Bestfriend was half-formed through a mutual friend and half-formed through Instagram DMs in 2018. The indie-pop duo is a culmination of two young artists, Stacy Kim and Kaelan Geoffrey, making music from thousands of miles apart; Stacy in the west, Kaelan in the east.
Through trial and error (and many gigabytes of .wav files sent back and forth), they’ve found their stride in dreamy, story-telling pop songs. Bestfriend used their innate skills in collaboration and intuition to release their first original dual-release single, Television ’99 and twentyfour. Geoffrey’s expert use of dreamy, almost euphoric synthesizers paired with Kim’s guiding, melodious vocals pulls listeners into a shared space, creating harmony within the themes of uncertainty.
Bestfriend’s lead single “Hannah In the City” is a sweet nostalgic indie pop bop all about the “what ifs.” Bittersweet and tender, “Hannah in the City” combines dreamy synth melodies with lead singer Stacy Kim’s silky vocals. Reminiscent of Indigo De Souza, Hippo Campus, or Beabadoobee, the track was produced and written entirely by the duo (who are indeed, best friends IRL), and was mixed by Grammy-nominated Travis Ference (Ariana Grande, Tori Kelly, Imagine Dragons).
Tell us about the genesis of your project. How did you get to where you are now?
Kaelan: We like to say we just started a conversation a few years ago and it simply never stopped, and that’s honestly really accurate. We started by sending a few files of covers back and forth to get our bearings working with each other and frankly learning how to do it all in general, and it just sort of took off from there. We talk all day using a whole separate messaging app from where we talk to literally everyone else in our lives so there’s just this hilariously chaotic space dedicated exclusively to us being annoying and talking about music and picking on each other. We just sort of blast that space with thoughts and grievances and garbage all day, every day, and I guess two or so years of that birthed whatever this is. It’s like yelling into the void but the void has a nice singing voice.
What does music and being an artist mean to you?
Stacy: For me, it’s about telling stories and hearing other people’s stories. Having that realization that everything you’ve ever been through — big or small — someone else has been through the exact same thing. Just in a different shape. I mean, think of the number of times you’ve heard a song when you’re an angsty 13 year old listening to breakup songs even though you’ve never even been in a relationship. I was listening to, like, Kelly Clarkson and Aly & AJ and sh*t in grade 7 and saying to myself yes, I can understand this exact feeling of being wronged by an ex. Like, no I didn’t! I was 12!
What are some sources of inspiration for your lyrics and storytelling?
S: Adrianne Lenker from Big Thief and Julia Jacklin, for sure.
K: I’m a big fan of The National and am pretty sure I was born to listen to Trouble Will Find Me and cry. Jake Ewald is also a dude who I admire greatly for the sort of casual, witty, friendly way he tells stories in his music, wherever he’s making it.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
S: Lil Nas X, hands down. He is the pinnacle of just being so unapologetic about everything he does whether it’s his music or his videos or frickin’, like…tweeting weird stuff. As a queer artist I think it’s incredible to have a popstar like him — a gay Black man — absolutely dominating the charts while never glossing over or sugarcoating the “less-appealing-to-outdated-critics” bits. I remember growing up and it was this huge, huge deal for pop stars and celebrities to embrace their sexuality let alone come out, and when they did it was always this weird, coy, illicit-feeling thing. Now you have Lil Nas X just out there being like, “yep, I’m Black, I’m gay, I love myself and what I do and so do my fans”. Insanely cool.
All time favorite record?
S: It’s a tossup between Don’t Let the Kids Win by Julia Jacklin and Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 by Calvin Harris. Two records I can listen to front to back over and over again and have been for years without getting bored. PS: if you have a link to Calvin Harris, can you ask him where Vol. 2’s at?
K: Because The Internet by Childish Gambino doesn’t get nearly enough love. That thing should be raised to the rafters with the greats. The best day of my life was the day Spotify announced a Dissect season on it.
Tell us about your latest release and how it came about
S: This release simultaneously feels like it was 5 years in the making and 3 months in the making – Hannah is a song I wrote over a year ago and was just this super stripped-back guitar+vocal ballad that Kaelan ended up blowing out of the water in his production. Sometimes we get to be in a room together for some of the stuff we make, but this one was done entirely from opposite coasts.
You seem to be fusing several musical genres. What inspires your sound?
K: The genre discussion is funny because I feel like you’ll be hard pressed to find anything interesting or popular these days that isn’t just a bunch of classically defined genres thrown into a blender and made into something that probably falls somewhere under the massive umbrella that is “Pop Music”. We mostly just like to enjoy what we enjoy and try not to let preconceived notions of what we “should” be making get in the way of that, which is something we picked up from some other band friends of ours we really adore.
What are some things you do to deal with anxiety and creative blocks?
S: To be completely honest, I don’t really have anything I do specifically. Most of the time I just lean into it because — and this could just be me — there is just not a lot more I can do about it when I’m in an anxious space or creative block. If I don’t lean into it and try to pull myself out, I usually get exponentially more frustrated with myself because it fails every time.
K: Yeah I’m going to totally agree here with a bit of a spin. Are you having a terrible day in your head and not sure where to go with it? Write it off dude. Go read a book or call a friend or smoke on the balcony. There is absolutely no one saying today is the day you have to write your magnum opus.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
K: Neither of us honestly really do well with the whole five-year thing because everything moves so quickly and there’s fun stuff to do literally everywhere all the time. So in the nature of that, hopefully we’re both doing things we’re curious about, making lovely music together, and leaning into what feels right.
Your style is very original and elaborate. How do you take care of your aesthetics?
S: Thanks for the callout! Kaelan and I are super visual people so the ideas tend to come about simultaneously with the music. That being said, none of what we’ve put out visually/aesthetically would even be 20% possible without our insanely talented videographer (and close friend) Kyle Ball; they have this way of being able to translate our really loose, irritatingly vague thoughts into perfect visuals. We’ve also worked with some killer photographers who are just so good at what they do; Maxine Tamoto and Becca Hamel were instrumental in this upcoming EP release.
What was the most daunting moment in your career so far?
S: Every single morning, when I wake up in a time zone three hours behind Kaelan and he’s already asked me like 15 questions about emails or drum tones or whatever.
K: Uhhhhhhh every single morning, when I wake up in a time zone three hours ahead of Stacy and I have to make all the decisions and stuff myself 🙁
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
K: You really can do way more hard things than you think you can. Just go for stuff. It’s always worth it if you’re leaning in the general direction of something you’re curious about or excited by.
S: “Stop being a baby about things you know that you know how to do, Stacy” – Kaelan Geoffrey
Where do you think the next game changer will be in the music industry and entertainment scene?
K: Bestfriend.
But actually – I’m not sure we’ll really know until it’s here, but I do know that no matter what fancy technology catches peoples attention in any given week (I’m looking at you, NFT community), the biggest steps forward in the industry are usually made around the concept of maintaining and connecting with your community and your people. It’s always going to come back to the human element of the art, because that’s not only the most important part, but the part that makes it all worth doing.
