Sienna Spiro grew up feeling “really insecure” about her body and would hide behind oversized clothes when she first started releasing music.
The Die on this Hill hitmaker credits her dad for introducing her to icons like Barbra Streisand and Ava Gardner, whose glamour helped her imagine a different version of herself.
She explained that experimenting with her now-signature hair became a turning point, telling Variety: “I tried the hair for the first time, and it made me feel like such an elevated version of myself.” The look gives her a boost onstage, especially on days when she’s exhausted or dealing with period pain. “Sometimes having hair that’s different from my everyday hair, or when I put my boots on, allows me to step into something and have a level of confidence.”
The 20-year-old star also revealed she’s been living with vocal nodules since childhood – a “blessing and a curse” that gives her voice its distinctive rasp but has caused serious strain.
She recalled: “I only officially found out [about the nodules] two years ago. But I’ve always had a super raspy voice. I do feel like I’ve probably always had them, or from a young age at least.”
She admitted: “They’re such a blessing and a curse. I love the texture they give my voice, and sometimes they stop your voice from doing something, which I actually think sounds good. But I was nearly mute for a year – like, I barely spoke the year before last. It was really tricky. Very isolating.”
When she’s offstage, Sienna is almost unrecognisable without her big hair and heels, and she admits she often needs that transformation to distance herself from the emotions she felt while writing her songs.
She said: “I have no filter, which is a good thing and a bad thing. But I have no choice but to write honestly, and no choice other than to show up as myself.
“I’m just a 20-year-old, and sometimes I wake up and I’m on my period and I have to go and perform onstage. And sometimes having hair that’s different from my everyday hair, or when I put my boots on, allows me to kind of step into something and have a level of confidence and separation from the way I felt writing those songs.”
She added: “I’d never wear heels in everyday life.”
