A star is born

A world of opportunity is opening for Lake City High School freshman Sydney Jacobson.

The 14-year-old singer-songwriter, who goes by the stage name Sydney Dale, is releasing her first single, “Simple Little Things,” at midnight tonight.

"It has kind of an ’80s pop fusion kind of feel,” she said Wednesday, sitting on the back patio of her Hayden home. "That’s my favorite song that I recorded.”

After the first single drops, Sydney smartly plans to release one song a month from her first album, which is named for the titular track.

"We didn’t want to put the whole album out there at once,” she said. "Songs can get lost, and people pick out their favorites and don’t listen to the rest. We wanted to make people wait for them, and only the people that come to my release party are getting my CD, which has all of the songs."

Sydney has been singing as long as she's been talking. She began writing songs in her head when she was 10 and putting them to paper at age 12. She thinks of chord progressions that go with what she's feeling, then she thinks of words and melodies soon follow. She describes her style as "alternative/folk/indie/pop." Her influences and musical favorites include Adele, Norah Jones, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and John Denver.

She plays piano and guitar, but she's quite fond of the ukulele. She found herself gravitating to a toy ukulele when her brother bought one in Hawaii. Then her grandpa Mike Boeck made a special one just for her.

“I love ukulele because it’s so easy,” Sydney said. "With instruments, if I can’t express myself through them, if they’re hard, it’s hard to keep it up. I like just playing and letting all my emotions go into my music. If I can’t do that it really bugs me."

The teen enjoys musical theater, singing and a little bit of dancing. She recently won first place soprano in the district Solo and Ensemble Competition, and she just submitted her entry for the Idaho Music Educators Association's state contest.

“Lake City was pretty excited about it too, that their school had the winner," her mom, Alyssa Jacobson, said.

Songwriting is where Sydney really shines. She submitted two songs for the National Association for Music Educators songwriting contest at the recommendation of one of her teachers.

One of her mentors, Dan Powers of the music group The Powers, said Sydney "is truly brilliant."

"She's just one of these young people that's functioning like she's been doing this for 50 years, but she's only been doing it a year," he said. "Her songwriting is through the roof, very mature. There's some depth in her lyrics and melodies. And she’s eager, she wants to do this."

He's so impressed, he invited Sydney to take the stage Friday, May 7 at the Athol Farmers Market Spring Fling Music Fest. The event goes from 2 to 7 p.m. Sydney will perform from 4:50 to 5:15 p.m.

"I’m thrilled to bring her into the fold," Powers said. "She's 14, and I have kids the same age, or close to. Me as a dad, I would be so thrilled to see my kids do something like that … I can't wait for my kids to experience someone who’s their peer move forward and make waves and do something that other kids and other adults aren't doing."

Sydney's mom is incredibly proud of her, as is her dad, Jeremy, who is in the Air Force and deployed to Iraq. He was with Sydney when she recorded her album with professional musicians in December.

“He loved that. That was his favorite thing ever," Sydney said. "He showed his whole Air Force base all of my songs already."

"Her release party is on the base calendar,” Alyssa said. "So she’s feeling the love, all the way out there."

The launch party for Sydney Dale's "Simple Little Things" will be from 4 to 7 p.m. May 16 at Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Company, 826 N. Fourth St., Coeur d'Alene. Attendees will have opportunities to meet the artist and snag a free copy of her album. Donations will be accepted.

Tune into any streaming service such as Spotify and Amazon Music and search for "Sydney Dale" and "Simple Little Things" after midnight tonight to hear this rising star's first track.