Altadena graduate turned her musical talent into fundraising for fire victims

Sydney Sheldahl created playlists for the different seasons of her senior year. In January, Sheldahl and her family evacuated their Altadena home, and ever since they’ve been living somewhere that’s not home.

Today when Sheldahl revisits her playlists from before the Eaton fire, they evoke memories of driving past her old elementary school, Saint Mark’s, that burned in the fire — or the streets around her home near Braeburn Road and Allen Avenue.

“So it feels like a time machine in that way, and that has been super helpful,” Sheldahl said.

A lifelong Altadena resident, Sheldahl graduated from Westridge School last week. Her home survived and Sheldahl has returned a few times to grab clothes and other essentials. Her family is in the process of remediating significant ash damage to the home before they can return.

Music has held a special place in Sheldahl’s life going back to her earliest years. She described music and songwriting as an escape and a way for her to process emotions in a healthy way.

“I’m a pretty overthinking, anxious person in a way and music is what cuts through that a lot of the time,” Sheldahl said. “It kind of feels like a sound bath of just not my own thoughts, which can feel super restful and relaxing a lot of the time.”

Sheldahl released two original songs to raise money for Saint Mark’s. She wrote the two songs “Hometown Views” and “Incipient Summer” years ago and previously recorded them through a connection she made at a summer camp held at Los Angeles College of Music.

The unreleased songs sat on her laptop. After being displaced and evacuated to a hotel, Sheldahl decided to release the songs and donate any income that followed.

“It came from this need to do something, feeling bored in the hotel room, feeling kind of stuck,” Sheldahl said.

While she has raised less than $5 through streams of her songs, Sheldahl said the experience was educational and she still plans to donate the money no matter how small the final amount.

“I learned a hard lesson that it’s hard to make money as a small artist,” Sheldahl said.

Both songs, released under Sheldahl’s stage name Sydney Bray, an homage to Braeburn Road in Altadena, are about the Southern California experience. “Hometown Views,” is about the beauty of the Pasadena/Altadena area.

“I want people to know the power of emotions and that young people feel a lot of feelings, but that is totally OK,” Sheldahl said. “I don’t think feelings are something to be afraid of.”

Using her talent to help others is exactly who Sheldahl is, says Westridge School’s Theater Director Brandon Kruhm.

Kruhm said Sheldahl is always on the lookout for those who hope to be included. Sheldahl performed in several plays at Westridge including in the title role in “The Spongebob Musical” during her junior year.

“She’s just a complete powerhouse on stage and just owns all of her talent so well,” Kruhm said. “The striking thing to me is that she is so incredibly talented and hears that a lot from her friends and from adults around the community, but still remains just such a humble person, and conscientious and generous and caring about other people much more than herself.”

This year, after performing in the fall production, Sheldahl told Kruhm that she wanted to try a different aspect of theater and took on the role of assistant director.

“As somebody who last year had been in the title role, and then to have her consciously choose to remove herself from the audition pool and put herself in a leadership role where she could support others, just speaks to who she is,” Kruhm said.

Sheldahl will be attending Berklee College of Music in Boston and wants to become a teacher.