Tell us about you. How did you get to where you are now?
What a question! Wow. Music’s all I’ve ever really done. I was always making things around the house as a kid, and sort of hungry to speak the same language as other people so music, art, those became my life. Then somewhere along the line, after a decade or so of putting songs online and playing hundreds of shows, I signed to a label a few years ago and that really gave me a real shot at a career. That first record deal didn’t last, but it did give me an avenue to get on the radio for the first time and reach new people, so there’s no regret there. It gave me space and opportunity to focus my life around creating.
What is the favorite song you wrote and why?
My answer will change tomorrow or next week, but I think “Let It Rest” is pretty great. It’s really simple, really raw, I think the melodies are very clear, and it escalates into a great little chaos towards the end in the production.
Who are your all time musical icons?
Nirvana, Bowie, Björk, and probably Lana Del Rey and The 1975 if I’m being honest with myself.
What are some things to do to keep your inspiration alive?
Living. I have to have a real life going on outside of music, otherwise I just get really self-obsessed and hyper-critical of everything. Yoga, reading, making visual art, seeing friends, doing volunteer work, walking and staying grounded in my neighborhood. Anything that keeps me in the world is really good for me.
Who are you binge listening to these days?
“Binge” is really the word, god, there’s so much music to keep up with. Right now I’m really loving the last album by Middle Kids, Today We’re the Greatest. Katy Kirby’s Cool Dry Place is beautiful; Blake Mills’ self-titled album has a lot of great songwriting. Porter Robinson’s Nurture is my favorite album of ’21 so far; I haven’t gone back to any other record as much as I have that one.
Favorite movie or TV show?
The Truman Show that everybody lives each day is pretty entertaining on its own.
Tell us about your latest release and how it came about
“We Look So Good” is I wrote “We Look So Good” with Søren Hansen right at the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, sort of channeling that initial confusion and anger and cabin fever into something fun. It’s written to the United States as if it were my lover, and sort of how imbalanced that relationship always. Always ‘fine’ or ‘okay’, ‘good on paper’, but never actually loving or comfortable.
Do you have any peculiar pre or post show rituals?
Meditation is huge for me. Taking some time for silence before I hop on stage to get my breathing slowed down and to warm up my voice.
What’s the future looking like for you?
I’ve got a lot of music coming. “We Look So Good” was a total channel-opener for me; once I wrote that, a lot more came through.
Who inspires your style and aesthetics?
God I’m super fascinated by gender roles vintage Americana right now; this sort of post-WWII-pre-Woodstock moment when everything was so packaged and clean-cut. I’m really interested in this idea of androgyny in pairing very masculine, classic “American Man” with more feminine, modern makeup looks.
What is the achievement or moment in your career you are the most proud of and why?
I think I’m the most proud of “Not OK!” making the Billboard chart, because it got my mom to finally get her first tattoo. She, my sister, and I all have gummy bear tattoos as a sort of family totem now that that’s out in the world.
What do you think is the best way to make it as an artist nowadays?
That’s the question of the century. Hmm. If “making it” means “making a living”, there’s never been more opportunity to just release honest work you believe in and put time and intention into, and for that to find an audience that wants to support it. Patreon, Twitch, TikTok, Youtube, the platforms are really all there. It’s so possible to be a working-class creator with a sustainable fanbase right now. If “making it” means “being famous”, I have no fucking idea and I don’t really know that I want to.
What would you change in the music and entertainment industry especially after this past year?
Okay, on the macro: the Alpha-male boys-club hustle culture bullshit has to go. Anything sustainable has to be built on intentionality and personal care, and the music industry write-large (at least the major labels) are just genuinely not designed for that. At least today, they’re designed to sign artists that have done all the groundwork on their own, let the artist continue to do all the work on their own, and make money off of the legacy catalogues they already have in rotation. If the new artists fail, it doesn’t matter, because they can sell their catalogue down the line to a private equity firm; if the artist succeeds, it’s a win because the label puts no money into marketing their work, they just let the artists do it themselves on social media.
On the micro: it’s small, community-focused boutique labels like Nvak Collective. Honestly, when Nvak approached me about potentially working together, the question that Alex Salibian asked me was “what does your dream record label look like?”, and everything we ended up agreeing on in our contract is what I would change about the music industry. Artists owning their master, not being beholden to an advance and then never seeing profit, open lines of communication so the artist always knows who’s doing what at all times, a label not taking on more artists than they can give personal attention to helping, labels functioning as a network hub for marketing and press. The answers have to be more personalized.
