Brendan Forbes
Stecker sounds better than ever on her new album, "Redemption."
As declarations go, the title of pop singer Skylar Stecker’s just-released second album, Redemption, is pretty direct. “I’ll be my own redemption,” she croons halfway through the title tune.
The last time we checked in with Stecker, the daughter of former Badgers running back Aaron Stecker, she was a 13-year-old Middleton middle schooler blowing the doors off an Overture Center show with her Beyonce-esque pipes. She’s spent the last four years in Los Angeles, trying to make her mark in the notoriously difficult music industry. Stecker was just in town on March 30, playing a show at the Majestic Theater. And it was the first time her entire family got a chance to hear her perform.
She has found some success, but her musical journey has hardly been bump-free. Her first release, 2015’s This is Me, led to an appearance on The Today Show and some dance-pop chart action, but she split from her record label last year, and now she’s taking the independent singer-songwriter route, focusing on material she’s chosen and created herself.
“I’ve been doing this wrong for the last five years,” Stecker says, calling from L.A. “I was being a very loyal Midwesterner, and it backfired on me. Now I’ve got a lot of creative control back.”
As Janet Jackson once sang, there are certainly benefits. The material on Redemption reflects a maturity and a re-energized confidence that have allowed Stecker to be much more lyrically vulnerable. She’s badass on the disc. On “How Convenient” she dismisses “scrubs” (moochers) and gets real about relationships on “Obvious,” the, um, obvious and catchy first single. Her voice, which was wowing listeners back in grade school, has never sounded more polished or powerful.
“I wanted to tap into emotions and be honest,” says Stecker. “I can tell you a story about every single one of the songs on the album; it’s like a musical scrapbook I can look back on.”
Not surprisingly, some of those stories are more uplifting than others. “Don’t Test Me,” for instance, is a double-barrel blast at Interscope/Cherry Tree, her old record label. (“Don’t tell me what is right and what is wrong/when you don’t even listen to my songs.” ZING.)
Back when she was looking for ways to begin climbing the music-biz ladder, Stecker pulled a page from the Christina Aguilera playbook, positioning herself by singing the national anthem at sporting events. What began with Badgers games kept growing, and now Stecker has performed the anthem more than 100 times, including belting it out for the Packers, the Lakers and the Dodgers. She recently performed it at an Anaheim Ducks game, checking the box for her first-ever NHL game. It’s not something she plans on giving up anytime soon.
“It’s part of who I am,” she says. “And I love the way audiences respond differently to it.”
Stecker’s hoping to mount a tour of the new album. “Performance is such a big thing for me,” she says. And she’s also considering some collaboration and remixes. But those who knew her when needn’t worry she’s gone full Cali — her family’s a big part of her career and her Midwestern ties remain strong.
“I love Wisconsin,” she says. “Wisconsin’s home for me.”
