Family of Composers

Siblings will perform original songs at Friday’s talent show

By Mattie Zautner, Current Staff

“Why Do I Like You?” and “Diamond Eyes.”

These two songs cannot be found on a Billboard Top 10 list because they were composed by West Bend West High School students Victoria and Sebastian Hunt. Their love of music inspired each sibling to write original songs to perform in this year’s WBHS Talent Show. The show is at 7 p.m. Friday in the Silver Lining Arts Center.

Sebastian’s song for the talent show is called “Diamond Eyes.” He described it as taking place during a dance and then seeing someone and instantly falling in love.

Victoria’s song is called “Why Do I Like You?” The song goes through the feelings of having a crush and wondering why you’re wasting your time when they are never going to like you back.

“His song is you see someone and instantly fall in love, while mine is about liking someone but you know they don’t like you back. It’s a little more depressing,” said Victoria, a junior.

Ever since they were growing up, these two siblings have been singing together all the time. There was a love of music in the family that inspired them to learn how to play different instruments and sing all the time.

“I’ve been singing ever since I can remember,” Victoria said. “I would sing in the rain outside, and my parents would yell at me because I was singing in the rain. Our parents had a lot of musical influences because my dad played the piano and he would sing very loudly in the house.”

Victoria tried to learn how to play the violin when she was younger, but quickly decided that was not for her and learned how to play the piano instead. She then realized that she was drawn to a different instrument.

“I played the piano for six years and then decided, nope, I want to pick up this guitar,” Victoria said.

When he was younger, Sebastian dabbled with multiple instruments. He remembers hitting the keys on the family piano, playing no song in particular. He then started to play on his family’s drum set.

“I’d sit downstairs and play on our beat-up drum set that was held together by duct tape,” said Sebastian, a ninth grader. “I loved playing on it, though.”

“I’d sit downstairs and play on our beat-up drum set that was held together by duct tape.”
– Sebastian Hunt

Victoria started writing music because she loved to talk and thought it would be fun to express her thoughts in music. She has been composing songs ever since being a little kid. Now when she wants to write a song, she sits down with a story in her head and allows the inspiration to hit her in that moment. Most of her songs are written when she is in this moment of inspiration.

“I would just sing about random things,” Victoria said. “I would sing about being sick, being sad, loving learning, which was a rough song. I liked putting myself in other people’s shoes and then trying to figure out what they would experience.”

As a kid, Sebastian would sing in the rain, like many kids do, but he would never write anything down. He just liked singing for fun. Now he keeps a whiteboard in his room that he writes different thoughts on. He wrote “Diamond Eyes” by piecing together all the phrases he had on the board.

“I started writing stuff, just random little hymns or verses that I came up with, and then I pieced together my first song this year,” Sebastian said. “I’ve performed in the talent show at Badger (Middle School) the past few years, but I made balloon animals as my talent. This year I thought I’d perform the song I wrote.”

The siblings have thought about writing a song together, but have not done it yet. They do perform together in a youth group for their church. They also used to have a band as kids with some friends, and their band name was Hunt the Citizens. They thought they sounded cool and like a rock band.

(Photograph by Mattie Zautner, Current Staff.)