Sid Sriram’s Digs Deep

September 08, 2023

Nothing about Sid Sriram is ordinary. In fact, the most ordinary aspect of the genre-defying Indian American singer-songwriter, 33, is that he’s somehow managed to fly under the radar in the West–until now. Recently signed to American multinational record label Def Jam Recordings, Sriram’s soulful self-titled record, Sidharth – which he made during the pandemic alongside veteran producer Ryan Olson and Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon – has quickly established him as one of this year's bona fide breakthrough artists with its layered vocals, contrasting textures, and captivating melodies. Out East, and to the broader South Asian diaspora, however, Sriram has been an established figure in the limelight for over a decade, dropping his first hit, “Adiye,” from 2013’s Tamil-language film Kadal, merely a year out of music school.

Interview by Isha Sharma
Photography by Ahmed Klink

The 13-song experimental album showcases a breadth of musical range, seamlessly intertwining influences from pop, R&B, indie rock, and gospel with an ancestral form of Carnatic music from Southern India. Across the span of 57 minutes, the listener becomes enmeshed in an emotional out-of-body experience – a masterclass in the potency of musical intention. With each track it becomes increasingly evident that this isn’t a commercial endeavor, instead a search and pursuit of truth through an intimate exploration of music as a medium of cross-cultural artistic expression. “I believe that my purpose is to make and perform music that is spiritually charged and allows for healing,” he says. “There is this misconception that healing or spirituality from the East is all super quiet and peaceful and that is definitely an aspect of it. There is also this rawness – not aggressiveness but a certain kind of edge. It's not always going to be pretty and calm but sometimes very energized and intense in a way that is less refined.”

Twelve years ago, Sriram posted a viral Frank Ocean cover (“We All Try”) to YouTube which served as a springboard for his career. Since then, he’s gone on to work with one of the world's foremost contemporary composers, A.R.Rahman, and has been featured on more than 250 tracks throughout countless award-winning Indian-language films. This summer the Tiny Desk Concert, previewing his single "Dear Sahana,” amassed more than a million views across social media platforms and was met with rave reviews. Accruing accolades aside, Sidharth stands on its own as a tonic for the ego – simply press play and prepare to delve beneath the surface of the subconscious and beyond.

Here, Sriram walks us through his origin story: from how he got his start in Indian cinema music as a kid from California to tapping into the state of flow and his creative process at large.

Carnatic music runs in your bloodline. You were taught by your mom and your mom’s father since you were 3 years old. Moving to India in 2015, you’ve now returned to the States to drop your debut English album. What has that journey been like?

Before I could consciously think about a whole lot, I was doled into the world of music because it was everywhere around me. We moved to the States from Chennai when I was a year old – this was in 1991. We moved to the San Francisco Bay Area – Fremont to be exact – and my mom started a Carnatic vocal music school around there. So it wasn't even a decision. I was seized by it. Very willingly obviously, but it was this ocean that existed.

I got into Western forms of music–specifically R&B, soul, and gospel – when I was around eight. But Carnatic music has been the engine that has guided me through everything. I started writing poetry in English as far back as elementary school. I’d write whatever existential poetry meant for a 6th grader, you know what I mean? I was always very intrigued by prose, the English language, and how one could express oneself using it in non-literal ways.

I started writing songs probably when I was around 17 or 18 – my senior year of high school going into my first year at Berklee College of Music in Boston. And then out of nowhere, when I was graduating, I found myself getting an opportunity to sing for Indian films. That really took my life into a completely different direction.

How did that opportunity happen?

In 2009, A.R.Rahman won his Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire which was huge for me. He's from the same city that I’m from in India and speaks the same language. So it was my first time seeing someone that looked and sounded like me getting celebrated on one of the largest stages in the West. My friend was interning with [Rahman], I asked for his email, and I sent him some of my own music, not really expecting a response. Two weeks later, [Rahman] responded and then a year after that he gave me my first debut as a playback singer in Indian cinema music. That was a dream come true – he quickly became a mentor to me and helped shape the way I look at music, creativity, and the role of art in society. I started thinking about it as a mechanism that was larger than myself.

With this kind of pivot into that industry, making my own music took somewhat of a backseat, especially starting in 2016 when my career really took off over there. But there's always been this desire, this need, for me to make something that feels like a personal statement. Right before the pandemic hit, I was at my most successful in India with a ton of number one songs, really at the top of the game doing shows for twenty- to thirty-thousand people. Then the pandemic hit which for everyone was a standstill. For me, that was a time to self-reflect and reconnect with why I wanted to do music in the first place.

This album feels like an exploration of the full spectrum of your identity, an amalgamation of different elements of your past, present, and future. It’s unlike anything you’ve done before. Why make the transition now? How did this album come to be?

There’s a photographer slash visual artist – his name is Eric Heck – and I’ve been a fan of his work from afar for a long time. Him and Ryan Olson are friends. There was some night where they were both making a mix on Instagram Live that sounded really cool. I started following Ryan and we began exchanging messages – mutual admiration and respect for what each person was doing. He was telling me to come out to Minneapolis to make music there. I kept putting it off because I'm a creature of comfort and habit, and I’ve been used to making music on the coasts here in the States, either California or New York, or in India.

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go into new territory physically, like literally, but I ended up making a trip after my dad, who manages me, kind of coaxed me to go see what's going on there. And, truth be told, I was about to shut up shop with my English language stuff. I was hitting walls and nothing was really translating the way I wanted it to.

I went out there in June of 2021 for a weekend with zero expectations and a little bit of trepidation. But Ryan turned out to be this gem of a human being, really one of one in terms of personality and perspective. He picked me up from the airport and we spent those three days with about six to eight of us at the studio making music boundlessly without any ego. There was this palpable magic that everyone felt. I didn't realize it immediately but, subconsciously, I knew something special was occurring. As the weeks went by, I realized that there's this massive creative wave that had hit us. It hit me in a way that forced me to hang on for dear life and be a vessel to inspiration.

Can you tell me a little bit about the creative process? What was that like?

We worked on the album over the span of eight months. But the initial bulk of it was that first trip to Minneapolis, we left there with 30 song ideas. Then I went back to the Bay where I was still kicking it with my parents. That's where I had lockdown and I would record vocals and excavate from those 30 ideas the pockets that felt especially potent or special. Ultimately, before I went back to Minneapolis a few weeks later, we took those 30 ideas and brought that down to 13 to 14 ideas that felt super strong. It was rapid and I've never made music that fast. I've always sat on ideas for years but there was this urgency that we couldn't escape.

So what do you do when you get stuck or feel uninspired?

I have a few different ways. One way is to take a break sometimes. When I try to force something, it drains me of any and all inspiration and starts to go into desperation mode. Another thing is that creativity is all about equilibrium of having information go into your system so that you can have information come out. If I feel depleted creatively, I'll read or watch a film or go on a walk and try to do things that feed my soul rather than trying to force expression.

Sometimes though, deadlines really help me… like with this album. I had Ryan hit me up like, "Yo, we’ve got to finish these vocals before you head out to India." I remember even the day that we were leaving, that morning was when I finished the vocals for the song, “Came Along,” that was taking me the longest to finish lyrically. Sometimes deadlines also help take you out of your head and put you in a space of intuition. Now that I say it, the most important thing for creativity is taking it away from the space of being an intellectual process and pushing it into a space of intuition as much as possible.

Speaking of intuition… when performing you look like you’re in a flow state: your eyes roll back at times and you have these erratic movements. What’s going through your mind and body when you’re up on stage?

When I'm on stage – and in the state of flow – the only thing that matters to me is being hyper-present to the point of mentally checking out. So it comes back to this idea of taking my mind out of the equation and becoming an empty vessel that is accessing and channeling something that some people would say is “the divine,” a greater power or whatnot. Some people just straight up say God, which is what I would tend to say. And when I hit those points of channeling, there are these intense waves of emotion or energy. When those really hit, those are the points where the eyes roll back and the body moves in convulsions. I feel like I'm elsewhere hovering above the ground. You're not thinking about what people think about you. You're not thinking about anything. You're there to allow the spirit of the energy to move through you.

Truth be told, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced flow but I know it’s not uncommon for athletes, artists, and performers to be able to tap in. How are you accessing that? Where does it come from?

My first conscious memory of it was when I was like seven or eight. Admittedly through the years they've been more fleeting rather than sustained. I think that comes from whatever karmic hangover I had from past lives where I entered this world with a certain kind of ability or perspective. It was something that was given to me so I treat it as a gift. I can’t say I'm the one that's making that happen. My job over the years has been rigorous practice such that I can find ways to sustain those moments. The source point, the sparks – those have been there my whole life. To take that and extend that outwards and make it a sustained experience both for myself and whoever is in the room with me has been a question of putting in the work every day.

It’s like a muscle that you’re training.

Straight up.

You have millions of Tamil- and Telugu-speaking fans around the world and now a growing English-speaking fanbase. What do you hope they’ll take away from this album?

I made sure not to try and predict how anyone is going to take this in because we didn't make it thinking about the people that are going to be listening. We made it as a pure form of emotional and creative expression. With that said, my hope is that folks that have been my fans from Indian film music… My hope is that it triggers or opens up some sort of an emotional valve in them because when you listen to something that feels like a new experience it has the potential to molecularly change the way people feel, and thereby, think. That's my hope. I listen to music from other cultures all the time where I don't know what they're saying, but it still hits me in an emotional way. I believe that there's a certain universality to this music.

My hope is that it triggers or opens up some sort of an emotional valve in them because when you listen to something that feels like a new experience it has the potential to molecularly change the way people feel, and thereby, think.

For new fans, there's going to be a certain sense of representation that’s already happening and I’m very proud of that. My job is to be an artist that is unapologetically himself, you know? I said this at the end of my Roxy Theatre show a few weeks ago. I was specifically talking to all the brown folks in the room. You have the permission to be whoever you want to be and we haven't necessarily gotten that luxury so far because we've seen so little of us in popular culture. We feel like we have to adhere to this certain very narrow sense of excellence, but if there's anything I've understood from the process of making this album it's – and specifically talking to the South Asian diaspora–that you can make whatever you want to make and there's no need to have to fit some sort of stereotype or to be relegated to a very narrow sliver of identity and experience. That's what I want this music to do for my people.

My favorite track on your album is “Quiet Storm” – what are you saying in Tamil?

If you’re lost, can you find yourself?

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Music

You Better Work

March 26, 2019

The Buddha once said: “Your work is to discover your work and then, with all your heart, to give yourself to it.” I have a similar mantra: “Work is life. Life is work.”

I quoted both of these little pearls to Marlon Craft and his team when they confronted my nihilistic sentiments regarding all things “advocacy” and “activism,” which I find to be over-used, empty terms — signifiers without concrete signifieds. What do I support? What do I believe in? I believe in work.

So does Craft. His performance in ‘Do the Work’ revolves around a mantra opposite in spirit to that of the Buddha and my own — a recurring chorus of ‘I don’t want to do the work,’ a contemporary koan immersed in a litany of modern-day coulda, woulda, shouldas. The message is artful and poignant, and, to drive the point home, the rapper has decided to actually do a little good work himself, joining forces with three nonprofits for WORKWEEK, a week of events focused on outreach, action, and hip-hop, launching this Friday.

Interview by John Martin Tilley

Tell me about the project.

The project is a single video called 'Do The Work' and it’s from the perspective of a character that I created. I originally started writing it because I was fed up with a lot of the things I was seeing from friends online. I was also fed up with my experiences talking with people about politics, about the progress and change that we want to see in the world, knowing, deep down, that it was all empty talk, talk lacking in inward reflection and contradictory to the actions we take every day. So I started writing this thing like, ‘You don’t want to do the work...you don’t want to do the work…’ and I immediately realized that no, this has to be ‘I’ if anyone is going to hear me.

There’s a lot of myself in the character, and the song reiterates this phrase 'I don’t want to do the work,' and it’s satirical. It’s like, 'I could turn off my cable, stop the fables, but I don’t want to do the work. I could give away my clothes and pick the five shirts but that’ll change the way I view my worth and I don’t want to do the work.' You know? So it’s like all these little actions that we could take in an effort to be the change that we want to see in the world, but don't because it's difficult. That internal reflection is tough, so I made this single and the musid video.

But you don’t want to do that!

I was like, let's try to do something that's manageable for us, we have to start somewhere. We reached out to three nonprofits that are doing really dope work in areas that I care about in New York, and we all collaborated to create WORKWEEK. Basically, it’s Sad Girls Club, which is a mental health nonprofit started by Elyse Fox that originally targeted young women but is now expanding to men. Then we’ve got New York Legal Assistance Group that provides free legal aid to 75,000 New Yorkers annually that can't afford it for crucial issues such as immigration, domestic violence, among others. Then we’ve got Building Beats, a NY-based public afterschool porgram that teaches beat making and production classes. Our main priotity when collaborating with these nonprofits was figuring out a way to compliment the curriculum each program already offered. As a rapper, I'm tapped into the cutlture in a certain way, so I wanted to figure out how I could raise awareness for these causes using my own audience.

These three events are just a starting point. I don’t think I’m changing the world, this isn't going to be some dramatic thing where we solve the issues surrounding mental health, education, and justice, but you have to start somewhere. I think a lot times we’re so daunted by the macro that we don’t think about what we can on the micro, the short term. The response so far has been great. I’ve had fans tell me ‘Yo, your song put a fire under my ass.' People were genuinely inspired to start working towards their goals, those things that they kept putting off.

Now you’ve been working as a musician for a while?

Yeah.

And do you have like an album out? Or how does that work these days?

Yea so I have some projects out but my debut album is coming out probably in June.

So you’re still in the beginning of your come up.

It depends on who you ask, you know? I’ve had fans that have been rocking with me for a while now. My first headline was a little over two years ago, so that kind of was a marker I guess.

Would this be a new direction for you? This kind of shift towards social issues?

Nah. I mean, anybody that knows me and has been following me knows I’ve always, both in my art and just how I use my platform, I’ve always been passionate about speaking on issues I care about. I think part of the ‘Do the Work’ thing is I’ve had to look inward and say, ‘Alright, well, you do a lot of talking about these issues, and you make art about these issues, and sometimes speaking can be an action in a certain way - but what have you really done?' Like what have I done? I think we tell ourselves things, especially as artists, we’re like, ‘Well, when I’m famous and rich I’ll be able to do all this community engagement and give back because then I’ll have money, and then I’ll have all this clout,’ and I just looked inward and I was like, I think it’s important to try and start doing whatever it is that I can on whatever small scale with the things that I’m passionate about. So it's new in the sense of the WORKWEEK and taking this really to the ground, but it's consistent with the messaging that I’ve had over the past few years.

Right, so essentially it’s like a critique of the complacency that happens on social media. These ‘facebook rants’ or just even the idea of activism these days is so annoying. Because it’s like ‘oh activism/advocacy.’ Like what do you mean ‘advocacy’? What does that even mean?

And this idea of like, what does it look like to use your voice in an age where everybody has a voice because of social media? And you can say anything at any time, it really cheapens what that means. And you can make a status or you can say a thing and you can feel like you’re a part of the cause, but I think it’s really about understanding and discovering that using your voice in 2019 has to look like some form of action. Whether it’s literally as simple as reading more about these things to become more informed, or giving certain things up in your life, or whether it's reaching out to a non-profit and engaging. Whatever your platform is, whatever you have time to do, but we do make decisions every day, whether we think we are or not. It's like clothing, almost like you can't opt out. Even if you walked around naked, you’d be making a statement. So it's the things that you purchase every day, or the conversations you engage with, these all contribute to the progression and the direction of the world.

It’s interesting that you had this moment where you had to say it was ‘I’. I think that's where the power of the video comes from. Do you ever feel that way? The way that's expressed in the song?

Totally! First of all, I mean there's a lot of me in it. A lot of the things that I list as things that I could do but I’m not doing, a lot of them do apply to me. But then, second of all, yeah, I think there is the honesty of that feeling. I’ve seen the responses where a lot of people relate to that, like ‘I just really don’t want to this, this feels so overwhelming,’ and everyone's got their own problems and their own issues. So I think that's why the song resonates with people, in the sense of that it meets them first from a place of empathy. It’s empathy through critique.

What does it look like to use your voice in an age where everybody has a voice because of social media?

Play video

Music

A Tall Glass of Kari Faux

March 23, 2019

It’s easy to be inspired by a city like New York, where a stroll down the block can give you enough content to make movie trilogy. However, growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, musician Kari Faux learned from an early age that the purest form of inspiration comes from within.

For someone who still stops to think, “How did I get here?”, Faux isn’t doing too shabby in the music world. After catching the attention of industry leaders such as Donald Glover with the release of her breakout mix-tape, “Laugh Now Die Later,” in 2014, the musician, much like a fine wine, has only managed to get better with time.

Her sound strikes the perfect balance between past and present, blending oldschool soul, contemporary content, and a unique melodic edge. And while the musician might not know exactly how she’s ended up in this position--or where exactly she wants to be in the future--we can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the she is down for the pure thrill of the journey to the top.

Text by Kennedy Fairfax
Interview by Caroline Brown
Photos by Danny Lim

Tell me about growing up in Little Rock.

Growing up there is probably what you think it is. I had to have a really big imagination, so I was always watching TV and I knew that there was always more out there in the world. But I love where I’m from. I love the hospitality, I love the food, I love the people. Music was another thing that helped me - it definitely acted as a form of escapism for me. I love the prominence of nature in Little Rock too. It’s actually called the “Natural State” so there’s a lot of green. I feel like I’m humble because of where I come from.

It’s not like growing up in LA.

Yeah, exactly. Even me falling into music, it’s still weird to the point where I’m like, “how did I even get here?” to this day.

So your focus wasn’t always music?

I wanted to be a veterinarian, then I shadowed a veterinarian and quickly realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do. It’s very gruesome. I went to cosmetology school for a bit too, thought I was going to do that...but no, I don’t even like doing hair! Music was something I always did throughout high school that I just kind of kept doing throughout my life, music was something that I never really thought was going to happen because of the fact that I’m from Arkansas.

How did linking up with Donald Glover early on in your career help push you further into the music industry?

So I had released a mixtape called “Laugh Now Die Later” and it was poppin’ off on the internet. Donald’s manager had found the song and hit up my co-producer at the time and was like, “yo this is crazy, Donald might remix it.” I was freaking out, but I wasn’t trying to get too excited. Anyway, he ended up doing it and they all came to Little Rock and naturally we forged a relationship. After that, he suggested that I come to LA and see more of what the world has to offer me, and I’m really grateful for that. I learned so much from being around that crew of people, most importantly how you can make an idea come to life. I was in the house where Donald and his friends were first discussing Atlanta, so I watched it go from simple ideas that people exchanged to this massive success. Even the album “Awaken My Love,” I was around for the beginning of that.

Do you think you wouldn’t have felt that push to get out of Little Rock if not for these newfound relationships?

I had already felt the urgency to leave. I moved to Atlanta a couple of times. Atlanta is kinda like Little Rock, a bigger city but just as southern. They pushed me to get completely out my comfort zone and travel to somewhere that was totally unfamiliar. I think that when I got to LA I began to understand that making music was an actual career, that music was actually what I wanted to do.

What do you think about the term “creative competition”?

There’s competition in every industry, but in the spaces that I occupy, I feel like the mentality to have is “let’s just have fun.” I want to make music, hang out, create.

How has coming up in the age of internet rap changed your perspective on the music industry?

I feel like I started out as internet rapper, but I’ve definitely transformed into what most people would consider a “real” artist. The internet was the only way to get people to listen to me. I was out here like, “hey! I’m in the middle of nowhere!” I was tweeting, I was all over soundcloud, even my Tumblr was poppin’ for a minute!

To me, your music is highly emotional but jumps to extremes on both ends of that spectrum. I was wondering, when your in that creative space, what emotion do you thrive off of the most?

It’s lowkey kinda hard to say because it varies, but I definitely thrive off of the feeling of being underestimated. When I feel underestimated, I feel fueled--it’s straight up gas for my car. I’m trying not to go to that place so much. I want to begin to write from a place of contentment.

Tell me the story behind your upcoming EP, because the title and the cover art are so contrasting.

I started making this project when I was depressed. I feel as though all the music I was making up to this point was what I thought people would want to hear. People want to turn up, you know? But that wasn’t where I was and I had to be honest with myself about that. These songs are very reflective of where I was at that time. I was in the space where I didn’t want to be alive anymore. Some friends had reached out to me and something that one of them said that really stuck out was “I’m glad you cried out for help”. I feel like a lot of us suffer in silence. We don’t want to bombard people with our problems, but sometimes we need to be like, “hey! Can you care about me for two seconds?” And that’s okay! This project isn’t really for anybody, it was music therapy for me and something that I feel compelled to share with others.

What would you tell your fans out there who are having difficulty processing pain?

I would say talk it out with somebody and make them understand that you need to talk. The moment you start saying things out loud, it becomes easier because what you’re holding inside will only manifest--you’ll start to see your world become what you feel on the inside. We’ll always experience traumatic things and we’ll always feel pain, but it’s important to know that okay to vocalize how you’re feeling, it’s important to tell somebody, to speak up. We all must remember that there are people that want to see you thrive and be happy.

"Cry 4 Help" is out now.

Music

Kenzie: Step Into My Office

March 21, 2019

In the midst of a cultural climate that values an undying allegiance to the monotony of trend and the magnetism of hype-culture, those rare individuals who radiate and unabashed originality stick out like a sore thumb. If you don’t know Kenzie by now, you would hardly believe an artist of her caliber has managed to slip your radar for this long.

Where many young musicians struggle to find a highly distinguished and self-reflexive sound identity, this 26-year-old has cultivated an aesthetic, both visually and vocally-speaking, that successfully merges the infectiousness of pop, the soul of R&B, and the keen poignancy of alternative.

Interview by Kennedy Fairfax
Photos by Alessandro Furchino Capria
Styling by Hali Christou
Makeup by Riona O'Sullivan
Hair by Josh Knight @ Caren Agency

Dress by Kiko Kostadinov, tights stylist's own.

Not to mention, this chick is a natural-born lyricist whose verbiage packs a punch potent enough to break your heart into a million little pieces, then lovingly mend them back together all within the same verse; much like those delicious lil gummies that almost hurt to ingest, first it’s sour, then it’s sweet.

In the wake of the release of her newest single, “You The Best,” and debut EP, Dark July, a couple months ago, the energy of which perfectly encapsulating the blue-sky yet brooding nature of it’s creator, Kenzie continues to focus on the future, and the brilliant twists and turns 2019 has in store for her. office had the opportunity to catch up with the budding musician to pick her brain about some random shit.

If you could collaborate with any animal what would it be and why?

With any animal? I’m trying to think of an animal that I don’t see myself as at all because the thing about collaborations, I guess, is that I look to have an interesting mixture of things. So, I’m thinking a snake because I’d want to see how a snake’s mind works precisely because I don’t see myself as one...hopefully not, hopefully not a snake.

What animal do you see yourself as or the most spiritually connected to?

It’s not that far away from a snake to be honest but I do see myself as a gecko, I have a gecko.

Is it a leopard gecko?

It’s a gargoyle gecko, so kind of similar, it looks kind of like a little crocodile. Sometimes I look into her eyes and see a little bit of myself in them.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person?

First thing I notice is their teeth, normally—I have a weird obsession with people’s teeth. The mouth really draws me to people, especially when you have a conversation. I’m not the best with eye contact—my thoughts wander and I kind of follow them around the room. But definitely when someone smiles, seeing the makeup of their teeth makes me feel some kind of way, I don’t know!

What was the last photo you took?

The last photo that I took… let me just look on my phone. I wish I could say it was on an actual camera. I’m in the market for a new camera but in the meantime I am taking them on my phone. The last photo that I took was on the underground—there were these tiles that I saw that I thought looked super interesting. I’m really happy the last photo I took wasn’t a selfie!

Leotard, skirt & shoes by Repetto, corset by Claire Barrow, tights by Wolford (left); Bikini by Pucci, dress by Sonia Rykiel, tights by Claire Barrow (right).

Do you have any hidden talents that only your close friends and family know about?

I don’t know if it’s so much hidden because I talk about it but know one believes me because I can be such a clumsy mess, but I really like doing things with my hands—building things, kind of like craft-based stuff. It’s almost embarrassing to the point where I think that, in another dimension, I would set up a really awful Etsy shop. I do love anything tangible that you can work on, from embroidery to building a table.

As a musician and a lyricist, what is your biggest source of inspiration? Where do most of your themes come from?

I think that most of my favorite songs that I’ve written are very connected to visuality. I’m not the kind of person who sits down and writes a song because I think, ‘This is the song that I need to create today, I’m feeling like this so this is gonna come out.’ It’s more like a stream of consciousness, and then afterwards I’m like, ‘Oh wow I blacked out and this came out,’ then I start to put it together and find out what it actually means. When I’m in the middle of creating a song, I see a color, or I see what the situation is about. I used to be very anti-writing about love and relationships and all that kind of stuff just because I found it boring, or obvious, I guess. Then I realized how pretentious it was of me to think about things that way—if you feel something then you should probably write about it. I am a hopeless romantic whilst probably being one of the most cynical in the room about that kind of stuff. All of my stuff normally comes from a place of feeling some type of way about loving myself, or someone else, or just...that feeling.

If you could describe your sound in three different foods, what would they be and why?

I feel like I want to make this a well-rounded meal. I think mac n’ cheese would be in there because it’s not the best for you, but it’s comforting—and it’s just one of my favorites, it makes me feel good. A lot of comfort foods are coming to mind, I feel it’s because I find that my songs are quite easily digestible—that was an unintentional pun. Mac & cheese also because it has that salty element, so it’s not necessarily good for you. I want to say ice cream—chocolate ice cream—and something really tough, like broccoli.

Broccoli? This is a weird meal, dude, but I like it!

Okay I take that back! I was thinking of something kind of tough and not the nicest. Lyrically,some things are a little harder to swallow. Yeah, fuck it, broccoli—broccoli, ice cream, and mac & cheese. Such a strange combination, I’m sorry...don’t ever eat my music.

What is one thing that you can’t live with, can’t live without?

This is so awful, I can’t even believe I’m saying this because it’s so bad, but my juul. That is the most basic answer ever, but at least it’s real. It’s such an addiction-based question. There are so many things I could list instead, but my juul specifically.

Top by Kepler, dress by Molly Goddard, boots by Kiko Kostadinov (left); Top by Kepler, dress by Molly Goddard, jeans by Seven, boots by Kiko Kostadinov (left)

So, I see you have some tattoos—which one speaks to you the most, or relates very strongly your music?

One tattoo that mean a lot to me is this one, it says being and then doing crossed out. I equate it to my mother, because she says it all the time, and any time I call her really stressed out: ‘You are a human being, not a human doing.’ It’s a quote from a philosopher, I’m sure, but anytime anyone asks where it’s from I just say my mom because she’s the one who really instilled that in me. Being still and doing nothing are very different things.

Do you have any dream collaborations? The collaborator can be living, made-up, or dead.

I mean, I’m waiting for this snake collab for sure. Obviously because they’re gone you think of people like Bowie or Prince—obvious but amazing. I think I would love to collaborate with Bukowski, someone who is so different from me, like an old ass white dude with a drinking problem, womanizer. There is something so interesting about getting into someone else’s head, someone who is so far removed from your perspective and your point of view. So someone like that would be awesome. Björk would be sick, she is incredible. Her voice is so fragile and powerful at the same time, which I think makes for the weirdest, most amazing and magical balance. Collaborating with her would be an absolute dream.

One piece of advice that you know now that you would’ve given yourself when you started out in the music industry?

It’s so blanketed but I tell myself it all the time now that life is long, hopefully. I think I was really excited but also anxious about saying what I wanted to say, or wanting to prove myself, or wanting to live my life on someone else’s terms. I think that taking a minute and realizing that there is so much more still to be experienced, really all of those cliches—life is what you make of it and all that kind of shit—it’s true. Just taking your time with something, understanding that some things really do take a little more time to boil. Even now, I’m working on new music and I’m at the point where I’m like fuck it, if I’m not 100 percent happy with what I’m putting out, I don’t want to put something out that is half-baked. Life is long, so am I really going to want to listen to this shit in twenty years time and be like I put that out in the world? Give yourself the time and the space, emotionally and mentally, to grapple with all that.

If you had any at all to begin with, which New Year’s resolution have you broken already?

I don’t know if I even gave myself resolutions exactly because my whole thing is this that if you want to do something just start now, why wait until the new year? I know that there is something that I did said that I was going to do that I have already broken, but if I can’t even remember it I bet it’s not that important. I haven’t been smoking though and I’m really proud of myself for that. I have been juuling and not smoking.

What do you have coming up that you’re super excited about?

I have been in the studio since the beginning of the year working on new stuff. There is one song that I’m so excited about which is honestly more than enough at this point to keep my momentum going, or to keep me motivated and ready to move on to the next thing. I think I’m definitely going to shoot a video the next little bit, which I’m very stoked about because as I said before, the visuals are such a big part of what I do—the song doesn’t really feel complete until there is a visual element to it. Beyond that, just enjoying the fact that I don’t know what’s going to come next. Putting out new music is definitely the thing I’m most excited about right now.

Listen to ‘Dark July’ and ‘You The Best’ here and here.

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