to reality: studying and working. After that chapter of her life ended, she felt like Portugal had nothing left to offer her, reason why she packed up and moved to London. I asked her why London and not Berlin or New York, and she said that for Europe, London is the “magical city”. She moved to London and started working at a small coffee house that had a second floor, which she used as her apartment. After a few months, she asked her employer – who was also her landlord- permission to go back home for a few weeks because she missed her family, this had been the longest she had been away from home. He agreed to that and she left, but once she came back her house and her employee were both gone. She tried to contact the police, but they could never find her. “I was homeless for about two weeks.” She could have asked her family for money or help, but she felt like it would not be fair to put them in that position. “My parents have given me so much, I didn’t want to push them to give me even more.” She pauses to light up and take a drag from her cigarette. “In my head I thought: ‘I’m going to make it work’ and that’s when I found Southbank.” While she was trying to make ends meet, Susana met a fellow busker on the streets who gave her one of the most valuable presents she would ever receive – a guitar. “It was a bit scary, you know? (laughs). Some random man coming up to you and ‘giving you a gift’? Scary. I was sitting there stomping my feet and singing and he came up to me and gave me a broken guitar with only two strings left.” He appreciated her hard work and the fact that she wasn’t begging for money, like some do. He became a
sort of mentor for Susana. She spent the first few pounds she made at McDonald’s. “I remember he told me to take that money and go away from central London and buy a big bowl of soup, which is better than McDonald’s.” He also advised her to set aside a few pounds and go to a computer café and use the money to learn how to play the guitar from the Internet. So, she did. “I started to learn how to play guitar with just the two strings.” After a while and multiple random jobs, Susana found enough money to get an amplifier, a microphone, and a real guitar with 6 strings. “The hardest thing right now is having to deal with the business side of music.” Susana hasn’t had the best experiences with managers and producers because, as you would suspect, the industry is driven through money and appearances. “Which is why I’m doing everything on my own now. I’m my own manager, my own producer, my own publicist.” “I don’t need the fame, I just want to make people smile and feel like they can relate to my music.” Susana is currently working in both London and Portugal to produce her new EP: Foundations. ¢