How do you feel like the idea of “selfie music” impacts how you make your own work?
Where I come in is I like to work within the parameters set by the creation of the style for the sake of selling music. I feel very inspired to set the Drake parameters as like, “these are the rules for making music,” and then try to be expressive with them. And I'm not the only one doing that, but that's why I am so inspired by Drake. Do you ever go to a show, and you don't know what any of the songs are about? Like, no impression was left on, “what are the ideas of this person?” I have found that the selfie music - the Drake music - is the most effective musical medium to say things to people and to play with ideas. Because the whole point of that music is to communicate personality. So, it's very lyrically focused. Putting down like a kind of minimal, vulnerable beat, you can really say distinct things, and it's as effective as texting it to someone. And that's something I'm really after, is the music is just the background that I'm in front of, and it's just a medium for my voice and personality to exist, so I can change the style whenever I want. I can make a hyperpop song, I can make a rock song, I can make a rap song. But the surroundings are unimportant. I can change that every song, and I'll still be me. People will still connect with my ideas. And that's what I've been doing.
Listening to your songs, the lyrics really stand out to me. Someone recently described them to me as “metaironic.” In “Pixies,” something that stuck out is how you're referencing yourself as “a poser” or “a loser you can trust.” What are your intentions or thoughts on the way you write? How literal do you feel like your lyrics are?
There's kind of like a range. Within lyrics, lyrics are a vehicle. So, the point of the lyrics is to communicate the personality. And the personality is the main expression. The personality - like Drake, or Charlie XCX - is an exaggerated version of me that is things I feel, but also interacts with the larger narrative of the world, and the internet specifically. Right? So, with the lyrics, I have a few kind of modes. I think sometimes I use lyrics to communicate aesthetic ideas. “Pixies” exists in that space. So, sometimes it's like aesthetic to communicate persona. Sometimes it's like storytelling to communicate persona. Like, Blake 2 is like a cheating fantasy to describe this character. I've never cheated on someone. That's one where it's like, you know, I'm telling a story that's a narrative one that is describing a character that is me interacting with the world in kind of an exaggerated way. Whereas “Pixies” and “Dean Kissick” are like aesthetic songs where I'm like just interacting with other icons, and culture, and relating myself to them. And I think with “Pixies” too, that one's really about like style and genre, and wanting to relate kind of the concept of like identity consumption, you know what I mean? Like the idea of you becoming you via the things you consume - the music and the clothes you consume. And kind of the root of that being a feeling of inadequacy, and overcoming the inadequacy by consuming, is kind of the idea. And so, you know, that's why I say, like, “I'm like a loser, I’m a poser.” It's kind of like, I feel inadequate and I can overcome inadequacy by acceptance by way of consumption - was kind of like the main idea that I kind of based that song around. I also like braggy shit, and I consume a lot of braggy shit, so it's fun to be that way too. So, I guess [my lyrics are] maybe less literal. But I sometimes I do write really literally. There's some songs where I say really literal, personal things from my life, and then there's some where I'm just kind of interacting with ideas. Sometimes when people ask what kind of music I'll say, “autofiction.” I think a lot of music is autofiction. But the other thing I say is, “I say two truths in a lie.” I'll say real things, and then I’ll say fake things, and put them next to each other. And then people don't know what's what.
Why do you think the people that love you and your music love it so much?
I think because, within my artistic expression, I holistically and thoroughly touch on the range of interests and emotions that people have on a personal level. My lyrics are funny, like real people, but also earnest and emotional, like real people. And my music is inspired by lots of different genres of music because I listen to all genres of music, just like most people, and I think people are attracted to it because it's postmodern in the way that it doesn't aim to be tightly in any sort of box, but it aims to express the full range of emotions, and interact with the full range of influences that are people in the information age experience. I think that's what people really like. It isn't one genre, and it isn't in one mood, it's true to the way people actually are. And the way I am, and the way you are.