The Unapologetic Queer Pop of Sizzy Rocket
Self-proclaimed “punk Lady Gaga with hip-hop 808s and glitter everywhere”, Sizzy’s sound feels much more true to herself now that she has more autonomy over her career and narrative. Her new single, “Rollerskating," is giving us sweet n’ romantic summer 2020 bop energy, accompanied by a very floral lyric video. As she gears up for the release of her third album, expected later this year, Sizzy is spending the summer finding a perfect balance between working hard and hardly working.
Hi Sizzy! So you’re new single, “Rollerskating”... tell us about it. What inspired the song and what story does it tell?
We wrote "Rollerskating" on the last day of making the album. We basically wrote and recorded half of the album in a loft downtown over four days, and then the other half in a house in Laurel Canyon over four days. So eight days total. This was the last song that we did. I wrote it with my writing partner, Eric, who knows me really well. I feel like the whole record is so aggressive, we really just needed a softer more vulnerable vibe. It kind of just happened. We were kind of just talking and the lyrics started happening, and the producer, Benny, just got the 808s going. The song just kind of happened. I think that’s how the best songs happen.
Totally. So, how have you been spending lockdown?
I’ve been cooking a lot. I’ve rearranged my apartment four different times, just buying all this furniture. I’ve been reading a lot and taking film photographs. I feel like I love to learn new things and just be creative in different ways.
What have you been reading?
Right now I’m reading Castle on Sunset. It’s a memoir of the Chateau Marmont, and it’s absolutely incredible.
I’ve heard of that, I really want to read it.
You should, it’s so well written, and just like, what a crazy place!
What a crazy place!
I’m reading that, and The Gift of Imperfection by Brene Brown, which is kind of self-helpy, but super necessary.
She’s great.
Yes, amazing.
You’re well known for being unapologetic in your queerness and also in your artistry. It takes courage to be yourself. Can you elaborate on your road to speaking out about your sexuality?
I was actually super closeted in the beginning of my carreer. I was signed to a label that used to tell me that being out would alienate me from certain audiences. I feel like growing up in the 90’s, there weren’t any openly queer popstars or rock stars, so I just kind of was scared of myself. I believed that I couldn’t be successful and queer. It’s just not in my nature to hide who I am, so I was just like, I’m gonna chose “Bestie” as my first single. It was a whole thing with the label because they sent out a press release that I was “bi-curious”, and I was like, “no, I’m sexually fluid. I don’t want to put a label on it.” I’ve been with women and men, and I feel like as artists and humans, we need to give ourselves space to evolve. So, I feel like my journey really started in 2016 when I decided to just step out and say, Hey, I’m queer.
Hell yeah.
But then last year, when I put out the record, “Grrrl”, I feel like I really got into the complexities and the emotional part of that, and became super open with my relationship with my girlfriend at the time. I feel like it formed a really strong connection between me and the fans I have now. Being a queer popstar today is super inspiring. There's King Princess, there’s Girl in Red; There are icons to look up to, and I didn’t necessarily have that when I was growing up.
And then you can be that for someone, too, which is amazing.
Exactly.
With “Bestie” and that press release saying something about you that didn’t feel true, what made it so important to you to set the record straight? What did that feel like when it happened?
I feel like being honest and open is something that’s important to me in my art and in my life, and why I admire my idols, like Peaches, David Bowie, and all these artists on the original punk scene like Patti Smith and Iggy Pop. I think I was kind of destined to be this super raw, honest artist. I feel like I’m actually just beginning my career because the first couple records, I was in contract - you know, it’s the typical story - with older, white, straight men, who saw me as this product. I feel like it took me a while to fully see that and grow out of it, and take control and power back and say, “This is actually who I am, and it’s okay to be who I am,” and muster up the strength and courage to do that. But I feel completely liberated. Now, I trust myself to make decisions with my art and in my career and I do feel like I’m growing more and more every day into the artist that I’m meant to be.
That’s so good to hear. So, do you think your writing process has changed at all since you’re not in contract anymore with people that make you feel controlled or oppressed?
I feel like it has completely changed. I used to feel like I had to turn in complete songs. I would show up at the studio and constantly ask people I was working with what they thought and work around that. I’d be really mad at myself if I didn’t finish a full song. But now I feel like I’m learning how to serve the art and serve the song. Making this current album, I found a process that works really well for me, where I’ll spend a couple months getting short little ideas together, whether it’s voice notes or lyrics or maybe a hook or some melodies. Then, we go in almost like performance art- go in for like four days at a time and just, super-work intensively, Make the Thing. I feel like it’s a constant learning process to figure out how to best write.
You also have songwriting credits with a multitude of different artists, like Noah Cyrus, Hey Violet, Anitta, and Bea Miller. I was curious if your process for writing for others is different than when you write for yourself?
Yeah, I think it's different. I don’t do a lot of it anymore because I have so much that I want to say and it’s very specific, and when I’m writing with another artist, I really wanna make sure I’m telling their truest story. So, it’s a lot more discussion, it’s a lot more creating a relationship and bonding with that person. It’s really fun. It’s just definitely a different sort of thing.
How did you end up songwriting? Was it something you’ve always done/ knew you would do?
No, I actually sort of signed my first publishing deal without knowing what it was. I was living in New York, 20 years old, super reckless, just discovered punk music. I was flying back and forth to LA and making little EPs and mixtapes and putting them online on Dropbox or Mediafire, and somehow one of my mixtapes found its way to an A&R at universal who started taking me out to lunch and was like, Do you want to write for other artists? I was like, Sure, that sounds fun. I signed with Universal, and started writing with other artists. That’s not the path I thought my career would take, but I learned so much and made so many great relationships with producers over the past 8 years that I’ve been doing that. I definitely always want to keep doing that, but right now I’m just super focused on my story.
When did you decide you wanted to be up there performing your own music?
I kind of always have been. I’ve been performing since I was 7, and then when I moved to NY when I was 18, I was booking my own shows and making music and starting my artist project. I think when I moved to LA in 2016 I sort of fell into the underbelly of the songwriting world and was doing sessions every day for other artists. I would come home and be so energetically drained that I couldn’t work on my own project. At the top of 2018 I realized that I needed to flip that narrative and put more energy into the type of songs that I wanted to make.
I’m curious what your name comes from—Sizzy Rocket!
I wanted an iconic, like Ziggy Stardust name. The first song that I ever wrote for myself when I was like, you know what, I’m gonna be an artist, I wanna be iconic, I wanna be a punk rock star, was called Rocket, and then my real name is Sabrina. So I was playing around with Ziggy, Sabrina combinations, and then Sizzy Rocket just clicked.
Genre-wise you dip your toes in many pools: pop, punk, electronica… How would you define your own sound?
I think my sound is punk Lady Gaga with… I don’t know… I have no fucking clue… punk lady Gaga with hip hop 808s and glitter everywhere.
Love that. Did you do anything to celebrate pride on a personal level last month?
Yeah. I released “Grrrl”, my record, last year on the first day of pride, June 14th. So, this year, we had a little zoom concert with my fans. It was really cute. It obviously will never ever ever be the same as a real show, but it definitely felt like that same togetherness energy. So that was really nice. I miss them so, so much. The whole thing about Pride is community, so it’s hard to celebrate when you’re isolated. But I don’t know, I celebrate Pride every day by just being my truest self.
What can fans look forward to seeing from you this year?
A really, really tight, dope body of work. I don’t think they’re expecting this level of craft from me. I feel like with my last record, you can kind of hear the trepidation. I was sort of coming into my own skin and figuring it out, and there’s a lot of vulnerability. But this album is hard and fast and very sure of itself. A really dope body of work and some crazy visuals and a lot of flowers.
How are you spending this summer? Working hard or hardly working?
Kind of both. I wake up and work super hard and then I’m like okay, cool, it's 5 o’clock, I can start drinking wine, and then it’s hardly working. The balance is key.
