By: Lisa Steinberg
Q) Your music is often just labeled as “pop,” but how would you describe it?
A) I would describe my music as pop infused with soul, musical theatre, RnB and classical music. It’s an agglomeration of everything that has ever made me who I am today as a human being and an artist.
Q) Who are some of your musical influences?
A) I am a huge fan of all different types of music, but I will try to narrow it down for the sake of this question. To begin with, I love Tchaikovsky. He is literally my favorite composer ever and such a master at portraying longing, love and conflict in his work. His music just elevates me to another stratosphere. I love everything Quincy Jones has touched; I mean, talk about someone who has really seamlessly navigated multiple genres and eras and created soundscapes that tell timeless stories. From everything he did for The Wiz, to Leslie Gore, to movies, to Michael Jackson, to Frank Sinatra…Quincy Jones is really the GOAT. Additionally, I love Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, Victoria Monet, Stephen Sondheim and Alan Menken. I’m all over the place, but I really love artists who love art and who love the craft.
Q) You have studied at Harvard and Berklee. How did your time at these prestigious schools help to prepare you for you to enter the music business as an artist?
A) Discipline, focus, consistency and mental fortitude. These are all of the things that these schools have taught me about having the right mindset to enter into music with. Having to take two sets of classes at the same time and needing to constantly travel in between both of the schools was incredibly challenging, but I somehow managed to pull it off by the good grace of God. That experience of working twelve to sixteen hour days, non-stop, sometimes even forgetting to eat because I was so busy taught me that if you really, truly want to be great or excel that the craft you’re doing has to become your life. However, I also got sick a lot and that experience also taught me that you have to make time for your sleep, your diet and your exercise. Your health is your wealth and you can’t excel unless that is taken care of first.
Q) I love the story of how Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson inspired your song “In Another Life.” How did these iconic artists provide the muse you needed to craft this song?
A) I mean, Michael Jackson inspired the melody and Stevie Wonder inspired the harmony. I was walking around the kitchen one night frustrated about not being able to write anything and as I stopped pacing for a moment, I saw a vision of MJ sitting on my couch. The first thing that came out of my mouth was exactly the melody you hear in the song. The lyrics shifted a tiny bit but the crux of the idea on the final record is exactly what exists in that original voice memo. When I sat down at the piano to come up with chords, I really channeled Stevie as my main inspiration.
Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?
A) I think we live in a time where a lot of people feel the need to play cool, detached and nonchalant. And there is absolutely a time and place for that, but it leads to a lot of self-restraint and muting of self-expression. I think people really want to just feel something again. People want to feel romance and passion and excitement. People want to feel elevated to a realm beyond what they experience in the mundane moments of everyday life. I think my music serves that particular function of giving people an opportunity to live beyond what they know or feel is possible.
Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?
A) Wellllll…there isn’t exactly a full blown music video yet but you’ll be the first to know when that does happen. [smiles]
Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?
A) I need feeling before I can create anything. I need to encapsulate the feeling in my body. Music, melody and lyrics is just the byproduct of that emotional release. Once I feel a very poignant feeling, the lyrics and melody honestly just flow out in synchrony at the same time. The more I feel I’m being dishonest with myself about where I am emotionally, the harder it is to write. The more I’m in my head or judging myself to write a certain way, the more difficult it is to create.
Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?
A) I am very heavily involved in the production of my own music. If I’m not producing it myself, I am working with the producer to tell them the exact mood I want, the references, telling them about the groove, the pocket I want the song to sit in. And I always do a bunch of revisions with very specific notes about where I want the song to go. Sometimes I will literally sing different instrumental lines for guitar, strings, synths – whatever it may be to make sure that everything is tight!
Q) Your debut album Paradise is due out early next year. What are some themes you will be exploring on it?
A) Self-transformation. Reinvention. Love and rediscovering yourself through heartbreak. Shattering illusions. Infatuation with others. Infatuation with life. Nostalgia. Denial. There are so many different themes that I am exploring, but I would say the central theme is Catharsis. I want people to feel that through the emotional catharsis they feel in the songs, they can reach their personal paradise, within themselves.
Q) You have performed on legendary stages. Where are some of your favorite places to perform?
A) I loved performing at the Apollo. Wow! The energy of that crowd was immaculate and it was really a tough crowd to perform to, but I’m glad that I did it because it forced me to get out of my comfort zone. I also LOVED performing at the Mint in LA. Typically, when I perform it’s too dark to see the crowd, but the Mint is so well lit that I could see every single person in the house and that forced me to confront my fear of being seen. Every experience performing teaches me something new about the craft and that is something I’m truly grateful for.
Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?
A) I would LOVE to collaborate with Beyoncé. I mean, that would be a dream come true – my soul would ascend out of my body if that ever happened. Producer wise, I would loveeeee to work with D’Mile. Everything he’s done for Lucky Daye, Victoria Monet and Silk Sonic is just “chef’s kiss.” I am also a huge fan of Pharrell. Working with any of those people would be a blessing.
Q) What artist/musician are you currently listening to and why do you dig them?
A) I am listening to a lot of Billy Joel right now. His songwriting is so honest and poignant and his melodies just convey his stories so well. With every song I listen to by him, it feels like he was commissioned to write about my life. The mark of a great artist and great music is that they have the power to create stories that feel individual to the listener. What a gift it is to be able to write the way Billy Joel does. I particularly love his songs like “She’s Got A Way” and “Movin’ Ou”t.
Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?
A) I think social media is just really cool because it allows me to reach so many people in the world I would not normally have access to without even leaving my home. I can write to a fan in Indonesia or Italy from my phone in New York or LA! How cool is that?! It’s also just a way for me to keep a personal diary of all of my thoughts and my music to share with the world. While there are a lot of downsides, overall, I think it’s a really incredible opportunity to connect with people in ways that might not have otherwise been possible to musicians before me.
Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?
A) Whatever you’re going through, I promise it’s going to get better. You are a star. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to. You are worthy of everything your heart desires and I’m deeply humbled and grateful that my music serves, in whatever capacity it does, as the soundtrack to your life. [smiles]