Abigail Ory Interview by Carol Wright Photographer: Weslee Kate @JVAgency
Boston-based singer/songwriter Abigail Ory describes her music as “weird pop” because it doesn’t quite fit in exactly one genre. With songs about emotional stability and art house-esque music videos, in Ory’s case, weird is synonymous with breaking the mold. In a time when the music industry is going through constant changes, fresh perspectives are needed, and Ory is surely proving that. When did you become interested in singing and songwriting? I had fun singing as a little kid and would compose melodies starting from when I was around 9 years old. I was into musical theatre in middle school and did a fair amount of singing through that. My first songwriting project with lyrics was a musical I began writing with a friend (keyword began, we didn’t get super far). It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school that I really got into singing for the sake of singing, or into songwriting for pop-style music. It’s important to have mentors in any career field and you got lucky enough to have songwriter Donna Lewis as yours. What have you learned from her? Donna Lewis has been an incredible mentor to me for over a year now, and I’m so grateful. You’re right, I’m incredibly lucky! I have learned so much from her, from what makes a good hook to how to feel comfortable singing in a studio. She’s taught me so much about the tiny changes that make a good song a great one. But most of all, I feel she has taught me how to stay true to myself while writing music that appeals to others. I used to feel like I could have it one of two ways – relatable or authentic. She has shown me how to craft a song that others find catchy while also expressing something deeply important to me or true about myself, and it’s made a world of difference when bringing my songs to life. I was nervous to be interviewed on my first podcast just a bit ago (“Sound Scrub” hosted by Lisa Danaë), where Donna, my producer David Baron, and I 9
would all talk about the process for creating my song “Waves”. I was anxiously texting Donna about it a few days beforehand and she sent me a message saying, “It’s important to just be yourself. Don’t try to be anything else. Just go with the flow.” Minutes before the podcast, she texted me again saying, “Remember: just be you.” That so sums up Donna’s attitude towards everything, but especially towards songwriting and being a musician. She’s totally embraced me as a unique (and bizarre) person, and it’s what allows her to see the nuances in my songs and advise me on how to take them to the next level. I really appreciate it. You self describe your music as “weird pop”. In your own words, what does that mean? I don’t sound like everybody else. I don’t even sound like everybody else who doesn’t sound like everybody else. But that’s the key, and it’s also what brings my music closer to pop than any other genre. If pop music reflects musical trends, one of the biggest trends right now is genre defiance. And if pop music reflects the times, where we’re at now (clearly) is total mayhem. My music is both of these things at its core. And yet, there’s still something relatable to my songs. My music is “weird” in the way a middle schooler might think of weird. It’s quirky and unafraid of that. And it’s certainly got that current pop ethos of genre defiance, coupled with a relatively pop song structure and plenty of pop inspiration from across the generations. What do you get when you marry those two; what’s more left-field than left-field pop? Weird pop, and me.
