Helena Randlaht says setbacks taught her to work harder

Sibyl Vane singer and guitarist Helena Randlaht says past failures taught her that talent alone is not enough and that effort is essential. In an interview with Vikerraadio, an ERR radio station, she said she no longer doubts herself and now feels confident on stage.

Randlaht said that something “opened up” for her about three years ago. She has often approached things without enough preparation, she said, before realising that hard work was necessary.

Music was part of her family life, though none of her relatives had made it a profession. Her grandfather played trumpet in a Soviet army orchestra. Randlaht said her mother worked abroad in the 1990s, giving the family a relatively comfortable life for the time. She saw foreign goods and the music channel MTV when she was five.

As a child, she imagined becoming a princess rather than a rock star, and listened to Golden Trio and Seelikukütid with her grandmother. Her musical direction took shape after she picked up a guitar. She was then a fan of Nirvana, as well as Avril Lavigne and Pink, whom she described as more rock-oriented at the time.

Randlaht said hearing Guns N’ Roses’ “Civil War” inspired her to start writing songs, although she was still learning to play. She wanted to write something just as good and even cried because she felt she could not.

She described herself as an average student who tended to keep things to herself. She tried music school as a child but lacked the motivation to practise. At secondary school, she studied in a music-focused class and learned to read and play from sheet music. After graduating, she auditioned for several music schools but was not accepted.

“You don’t have to have a music education to become a musician,” she said, adding that determination was what mattered most. She also studied at a private music school, where teachers helped motivate her through setbacks.

As a school student, Randlaht was eager to join the school band and eventually got the chance. But when the group performed at a school event, she said, she could not play any of the songs and did not know what she was doing on stage. Embarrassed, she left and did not return to rehearsals. Later, she joined a classmate’s band, which she said helped her develop as a musician and taught her to remember the songs.

Randlaht moved to Japan with her mother and her mother’s Japanese husband when she was young. She lived there for three and a half years and attended school, returning to Estonia at the age of 11. Because she had forgotten Estonian, she was placed in a grade below her age group. In Japan, she said, she did not commit herself to any particular activity, though she sometimes sang in a choir and took part in operettas.

Randlaht said she once believed she would become the world’s best guitarist, though she did not know where the idea came from. Her experiences, she said, taught her that wanting to succeed also means being prepared to put in the effort.