Lets Talk About lilspirit

Now, his debut album American Spirit has arrived. Featuring the song that got him signed in the first place, singles like “droptop bitch” and seven others, the project represents the moment the 19-year-old realized, “Oh, music can actually be a career for me.”

Based on how lilspirit talks about his music, in between a lot of bubbly laughter, he’s not interested in the “just scraping by” kind of music career, but Justin Bieber level stardom. He’s got the look, and he’s definitely got the voice. Thankfully for us, he didn’t quit music forever because it seems like he’s actually got the chops to make that dream of stardom come true.

So this is your first big project drop. Are you nervous?

I’m not nervous at all, I’m actually really excited. If people are happy so far with what I’ve been dropping, I know there are even more next level songs on the album. And if they think this album is good, I already have 80 new songs.

So you’ve been in music for a while. You made music with your sister and you’re a classically trained musician. Is your family just super musical?

My dad is talented. He plays piano and has an ear that he never trained or took lessons for. He was in a really prestigious choir. My mom can carry a tune, but she’s not super musically inclined. I’m not sure what happened to me and my sister. We just came out with one hundred percent music.

Did you take music lessons or just rely on your ear?

When I was like four or five my dad was playing a classical piano piece. My parents went to bed and then they heard the song again. My parents had never seen me play piano so my mom thought it was my dad. When my mom realized that my dad was with her, they came out and saw me, literally four years old playing the piece note for note. So they put me in piano lessons. My teachers always hated me because I never wanted to read music. I didn’t find out until years later that I had perfect pitch and my teachers hated me because I would learn all the songs and never learn the music. Down the line I learned music theory though.

Do you feel like there's a conflict between the music theory and technical aspects and then the raw creative aspects? Do those two things fight against each other for you or work together?

I hear a lot of people say that if you’re an amazing raw musician you shouldn't train because you will take away the roughness. For me, it helps. I still make a lot of raw stuff but at the same time, there's no notes in my song that don't belong.

You have to know the rules to be able to break them. I’m curious as to why you chose the name lilspirit. And the album name, American Spirit.

Right after I got out of that shitty music deal I realized that I had to start my independent artist career so that someone legit could find me. I knew I needed to think of a name and at that time I was smoking a pack of light blue cigarettes a day. I was looking at that pack like, "Yeah, I’ll take that.” And the color of the pack was beautiful. So I decided to rip the name and make it my whole aesthetic. When we were making the album name, we knew we had to make it American Spirit.

That’s really funny. I was half expecting it to be a really deep explanation of some spiritual journey. But that’s really funny. You’re really into melodies. Do your songs always start with melody first, and then words?

I honestly have no set way how to make a song. Sometimes I will just open up a beat or loop and freestyle a whole song of melodies, no words. And then I will write words to those melodies. But most of the time the melody and the words happen at the same time.

Did you produce the album yourself?

I used to produce all my own music, but now that I’m signed to Internet Money, I’m surrounded by the best producers in the world. Now I’m focusing on writing and singing and letting the producers I work with go crazy on my songs. Nick Mira, Mj Nickols, Alec, all the Internet Money people, my sister. I have a lot of people I love to work with. Everyone I work with. This album was all smooth sailing. If we make a bad song we know that it’s not good. Even if I know it’s bad I have to make new music every day or I won’t feel accomplished. Even if I know a song isn’t great, I will power through it. Every song I make is just practice for making a better song next time.

So you started off on Soundcloud. As soon as I read that I thought of the phrase “Soundcloud rapper,” and how it was looked down upon in the same way as “Instagram model” would be looked down on. What’s your take on that?

I personally love Soundcloud. I see the stigma of Soundcloud rappers and understand it. Some people would still categorize me as that even though the music is leaning towards pop now. I owe my utmost thanks to Soundcloud. Without it I would have never been able to build my tiny but really cult fanbase that allowed me to have enough eyes on me to get signed in the first place. I think Soundcloud is a really helpful tool for artists who were in the same position as I was a year ago.

I hate it when people talk shit about other people's come up stories. Like so what he’s a Soundcloud rapper or she’s an Instagram model, let them do them if they’re living their best life.

This is what I think. It doesn’t matter how you get to where you are. The people that are savvy are going to figure it out. It doesn’t matter. It’s like those math teachers that are like, "You have to do the work how I want it.” If the answer is right it doesn’t matter if I got there in ten less steps than the person next to me.

I like what you said about if you have it, you’re going to get there. Everyone's journey is so wildly different, one of the worst things you can do is compare yourself. You have to trust your talent.

If people are close to quitting but they know they're good just keep going. I was two weeks away from completely quitting music and going full school and deleting all my songs just two weeks before I signed the deal.

I want to be known as one of the top artists, but I also want to do more. My compass points to more.

I’ve interviewed a lot of people who have said similar things. It’s like the universe is rewarding you for that last push of perseverance. This is random, but I noticed a lot of the songs on your album are short. What’s up with that?

Those are my Soundcloud rapper roots showing. Hook, verse, hook. Every song. All my songs are short. My longest is three minutes. At least where I’m at right now, I like to make very to the point easily digestible music.

A lot of musicians would say the exact opposite.

Obviously I don’t want my music to sound like anyone else's, which I don’t think it does. I’m in my own lane. I also don’t want to make something that’s going to take ten years for someone to understand. I don't want to be one of those artists that gets stuck in that, “I have this really cult fan base but I can never become Justin Bieber.” I want to be one of the biggest artists.

Some people would look down on you for saying that.

I know they would. I honestly don't care. Even those people deep in their heads know they want to be on top. Everyone wants to be on top.

*sings America’s Next Top Model theme song* So sorry about that. You kind of sound like Justin Bieber.

Woah, you're the first person to tell me that. No, I'm kidding. I take that as a big compliment. I probably get one hundred people telling me everyday that I sound like Justin Bieber and I love it. I’m not trying to copy his voice, I can’t help it that we have similar tones.

Does it feel weird dropping an album when you can't go play shows?

Honestly no because I’ve never done a show before. I really want to but I’m a little happy. It gives me more time to mentally prepare for something like touring.

What else is in the future? Besides touring and becoming the next Justin Bieber.

I’m dropping merch with a project. Haven't even announced that yet. I just want to do cool stuff, doesn’t always have to be music. I want to team up with the brands I love, D.C. Shoes, all the skater brands. I want to bring back the baggy jeans and big wide shoes. Hopefully if I get to that level of success I want to do a lot of philanthropy. I live in LA, you live in New York, so I’m sure you know how it is. The amount of homelessness is heartbreaking. I would like to try to help out. I want to be known as one of the top artists, but I also want to do more. My compass points to more.

Is there anything you want to say to the people of the world?

American Spirit, May 15th. Merch shortly after. I just want everyone to know that after this album I’m not slowing down. I’m just going to keep picking up the pace.

Music

Jesse Jo Stark Is in a Genre of Her Own

April 19, 2024

In the midst of a total solar eclipse, I got the chance to talk about music and style with Jesse Jo Stark.

As I’m on the phone with her from New York, Stark is on a tour bus with The Veronicas, driving through the Colorado mountains to enjoy some time off in between shows. The Veronicas have just started their Gothic Summer North American Tour, and Stark is opening the show. What’s special about this tour for the lifelong music obsessive is the sense of powerful feminine energy encapsulating the tour. “We just started [tour], but it’s been really lovely. I’m obsessed with the fact that we’re all women — it feels like a very powerful crew. The Veronicas are lovely, the crowds have been so fun, and the venues are beautiful. It’s gonna be a good month.”

Photography Sophia-Liv Maguire
Styling Marc Eram
Interview Angelina Hazzouri
Talent Jesse Jo Stark
Hair Antoine Martinez with PARADIS using Roz Hair
Makeup Sydney Szramowski
Photo Assistants Mia O’Neal, Rashaun Richardson
BTS Ms Josephine
Creative Producer Olivia Roper-Caldbeck

This is Stark’s second time touring since the release of her full-length debut album DOOMED in late 2022, which was very well received and led to Stark’s first sold-out international headlining tour on behalf of the album. Previous to her solo tour, she’s opened for various notable acts, such as Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. I asked Stark, who’s been writing and playing music since age 11, what it was like to prepare for her first sold-out headlining tour. Unsurprisingly, before any tour, Stark goes into what she describes as “bootcamp mode” — dancing every day, vocal training, rehearsing with her band, and of course, working on her outfits. “That’s the sort of homework I love,” she says, smiling. (Even though we’re on the phone, I can tell she’s smiling when she talks about the outfit part. I’d smile too if I had her tour closet.)

What’s unique about Stark as a musician is that she has ultimately created her own universe by embracing every aspect of her creative upbringing, her raw talent, her fascinating influences, and her unwavering beliefs in not needing to fit into a certain box when it comes to her art. She creative-directs and styles all her own looks, referencing an ever-evolving list of influences that range from Vegas showgirls to Halloween to old films to her parents in the 90s. “I think when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from,” she tells me, “but now it’s just my blood. I constantly reflect on my childhood and everything I was taught and everything I saw. My brother and sister and I are constantly pulling influences from our parents from the past. I think, more than ever, I’m heavily influenced by them.”

Stark, the daughter of founders and owners of the self-made American fashion brand Chrome Hearts, and now its creative director and designer, is someone who always knew what she liked, but as she describes it, had to ‘go through the motions’ that come with growing up and knowing one’s identity. Today, her self-efficacy is palpable — and it’s inspiring.

...when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from, but now it’s just my blood.

When she’s on tour, Stark is growing with herself and with her art — she’s not afraid to take life as it comes and learn through the process. With every show, regardless of whether it was on her DOOMED tour or this tour with The Veronicas, Stark understands the importance of human connection through music. Seeing faces of music lovers like herself, meeting those who have traveled to see her, and visiting familiar and unfamiliar cities has reminded her that she loves being on the road. “The growth that happens on tour is so important to me as an artist.” Sometimes we have to leave behind what’s familiar in order to rediscover what’s important, and Stark is a proponent of this growth mindset.

Growth doesn’t just happen on tour with Stark — this evolution of herself happens within genre as well, and for Stark there’s no such thing. Since her first release Driftwood in 2017, the artist’s sound has shifted year after year, but in a harmonious way that still feels central to her gothic Americana roots. When asked if she’ll experiment with genre in the future, Stark confidently answers, “I think I’ve only experimented with genre. I don’t think anyone knows what genre I am.” (She calls herself a “horrific hillbilly” — a perfect descriptor.) Steadfast in her belief that we as humans can constantly evolve in our work, Stark thinks it’s antiquated to fit yourself into a certain box and focus on one specific trade in order to succeed. “If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time. I want to experience different things.”

Since Driftwood, a two-song EP rooted in rock and country, Stark has experimented with more robust beats and 808s on DOOMED, and her most recent single “skeleton” features a softer, grungier punk sound. Without fitting into a specific genre, Stark’s music is undoubtedly and wholeheartedly her own, transcending the boundaries of what many artists struggle with when finding their sound. “I don’t think we should have to label ourselves in any way, shape, or form; so I’m not going to. I will continue to make all types of different music.” Fuck yeah.

If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time.

This goes beyond just music — in terms of her personal style, the same mentality applies. We discuss the idea that clothing and dressing is a sort of playground, and personal style comes from within. Stark isn’t about following trends, but rather, she thinks it’s important to tap into different stylistic elements that amplify who we are at our cores. On her DOOMED tour, Stark wore a lot of leather and stuck to a fairly dark color palette. Right now, she’s into more bourgeois satin and lace, experimenting with different textures and wearing things that feel slightly daintier and more delicate. On this current tour with the Veronicas, Stark is making it more of a point to take everything in — absorbing inspiration from every city, writing songs on the road, recording video on a friend’s super 8 camera, styling and wearing new outfits, learning and performing new covers — ultimately growing through the whole experience.

It’s endearing and inspiring how well Stark knows herself. A Los Angeles native, she proudly tells me that the tour finishes on May 5 in her hometown, a show that she’s especially excited for. While we can’t predict what thoughtfully-curated outfit she’ll wear or what songs will be performed, with new music already underway, one thing is clear: Jesse Jo Stark is just getting started.

Music

9lives' Latest Single Continues to Push Sigilkore

April 19, 2024

The versatile artist, producer, and pioneer of the sigilkore genre, 9lives, has recently unveiled his latest single "CANADA" featuring jnhygs. In less than two years since his emergence onto the music scene, 9lives has carved out an impressive niche for himself as a prominent figure within the digitally-driven sigilkore movement. "CANADA" sees him teaming up once again with experimental dance artist jnhygs, following their successful collaboration on "XTAYALIVE".

With aspirations to establish himself within the mainstream arena of experimental music production and artistry, 9lives is blending his distinct dark production style with collaborations with a diverse array of influential artists who trust him to create innovative sonic landscapes. "CANADA" marks his second release of 2024, as 9lives continues to champion the burgeoning sigilkore movement, pushing the boundaries of genre, evolving into a multifaceted artist, and solidifying his status as a rising star with an expanding audience.

Image by Connor Pritchard

Reflecting on their latest project, 9lives shares, “In early 2023 jnhygs found my music and we started chatting through TikTok, releasing our first song together called "XTAYALIVE"." He adds, We’ve been friends since this song had a viral moment, and fans have been heavily requesting for us to work together again all over our videos.” Describing their creative process, he explains, “I sent a bunch of new ideas to jnhygs via Discord and she sent back vocals to “CANADA”, which I then used to create melodic layers and extra percussion to complete the song.

Music

Eclipsed at Vampire Weekend

April 16, 2024

It had been about a week since the goosebump-inducing communal howls at the moon, as it covered the sun through a cloudy Austin, Texas sky, left me needing to take a seat—suspended in awe of the totality of the event and the synergistic break from routine. I overheard someone say, “I mean, it feels like we’re all going to die, but in a way that’s okay, you know?" under the shadow of the eclipse's peak, ceremoniously brought in as the band performed “Jonathan Low,” (in Vampire Weekend's familiar ironic hue) a track they wrote for the third movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse.

It had been five years since the band had released an album. In celebration of their latest album, "Only God Was Above Us," ticket holders wrapped the streets in blocks outside the venue for the band’s first Stateside show in about two years. Event managers searched to replenish the venue’s stock of eclipse glasses, while the band prepped a show reminiscent of 'getting the boys back together again'.

Words and photography by Rianne Akindele

In between newly released songs like “Classical” and “Capricorn”, the boys filled the almost two-hour-long show with old favorites like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “Diane Young” and a genre evolved rendition of “Sunflower” as the crowd danced barefoot feeling the Earth’s energy intertwined with their own and the vibrations from the amps on stage. People stole glances at the imminently darkening sky, artists doodled, friends grabbed onto each other to scream the lyrics in each other’s faces, and onlookers from the highest level of the parking garage across the street cheered on in a symphony of nostalgia and anticipation.

Adding to the layers of the celestial afternoon, the band invited to the stage the likes of Thomas Mars from Phoenix, Dave 1 from Chromeo, and guitarist Brian Robert Jones, inducing further levels of indie revival euphoria.

As the show drew to its close, and the zydeco/country-rock “Cocaine Cowboys” medley fiddled through the air, a conversation could be picked up between two sisters in search of their Lyft driver through closed-off streets,

“I wish this happened more often.”
“Eclipses or shows like this?”
“Both.”

It’s moments like these that remind us of our shared humanity and the power of collective experiences; a gathering of souls under the same sky, sharing the joy of music and a wonder of the stars above. Perhaps it’s the rarity that allowed such transcendence, reverence, and gratitude to be felt. Either way, what a beautiful moment in time it was.

Here are a few shots from the Monday afternoon: