Amy Geis: Utah-based singer with honest ambitions
She sits, hunched over a piano. The words flow effortlessly, her fingers dancing across the keys. She opens her mouth and her heart lets loose.
Utah-based singer and songwriter Amy Geis receives inspiration for her songs sitting down, more often than not on a piano bench, and allowing herself to free the worries of her heart in the form of song lyrics.
Geis has been singing and performing ever since she can remember. When she was younger, her parents enrolled her in singing groups, igniting a passion for music. As she grew older and began sharing her songs, she started to view singing as more of a career.
Geis, now working as a singer-songwriter on the side, has produced numerous songs and focuses on a unique, vulnerable approach.
One of Geis’s inspirations is Taylor Swift. She loves the honesty of her songs and how her music speaks about issues everyone can relate to.
“I love her so much because she’s so honest,” Geis said. “To the point where you’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe she just said that.’”
Geis not only admires Swift’s approach to writing songs, she lives it. One of her goals is to incorporate her own struggles into her songs, no matter how scary that might be.
In many of her songs, such as “Be Me” and “Pain,” she focuses on issues most people deal with like self-esteem, anxiety and body image.
“I have this little deal with myself,” Geis said. “If I think of something that I want to write or sing — even if it’s like really scary — if it pops into my head, I just have to do it.”
For her, it’s therapeutic to be vulnerable in her songs. Writing down her honest, personal thoughts helps her feel liberated in a sense.
“It’s so therapeutic to kind of just write down what you’re saying,” Geis said.
In addition to being singer-songwriter, Geis also works a 9-to-5 job, coaches an acapella group and picks up gigs whenever possible.
Geis produces all of her songs herself, which can get expensive. Despite the challenge this presents, Geis continues to produce music, working hard to come up with the funds it requires.
“She’s just always going,” said Patrick Lorsche, Geis’s husband of four years. “When I see her going out there and really giving it her all it totally inspires me to do better at my dreams.”
Geis’ friends, family and fans help her keep motivated. When her fans reach out with feedback or her friends ask about her songs, it gives her the push she needs to continue.
The thought that her songs could be helping others inspires her. From her own experience, she understands songs that explore real issues have real power.
“If I hear someone I look up to singing a song about how they are insecure, that makes me feel so validated,” she said.
For Geis, singing means more than a career or hobby; it’s an integral part of her life. Geis has found when she stops writing songs, she feels a certain emptiness. She feels as if she’s not being authentic.
“I just can’t stop writing and putting out music” Geis said, “It’s just something that is, I think — you know — deep inside me. And so it’s almost like I have to keep doing it.”
Just this last week on Sept. 24, Geis released her brand new single “First Time.” The song is different from most of her other songs. Instead of focusing on the hard and the personal, “First Time” encapsulates the excitement of a new relationship.
Geis wrote the single with Adam Turley, a Utah-based producer who has millions of streams on Spotify. Geis looks up to Turley as a musician, so she said she is especially excited to collaborate with him on the song.
According to Geis, “First Time” is about “wanting to go back to a relationship at the beginning, when everything was magical and perfect.”
It’s still a song most people can relate to, but it concentrates on a lighter topic. It’s a song meant to be happy and fun.
“This one is kind of cool for her just because it’s so different from her other songs,” Lorsche said, “It’s just a fun song to turn up in your car.”
“First Time,” along with all of Geis’ other songs, is available on all platforms. According to Geis, one of the best ways to support her as a local artist is to save, download or stream her music. Sharing her music with friends and family also helps.
“Sharing the music with others helps a ton” Geis said, “any support seriously helps so much, even if it’s just with one person.”