Checking the Vibe with Cookiee Kawaii

Beginning with the spirited pysch-rock guitar intro of “GETTING IT IN,” the chameleonic album progresses with Mercury’s poised flow through trap-heavy beats, smooth 90s keys, and a lot of samples. She’s shown a nearly peerless grasp on genre from early on, but she somehow ups her game even more on this project. Having already sampled everything from Stereolab to Yung Lean in the past, MERCZONE features reworked tracks from Bon Iver and Tennis. The effect is erratic but conceptually sound, the disparate range of sounds — either somewhat retained or chopped up until they’re nearly unrecognizable — mimicking the experience of being someone who’s spent a lot of time online, listening to music. There’s no need to worry with Mercury serving as our guide through what could otherwise be a potential heap of sonic spam. She’s already meticulously curated the sound—and the perfect party playlist — for us.

You first entered music through the internet. You’ve mentioned before that, at one point, your entire social life was on the internet and that meme culture was your life. Does the internet still have a big influence on your music?

Mercury— Yes, because I discover so much music through the internet. My YouTube algorithm will suggest random albums that aren't on streaming platforms. I mostly listen to music on the internet, unless it’s my physical copies of things, but I find new and even old music through the internet. It’s constantly inspiring me. I also rap about stuff that I see happening on the internet because it relates to my life sometimes. 

What things that you see online? 

Damn, I knew you was finna ask that. [Laughs] There’s this song by me and BbyAfricka that’s not out yet, but in it I say, “I got 32 golds in my mouth, I’m smiling big, like Tia Kemp.” Tia Kemp is Rick Ross’ baby mama who has veneers and is smiling all the time. I was like, okay, that’s kind of giving! [Laughs]

[Laughs] You’re an avid music listener, which comes across in your sampling. I love your Stereolab sample, and I noticed that you sampled “Rosyln,” the Bon Iver and St. Vincent song from New Moon, on “HIGH2GETBY.” The first question is, are you a Twilight fan?

Well, yes, as of recently. The first time I saw any Twilight movie was this year, maybe two or three months ago. I already knew the song, though, from listening to music as a kid. I already knew the song, but then I saw Twilight, and I was like, oh, this is giving. At first, I was like, this is so boring, then I was like, ooh, it’s messy, I like it.

Are most of the samples that you use earworms first? 

Yeah, they’re just really my favorite songs. Even the sample I used on “MIRACLE,” was one of my favorite songs. For a long time, I would just be playing, replaying, replaying, and replaying that song. I sampled it three times before I finally got to that beat. I sampled it with some other homies trying to figure it out, but when I chopped it up with [Nephew] Hesh, it went crazy. The jerky beat meshes with that song so well.

Your approach to genre also is pretty unorthodox, which matches the variance of your taste. The opening song of MERCZONE even has this really powerful electric guitar chord sequence. You’ve mentioned in the past that you wanted to release rock music under an alias. Is this your way of releasing rock music?

I lied about the alias shit, it’s just going to be me. [Laughs] When I first was making MERCZONE — it wasn’t called MERCZONE yet — it was a rock album. I wasn’t able to continue to make the songs that I wanted to because I was making them out of town. It was limited time. I was like, damn, if I'm going to continue this project, I need to do something else to be able to work with other people. I still wanted to keep that element and kept that specific song. I felt that it translated well. It was still rock-like, but it was also some shit that you could just vibe to. I felt like my cousins could listen to that and really fuck with it. Somebody like my mom, people who wouldn't usually gravitate towards my music, would still fuck with it because it rides. After I realized that I wasn't going to go completely rock, I was really sporadic but I wanted it to sonically flow.

So you started recording the project out of town?

The first song I made for the project might have been “PHAT PACK,” but that I recorded in Atlanta. Most of the songs I recorded out of town because I was just hella inspired out of town, and I started working with Mikey Freedom Hart in New York. He produced “GETTING IT IN.” It was our first or second time hooking up, but we had hella chemistry and we were making some great ass songs.

I recorded “INFLUENCER BAG” in Atlanta, but I started working on the beat in New York. My friend Glen [the Saiyan] made it. That was also a sample I sent him. I was listening to hella video game soundtracks and I found that sample. 

I was working on the last half of my project in LA and was really on a bender for a month. I left the crib four times out of the whole month. For “BE BOPPIN,” Ethereal came into LA. They [Ethereal and Hesh] made that beat, and I hopped on it at night. We would make the beats and then at 3 or 4am, I would get fucked up and record all night.

So you worked with a lot of different people for this project?

Mhm, really all my homies, though, all people that I already knew or that I already worked with, except for Otis, MTRSPRT, and Mikey Freedom Hart. I’ve made a song on MTRSPRT’s beats before, but this is my first time releasing something with MTRSPRT. These are my homies. Even Shane [Mane], that's my dog. We talk all the time even though he lives in Germany and I’ve never met him.

You mentioned that you worked with Ethereal a few times on this project. Were you listening to Awful Records back in the day?

Hell yeah! When I was 15, I went to Afropunk and Father and Abra were performing. That lineup was crazy. It was Father, Abra, Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Lion Babe, SZA, everybody before they blew up. Seeing that when I was 15 was life-changing. 

I used to love Awful Records. Then, maybe in 2019 or 2020, I met Ethereal. Me and my friend Coco were at a show and we were too young to get in, so we went to the back of the club. This is crazy because this is the same club I’m finna do my show at in Atlanta. We were standing outside of the club by the back door waiting for somebody to come out and then Ethereal and Father come out. We were like, let’s take pictures, whatever. He followed me on Instagram, and a year later, he hit me being like, push up, and we made “PANKO.” Ever since then, we’ve just been cooking up. We have the same taste and he gets it. He really understands the shit I am trying to do. I really fuck with him. He looks out for me, he’s like a big brother to me.

Do you go out quite a bit?

I go out a little bit, not much in Atlanta, but when I'm out of town I go outside. Every year, I go to New York for MIKE’s Young World festival. Other than that, I’m just seeing my homies at their shows. I haven't really been out to a concert in a minute, other than MIKE, Young World, and Nicki Minaj’s concert. I would like to go out more but I just feel like I don’t see what's going on because I am lowkey a hermit sometimes.

Quite a bit has changed for you in the years since you released MERCTAPE. Has your relationship with making music changed from the early days?

I would say so, yes. I'm more dedicated and more intentional. I've started making beats more on my own. I’ve started making it my intention to hit people up to work and do sessions — and just creating an idea behind who I am musically and trying to figure out what direction I want to go toward because my ideas are always everywhere. I need to make something central, but also still be able to express myself how I want to. 

I’m just navigating how I want to do that and putting more intention behind it because at first I was just making songs and now I’m making projects. I wasn’t really sure of where I was going when I was making MERCTAPE. That was just my first time realizing that this could be something. Now, I know I've built enough, I've shown myself enough to where I need to keep going, I need to be serious about it. It’s not just fun and games. At first, I was just making songs, hehe, haha, having a good time. I still love music, I still love making it, but this time I'm putting my all into it.

Has that required you to be more vulnerable in your music?

Well, actually, yes! Even with the creative process. Some of the songs I made in the studio around people, but some I made by myself, really fucked up. I was feeling mixed emotions because I was feeling lost and helpless but, at the same time, that motivated me to just go hard as fuck and really lock in. During the time period when I started making it, I had gone through some shit. I lost my crib, I couldn't keep my dog, it was a lot of shit — and I lost some friends and shit. It was just a lot that I was losing at that time, but I was also still able to travel and make music. 

So I was like, okay, all this shit’s got to be happening for a reason. I'm very spiritual, like I said before. I just take everything that's hard — because I've had a series of unfortunate events in my life — as a test to lead you to the next step. I definitely did have a lot more vulnerability when I was making this project, but I didn’t… I put it in my songs but not really in a way that’s — I don't know, vulnerability doesn't have to necessarily be negative…

It doesn't always have to come across as sadness?

Yeah, but I was sad. I’m very much a daydreamer and when I’m making my music, I like to create the world that I want to live in, even if I'm not living it right now. Like this is what I feel like I deserve, this is what I feel like is fit for me. I’m putting this in my song because one day all this is going to be my reality. I make manifestation music for myself. It’s shit that’s related to me but at a different scale. Every time I do something, I want to level it up.

Are there specific spiritual practices or routines that you do when recording an album?

You wouldn’t see it as ritualistic but smoking and drinking definitely connect me to a different level. That's some spiritual shit to me. When I die, I want my lineage to come to my altar with some spliffs and some goddamn soju. I just do shit that makes me feel right in the moment. I like to do shrooms too and I like to do spells, but I don't like to share that in too much depth with the world. I take baths and herbal shit and just manifest and pray a lot. I talk to God, talk to my ancestors, and ask for guidance all the time. Even when I’m in the studio, stumped, I’m like, what should I say? Just asking the universe — and then shit just starts flowing. Everything is energy to me, and I feel like whatever you put out you can get back in. I do what works for me and what makes my life work out. 

In the past, you’ve praised the idea of being a little bit delusional to build your own world and to realize the things that you want. What are some of your current delusions, or things that you want to keep in this delusional state?

I’ve definitely let go of expectations of what I want, but my delusions are to have a spot where I can just exist and create music every day and not have to work, not have to go to a job, not have to clock in because I'm so tired of that shit. Just being able to live off of my music, being able to be comfortable, being able to be more than comfortable. Being able to help out my family, people that I care about, and just keep making music and making a living off of it — that’s my current delusion. 

And I want some nice cars and a bad bitch. I want a girlfriend and I want a boyfriend. A lot of money. And a farm with hella animals — or, not hella animals but a horse and maybe some chickens and a dogs. Those are my current delusions. I'm really just Southern as hell.