Love notes

Singer/songwriter Sam Lowe speaks quickly and laughs often. The 19-year-old Carson City native exudes a luminous energy that comes across whether she is onstage singing and playing guitar—or sitting in a Starbucks on North Carson Street, sipping an iced green tea.

Lowe’s style ranges from indie and folk to R&B and house music, all united under Lowe’s youthful, expressive vocals.

Lowe began making music early on but only recently started taking it more seriously. Like many, she took to YouTube and began releasing acoustic and a cappella covers of popular songs. While she continues to do covers, she has also progressed into writing original music.

This is because, for Lowe, music does not just entail getting a bunch of views on your Frank Ocean YouTube cover. Instead, it is a vehicle for artistic expression, an outlet for social protest and demonstration, and a means to connect to others on an emotional and intellectual level.

At one point, Lowe remembered listening to other musical artists and being surprised by how deeply she internalized their messages.

“Sometimes I would listen to songs, and they were able to access me at a point where I didn’t know that I could be reached at,” said Lowe. “There is something so intuitive about music that so many other art forms can’t reach. You can just enjoy and feel it. Even though it is a different experience for everyone, it is a unified experience.”

In every aspect, it seems that Lowe’s very being emanates a sense of infectious optimism, with her newest song being no exception.

Her latest single, “Bitty Feep,” is set to drop on Aug. 27 on iTunes, Spotify and Pandora. It is an upbeat acoustic tune with a Sara Bareilles feel and a folksy flair.

The song talks about “cute aggression,” a term that basically refers to the “so cute I want to eat it” phenomenon—and its place in Lowe’s current relationship.

“The song is about my boyfriend, Isaiah,” she laughed. “He is so much taller than me but so adorable. What are you supposed to do with all that cuteness? You don’t know! When you are thirsty you just want to drink water. When you see cuteness, you just want to destroy it.”

Sure, cute aggression might sound ridiculous, maybe even a little dangerous. But “Bitty Feep” is so much more than that. It perfectly encompasses that overwhelming feeling of young love, of going crazy for a person who drives you crazy.

Lowe wrote her new single during her freshman year at the University of Nevada, Reno, inspired by her relationship, which at the time was long-distance.

In “Bitty Feep,” Lowe translates those mostly wonderful but sometimes difficult experiences that sum up long-distance relationships into an indie folk love letter.

Aside from writing new music, she is also working on performing more frequently at local events, and she has her sights set on performing internationally within the next couple of years.

“I want audiences to leave feeling more loved, more hopeful,” said Lowe. “I want them to go to sleep with a hopeful mind full of ideas. They can find encouragement, or they can identify with a struggle and find something to get them through the day. That’s what I want to do this for.”