SINGING IS LIKE BREATHING TO ME. It gives me wings, it fills my lungs with sky. And I'm all about the sky. I'm obsessed with stars of all kinds - actual, astrological and Hollywood old-style glamour. I adore the colour blue and love the curious fact that ... blue is the hottest flame. It is infinite to me, more brilliant than a rainbow. It's a state of being, a mindset. Perhaps it's my artistic background. Add the slightest touch of yellow and suddenly you have Turquoise, the blues with sunshine in it, the happiest colour of all.

Eleven is the most perfect number to me. Double that - 11:11 - and you're in another world. I came to music through the medium of words - as a lyricist and a poet with a story to tell. Songwriting is magic. I believe you get what you sing. And that's why I sing about ... love.

I have a few foibles - coffee is one of them. Double shot almond latte SMALL size (to get that extra vital kick of caffeine) - or a Diva as I like to call it - and it must be freshly made, piping hot and served in an actual glass NOT an upside down paper hat that will destroy the earth. Otherwise I'll eat anything - except for tripe. Or whale. Or anything endangered. I'm scaling back my love of meat and food that’s not locally grown to help heal the planet. It's the very least I can do. This is the great age of our struggle to re-embrace nature and I want to be there for every pulsing heartbeat of it.

Words matter. Without them, there is no song, just a piece of music and a singer with nothing to do. I love teaching. It's another way of performing and I delight in that sense of sharing what I know, of opening up the music box of the world to young songwriters.

My mantra is ... words have power; stories must be told; songwriters know how to tell them in a way that literally sings ... and so often in the company of other songwriters. Make a song with someone you love and your friendship will be bound up forever on a soul level that's hard to define. It could of course just be all that oxytocin you're releasing together - or it could be the sheer joy of sharing such an amazing creative experience. Either way it's the closest thing to magic I've ever known.

Susan Muranty July 2026

Photo Credit: The Sky Is My Country Too (Video) - Directed by Michael Carpenter