An Advocate for Artistic Evolution: Leyre Granda on Working with Jacob Sartorious

An artist, when partnered with someone who can help them attain their vision, is able to explore the boundaries of creativity. Their voice can resonate throughout varied cultures and generations. This can only be attained through support; which in reality, is something we all desire. Jacob Sartorious (Nominated for a People’s Choice Award, Kids’ Choice Award, and iHeart Radio Music Award) is an incredible talent; a modern talent. Rising to fame on the internet, his vision seems borderless. Songwriter, producer, musician, actor, filmmaker, the list goes on. Jacob has found support in the benevolent relationship he shares with his Senior Manager Leyre Granda.

Leyre became aware of Jacob through TikTok and was later introduced to him as someone who could help him take back his power as a musician and creator; someone who could help him detach from his previous success as a young pop star signed to major record labels with pre produced visuals, art, and music and instead, reintroduce himself to the market as an independent musician with the autonomy to create and make advised decisions about his career. Their three-year professional relationship is proof of how extraordinary talent can be bolstered by wisdom and skill. 

It seems like everyone in the world is vying for internet stardom. The challenge becomes, how to transform that into a lasting and mature career. Modern success exists somewhere between the instantaneous online world and the physical one. As someone in her thirties, Leyre is in the middle of both of these.

Jacob Sartorious became famous from a very young age on social media and therefore understands how to navigate it better than most but going viral is one thing, being able to make a career out of that viral moment is the real challenge and one in which more than just social media skills come to play. It requires a wider and deeper understanding of the overall vision and strategy to be able to implement it to experience the desired results.

Regarding the direction she took Jacob in, Leyre explains, “A key part of my job with Jacob is based on repositioning, rebranding and re-engaging his fanbase to translate social media impressions into streams and music sales. There’s a fine line between being an influencer or a musician with a huge social media following. The lines can get easily blurred and its very important to manage this carefully to keep the artist/musician credibility and not fall into the influencer pot which is generally understood as a different business.”

In addition to helping Jacob secure his first movie role in The Loneliest Boy In the World (as Kurt), Leyre served as producer and coordinator on Sartorious’s debut film BREATHE. This documentary film chronicles Jacob’s trip to Amsterdam to meet “The Ice Man” Wim Hof and the impact of Hof’s techniques for dealing with depression and anxiety. An obvious personal acknowledgement of his own battles, BREATHE is an honest look at situation many people share and a means of dealing with it. A deeply personal project, this film could only have been realized with the aid of someone like Ms. Granda who was equally skilled and trusted by Jacob.

She relates, “When Jacob told me about this, we immediately came up with a plan. Jacob would reach out to Mr. Hof directly on Instagram and present his interest in Wim’s method and his desire to make something bigger out of it. After that, Jacob provided me with Wim’s team contact information and we started the process of putting together the production and the filming of this amazing documentary. It was very important for Jacob to be able to bring Wim Hof’s method closer to his generation and to his more than forty million followers across the board.”

“Mental health is an important aspect of Jacob as a person and as an entertainer. He openly speaks about his struggles and through his art and aspires to make this world a better place. One of the ways to do that is to introduce younger generations to the breathing method of Win Hof which has helped him tremendously, both personally and professionally, to overcome a lot of challenges.” Along with social media outlets, traditional press such as GQ and others covered BREATHE and its benevolent intention. 

Being in control of one’s own artistic identity and course is immensely satisfying. It also places incredible pressure on that artist to carry the weight of communication and interaction. Talent may be timeless but authentic communication is the lynch pin it rests upon. Leyre concurs, “The music of business relies on social media to maximize opportunities, audiences, streams, and brand collaborations, but the business and value should still be in the music and the artist. 

When working with artists that have such huge following, it is important to carefully manage all communications in order to avoid confusion with the real goal which is not growing your social media and your branding deals but to grow in musical and artist credibility. You want to be recognized instantly as a musician and entertainer both on and offline.

Younger entertainers and younger generations are already born being savvy with social media, it’s the way they naturally communicate. For them, social media is a part of their lives and they have a much deeper level of understanding in how to utilize and communicate through those platforms. That organic way of incorporating social media in your everyday life is where the key of the success of social media lies. It’s all about coming across as your authentic self, a simultaneously relatable and aspirational self.”

Writer: Calvin Hooney