After putting music aside for a career in science, American singer and songwriter Ana Sky found herself pulled back towards the dream she had never quite let go of. We met the artist earlier this year in London during her concert at Islington Assembly Hall to talk about following intuition, the analytical mind, and finding new ways to understand ourselves and the world through music. Now back in the UK and Europe as a special guest on Westlife’s tour, starting 29 September, Ana Sky is taking that dream to an even bigger stage.

 

Photos by Sandro Hyams

Interview by Daniela Abranches and Jo Sugar

Makup  Jo Sugar
Hair Tim Furssedonn

 

Special thanks to Bradley Taylor

 

 

Sometimes, when dreams seem too big, we put them aside and convince ourselves that they are not for us. We stop chasing them, even pursue a parallel path, but some dreams are hard to leave behind and eventually, they find their way back to us.

Ana Sky convinced herself that music was meant to play a private role in her life and followed a career in science, until life showed her other plans.

Now building her new career in music, Ana brings the same curiosity and analytical mind she developed through science, while allowing intuition and emotion to take the lead. For her, music has become a way to explore ourselves and each other, approaching it as one of the most powerful ways we have to understand ourselves and each other.

I’m so humbled and excited to have the opportunity to tour with Westlife this fall! Doing another tour in the uk is such a gift in and of itself, but to get to work with such an established group of artists is an absolute dream. This will be my biggest tour to date, and I feel so grateful to get to share my music at this level.

ana sky

ZOOT: For our readers meeting you now, how would you introduce yourself?

Ana Sky: My name is Ana Sky. I’m a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, pretty new to music. In terms of comparisons or points of reference, I’d say my music sits somewhere between Lana Del Rey and Amy Winehouse.

ZOOT: What was your life like growing up as a teenager who wrote poetry? How did you end up following a path in science?

Ana Sky: I think I ended up in science because, growing up in LA, I saw a lot of people come to the city trying to make it. Watching that, I told myself that as much as I loved music, I was never going to go into entertainment — I made that vow to myself when I was younger. But I kept singing; I’ve always loved singing and music, and I also loved science. So while I was working in a lab, I was still singing, just for myself. Somehow a video of me singing — one I didn’t even know existed — found its way to Diane Warren, and the next thing I knew, I was recording for her the next day. And the rest is history.

ZOOT: Before music became your main path, you were building a career in science. What did that world teach you about discipline, observation, and critical thinking?

Ana Sky: Working as a biologist made me very well-versed in observation and asking questions, and that curiosity feeds directly into my writing. Science and music are different in some ways — in the lab there’s an exact protocol, and you always get the same result. Music is much more about following your intuition. But I still break my process down into measurable steps and almost gamify it that way, while letting the creative side take over, especially on stage. It’s a mix of both, but that scientific foundation makes me a more perceptive observer of the world, and that feeds directly into my art.

 ZOOT: In today’s world of misinformation, emotional manipulation, and digital noise, does your scientific training shape the way you process reality?

Ana Sky: Absolutely. I’m a very analytical thinker, and I like to filter out noise because, at the end of the day, my music has to represent me. I try to keep an open mind and take in different perspectives — that’s the scientific method, really: you test what holds up. But once I’ve thoroughly explored something and know where my heart lies, that’s where I draw the line on what I believe in.

 ZOOT: You have described music as something that was always there — at what point did it stop feeling like a private passion and start feeling like something you had to follow?

Ana Sky: It was that first session recording for Diane — eight hours passed and it felt like thirty minutes. I remember telling my dad afterward that if this could be my life every day, I’d be the happiest person. It didn’t feel like work. Then my producer, AC, who’s amazing, told me he wanted to develop me creatively, and it started to feel real, especially once we wrote my first song and released it. Taking that big a turn in my life felt crazy, but I knew that if I didn’t, I’d always wonder ‘what if.’

 ZOOT: Many of your songs explore love as something beautiful, but also complicated and painful. Why do you think relationships have become such a strong emotional territory in your writing?

Ana Sky: I think it’s because I’m such a sensitive person — I connect strongly with the people around me, and interpersonal relationships, not just romantic ones, are a core value for me. A lot of my music is me trying to understand things that are complicated or difficult, working them out through the songs. It’s hard to understand people who behave in ways you wouldn’t, and I think that can cause its own kind of pain. Sometimes I’m writing for characters that aren’t me — we’ve done music for a few independent films, which I love, because it’s a real creative challenge to see the world from someone else’s perspective. It helps me understand people whose behaviour is different from my own.

 

 

 

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Our London team styled  Ana Sky a while ago during a fashion shoot in the heart of London.

Photos Carlos Lumiere
At Lumiére London 
Assisted by Aghil Menon
Styling Alice Secchi
Makup  Jo Sugar
Hair Tim Furssedonn

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 ZOOT: You belong to a generation with a constant presence on social media. In your artistic life, do you see it as an ally, or does it become tricky sometimes?

Ana Sky: A bit of both. Personally, I’m quite private and I get overstimulated easily, so I don’t engage with it much in my own life. Professionally, though, it’s an important part of my career, so I’m learning to lean into it more. If I wasn’t in music, I probably wouldn’t use it nearly as much — but the more comfortable I get with it, the more it feels like something I want to do rather than something I have to do.

 ZOOT: Music is one of the most human forms of expression. In a moment when AI can generate songs, voices, and emotions on demand, what do you think still makes a song truly alive?

Ana Sky: That’s such an important question, especially as AI infiltrates more of our lives. Ultimately, your personal experiences are what make a song true to who you are — AI can generate generic ideas, but it hasn’t lived my life. Those personal details are what I write from, and no one else can simulate that. I hope AI doesn’t put me out of a job, but I don’t think it ever will, because it isn’t human — it doesn’t have emotions, and it can’t replicate that. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction, and that’s what I put into my music: real emotion, heart on my sleeve, leaving it all on the table on stage.

 ZOOT: American society feels increasingly polarised. As a young artist building a public voice, how do you deal with the pressure to speak, react, or define yourself politically?

Ana Sky: That’s a tough one. I always try to keep an open mind and consider other points of view, even when they don’t align with my own, because that’s part of what free speech means — you can’t only have it on one side of the conversation. I think there’s a difference between holding your own opinions and shutting someone else’s down, so I try to speak up on what matters to me while staying respectful of other views. That’s what makes life interesting — we don’t all think the same thing.

 ZOOT: In a time marked by war, displacement, and collective anxiety, what can pop music still offer — escape, comfort, resistance, or a way of feeling less alone?

Ana Sky: I think pop music can offer all of those things. Music helps people connect and feel less alone — sometimes you hear a song and realise someone else has felt exactly what you’re feeling. Art is a great unifier, even in times of division, and understanding other perspectives matters even more during conflict. It’s also cathartic for me personally — when I keep my emotions locked in, that’s when I start to spiral, so pouring them into music is healing. Lana Del Rey is an artist I always come back to; she’s created space in her work for both vulnerability and strength. Nessa Barrett and Amy Winehouse are big inspirations too — being able to express pain through music and come out stronger from it is such a powerful thing. So many people carry pain they feel they can’t talk about, and music is one of the ways we come together and support each other through it.

 ZOOT: You grew up in Los Angeles — a city where the extraordinary and the everyday collide. With celebrities part of the everyday landscape, how was your childhood and adolescence? And what helped you stay grounded in who you are?

Ana Sky: I’ve had a lot of exposure to high-profile people, artists, and creatives growing up in LA, but family, friends, and my dog are what really keep me grounded. Books are important too — I love fantasy, because sometimes I need to escape to a completely different world. It’s got to have a map in the beginning; that’s how you know it’s a good one. Writing and making music does something similar — when I write, I explore different parts of myself, which helps me hold onto who I am. On tour, reading is my wind-down ritual — after the high of being on stage, I need a quiet corner and a book to come back down to earth.

 ZOOT: Can you tell us about your beauty routine and any special rituals you perform before you go on stage?

Ana Sky: I love skincare, beauty, and makeup — I’m always picking up tips online, and I’m a big believer in Korean and Japanese skincare. I moisturise religiously, drink a lot of water and tea, and do my vocal warm-ups in the shower because the steam really helps. Doing my hair and makeup myself is a meditative process — I’ll put a podcast on and get lost in my own little world. And right before I go on stage, we always do our little handshake send-off.

 ZOOT: What advice would you give to someone who has a hidden dream but is pursuing a completely different career path?

Ana Sky: Keep feeding both passions, because you never know what’s ahead. Luck is when opportunity meets preparation, so stay ready so that when the moment comes, you have something to bring to the table. You don’t want to regret giving up something you love — people are multi-dimensional, and it’s important to nurture every part of yourself. I’m always going to consider myself a scientist, and maybe I’ll be back in a lab one day, but right now I’m loving getting to explore this other part of my heart.

Thank you Ana!

 

To boot…

ANA SKY
@anasky 

 

PR: Bradley Taylor
@bradleyltaylor I www.bigmachineagency.com

 

Westlife 25: The Anniversary World Tour
with Ana Sky