Queued Magazine, Issue 03 by Queued Magazine

ISSUE THREE JANUARY 2021

Maty Noyes Photographer: @kalogenic

WRITTEN, EDITED, AND DESIGNED BY JESUS SOCORRO

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The third issue of Queued is finally here, and it’s the first to include a “letter from the editor,” so let me formally introduce myself! My name is Jesus, and I am the sole founder, manager, writer, and designer of Queued Magazine. Just over a year ago, I had the brilliant idea of marrying my two passions – music and writing – and thus Queued was born. Little was I aware of the pandemic that would soon ravage the globe. 2020 was quite a bizarre and unexpected year, and I think it’s safe to say it took a bit of a toll on many of our mental health. Juggling the magazine with work and school while attempting to preserve my mental health during a time like this turned out to be pretty impossible. But while it hasn’t been the easiest to adapt to our new normal, the past year has served as a huge learning experience for me.

There’s so much I’ve discovered about myself, my values, and even about others. I released the first issue around a year ago, and despite the major setback brought on by COVID, I am so proud of the growth that Queued has undergone in the span of a year. I am so grateful to all of the artists that have given me the chance to interview them, as well as to all of the managers for helping coordinate it all and for always being so patient and understanding. I have had an absolute blast creating this magazine, and I am so excited to continue putting out issues for years to come. There is a ton I have planned for this year – exclusive performances, tons of new playlists, giveaways, contests – so be sure to follow @queueued on Instagram. 3

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eet Sizzy Rocket: high school valedictorian turned hot rebellious punk star. The upcoming singersongwriter has been putting out killer music for five years now and has written for artists like Annita, Bea Miller, and Matoma.

Sizzy was born and raised in Las Vegas. When she was seven years old, she joined a kids’ performance group and would perform at malls every weekend. Eventually, she started learning how to play the piano and wrote her first song at nine years old. “Then from there, my style and my love for music just sort of evolved over time,” Sizzy says. The Sizzy Rocket alias came into play when she was 17. The name is a combination of the iconic Ziggy Stardust and Iggy Pop. Sizzy discovered punk – which she notes “was like a catalyst” for her – and moved to New York, where she started booking shows. “I played this underground venue called the National Underground when I first moved there, and I played for like one person, but I was determined, and I ended up putting out my own music on Dropbox,” Sizzy shares. Well, that determination landed her music in the hands of Universal and eventually led her to sign a publishing deal with the label. Living in New York also allowed Sizzy to fully embrace her sexuality, a part of herself she had a difficult time accepting for many years prior. The city introduced her to the queer scene – something she did not have in Vegas – and surrounded her with other queer women she was finally able to identify with and look up to. “Sexuality is a thing that’s constantly evolving, and what’s important is to just be who you are and just continue on that journey.” As an artist, Sizzy has always made it a conscious priority to be empowered by and vocal about her sexuality. “I feel like it’s important for me to be vocal about it because the message is about going from feeling ashamed to then turning that into your own power, and that reigns so true to a lot of queer kids,” she explains. In 2016, Sizzy dropped her debut album, THRILLS, a 13-track collection which includes “Bestie,” the song that blew up on Twitter overnight and established her loyal fanbase. “I’m proud of [THRILLS], and I love those songs, and I wouldn’t have the best fucking fanbase in the world without that album,” Sizzy ensures. However, she admits she was not entirely “steering the ship” with THRILLS, as she was “very new to the music industry.” “It was my first record deal, and as a young female artist, people assume you don’t know what you want or don’t

know what you’re talking about. I felt like I had to do what I was told in order to get what I wanted, so that album kind of came together without my creative input.” With her sophomore album Grrrl, which was released in 2019, everything was on her terms. “I made it with one producer, so every sound, every lyric, the way it was distributed, the cover art, everything was definitely 100 percent me, which felt really good,” Sizzy says. Grrrl was a defining album for Sizzy. At the top of 2019, she had just returned from tour, parted ways with her old managers, and was “in a very public relationship with another artist” at the time. She felt like she was at a starting point. “I was like, ‘Who do I wanna be? What do I wanna say? I need to make an album,’ and Grrrl just kind of came out. It taught me who I wanna be and what I wanna say is super vulnerable, honest, and romantic, but also badass and in your face, and I found that contrast within myself making that album.” Returning to her punk roots, Sizzy’s latest record ANARCHY is “a very noisy album with heavy guitars and a lot of distortion,” as she describes. “There are a lot of big 808s and trap hats, and the lyrics are very pop culture.” She feels it is “a very good mix of hip-hop, punk, rock n roll, and pop,” but it took her a while to find that sound, which she explains is the perfect balance of all her influences. “I feel like in the past, I’ve either wanted to do super bubblegum pop or super raw,” she adds. Back in February, Sizzy dropped the album’s first single, “That Bitch,” a song she wrote on the floor of her apartment after her last breakup. “It wasn’t even in my mind to do an album yet, I just had to write. I was not in the best place, and I felt like my confidence was just ripped from me,” she says. “I asked myself, ‘What song would I need right now to get me back to feeling like myself?’ and I wrote it at like two in the morning. Then, I took it to Dave the next day – who produced Grrrl with me – and he surprisingly got the vision from this shitty little piano demo.” Sizzy says ANARCHY is definitely her best album – certainly her most visual – and probably the most special to her. “It’s like an accumulation of everything Sizzy Rocket so far,” she says. “Grrrl was a brand-new chapter, but ANARCHY is everything about Sizzy Rocket all in one, so I really wanted to make visuals that are fun to watch and super queer – aesthetically – about the feeling of this world.” Check out the rest of my interview with Sizzy:

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How did you discover your sexuality, and how has it evolved? My first relationship was with a girl when I was in high school. I was like 15, but I was super closeted, so it was a secret from my parents. I remember when they found out, I was so ashamed; I thought it was wrong, internally. When I was little, I vividly remember this tabloid magazine with Alicia Keys on the cover, and it said, “Alicia Keys is gay,” and it was this whole thing – this rumor – and it was being conveyed as a negative thing. So, I was more scared that it would affect my career and my art. Obviously, that’s not true, but that feeling is very real, and if I were to tell my younger self how to get through that, I would just say, “It’s okay to feel that way, but you don’t have to feel that way.” The message is that you don’t have to internalize that, it’s not real. Then, when I moved to New York, that kind of opened my mind. So, you know, it’s a constant journey. I feel like being queer in this world, you’re always gonna have to be creating a space for yourself, and it’s so dope to see so many gay artists, lesbian artists, drag queens, trans artists– I feel like the space is getting bigger and bigger, and it’s such a beautiful thing to see. Where did you gain your fanbase? It was Twitter, actually. “Bestie” was out, and I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but I guess someone had posted the “Bestie” video in a Halsey chat or something, and I woke up one morning to a couple of thousand teenage girls who just newly discovered my music fucking going crazy on Twitter. I was like, “Oh my god, this is crazy. What the fuck is happening?” and I tweeted, “If you’re a new fan, DM me your address, and I’ll send you a sticker.” I got like 500 DMs, and I fucking sat there and handwrote every envelope, put the stickers in, and sent them out. I feel like from the start, I’ve established this really strong loyalty, and it’s crazy to see how it’s evolved. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t really think of another smaller

upcoming DIY artist who has just gained a fanbase with this level of passion and loyalty for four years. They inspire me to keep going. It’s this, like, crazy energy exchange that I’m really grateful for.

How was your experience attending NYU’s Clive Davis Institution? It was a great experience. When I got to New York, I was very focused on rebellion, so I wasn’t a great NYU student; I just partied all the time. I think I was just drunk that whole time. But you meet so many amazing people – other artists, people who are studying engineering, people who are studying the business side. I feel like going there definitely shaped me as an artist, but at the same time, I was a little art school dropout rebel. That will always be the contrast of who I am – on one hand I’m high school valedictorian, follows the rules, good girl, but on the other hand, I’m a very, very, very bad girl. Who have been your biggest inspirations? My biggest influence is definitely Jack White. The White Stripes changed my life when I was a kid. I think “Seven Nation Army” was one of the first rock songs I ever heard, and I was like, “Yeah, this is it.” But also, Patti Smith, Karen O, Travis Scott, and The Kills are huge influences of mine. There’s this artist SAINt JHN that I’ve been listening to – he really influenced the new album just with his melodies, and his lyrics are like fucking poetry. I would say those are the biggest ones for sure. I also love Andy Warhol. I’m really influenced by how artists do things, so I love his style. I think I’m influenced by both the sound of artists and the way that they operate. What is your favorite song on Grrrl, and why? I’m gonna give you my top three. “Tattoos,” for sure – I love that song just because it’s sexy, and I love that feeling of,

“Holy fuck, you’re gonna fuck me up but I love it,” and the dance break is so fun. Then, I love “Tequila in My Blood” – I just think it’s a great song, and I wrote it with Eric, who’s like my main collaborator, my main songwriter friend. And then, “Grrrl” is definitely one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written because it feels honest, like really, really fucking honest. Also, I love the songs that connect most with my fans, and I feel like “Grrrl” is one of those that connects the strongest. Tell me about your creative process. Usually, I just create from scratch. I’m actually really involved with the production of my music. I don’t physically work on the computer, but I’ll verbally produce. So, usually, something will prompt a song, whether it’s a word, a melody, a line, or a drumbeat. For the last album– I don’t know, it all just kind of happened at the same time. Sometimes, it starts with a feeling; I’ll be like, “Oh, I want a song that feels like this.” So, it depends how it starts, but I love starting from net base, like silence, and then go. Which of your songs is your favorite or most special? You know what, I think it’s the piano demo of “Sid Vicious” that I put out at the top of last year – for so many reasons. The first reason is I was doing that song live on a few tours before I put it out, and I feel like it was one of those songs that if you were a real fan, you’d know it. A lot of my fans rip the audio from live YouTube videos, and they’re always telling me to put it out. A couple of producers tried to produce it out, and we could just never get it right. Then, when I parted ways with my team at the top of 2019, that was the first song I put out independently. I knew it was gonna be a special moment for my fans because they already loved and knew and connected with that song. They were asking for it, and I finally delivered, which is a good feeling. But also, just claiming my independence and having it be my first release was really special, so I love that song, and I love the story of it. It’s about a real person. I had this fleeting weekend with this guy who just reminded me of Sid Vicious, and then he left back home to Australia. I was just so nostalgic – not heartbroken – but it’s that feeling where you’re pining over someone that you know you can’t have, but you both love each other. It’s one of my favorite feelings to write from, so I just love that song. What are some of your goals as an artist? One of my goals is to find my visual aesthetic, like the universe or the world that this album is going to be living in. I feel like it’s unfolding slowly – “That Bitch” and the photos and the polaroids we’ve been doing so far are all part of this bigger world that I’m trying to define. Another goal of mine is to start doing photography. I feel like it’s such a cool medium because you can capture a moment and then be able to revisit it. Music is dope, but you can’t hold it in your hand, you can’t touch it, so I’m excited to pick up photography and document the world in a different way. And then another one of my goals is to focus on loving myself and accepting myself for who I am and just radically accepting my journey so far because, you know, it’s hard sometimes. Which artists would you like to collaborate with? I would love to collaborate with Peaches – that’s a dream of mine. I'd also love to collab with Tyler, The Creator and MIA.

What do you do outside of music? I love soul cycle. It’s closed at the moment, and I actually cried when it closed. That’s definitely my top hobby. I’m out there outfitted in the front row – that’s like my favorite thing. I also love writing long-form poetry and prose. I’ve started cooking more, which is fun. I just bought this big pot, and I’m gonna make Bolognese. I’m either doing one of those things or making music or hanging out with my boyfriend, and that’s about it. What is your proudest moment? Right off the top of my head, I would say my proudest moment was on my Grrrl tour last year, which I completely booked and funded myself. We played in a gallery in LA because all the venues were booked, and I was just like, “Fuck it, I’m playing in a gallery.” We set up a sound system and cleared out all the stuff, and there was a line of kids down the block. It felt like, “wow.” I was performing, seeing everyone crammed in this little space, sweating and screaming and having a blast. It was such a special, rare moment. I felt my own power, I felt my own vibe, and seeing everyone fully in that experience was probably my proudest moment.

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What is the number one thing on your bucket list? I want to go to Berlin. I just feel really connected to Berlin, like on a soul level. I feel like punk is still thriving there. If you could have the answer to anything at all, what would you want to know? I’d wanna know what the meaning of life is. Scan to listen to Sizzy’s latest album ANARCHY on Spotify.

Calling all electro-pop fans! Meet Besomorph, a German music producer pushing the boundaries of genres through dark and melodic music. At the start of his career, Besomorph made a lot of classical trap music, which has since evolved into spaceheavy pop infused with hypnotizing electronic elements. From the gradually intensifying synths in the chorus of “Redemption” to the powerful vocals during the beat drop in “Who Am I?” it is clear that he is no stranger to experimentation. Besomorph started making music at just 15 years old when his parents introduced him to DJing. He started using the popular online software VirtualDJ but quickly realized that DJing limited his creative freedom and abilities. Eventually, he switched over to music production, which he assures is “way more difficult than DJing,” but also notes that he is fulfilling his “lifelong dream of learning a craft that only a few people could do.” One decade later, and the man is a music-making machine. In under three years, Besomorph has released over 70 songs, almost half of which are from 2019. While that might sound a bit excessive, it's all part of his plan. “We are such a fast-paced industry. If you disappear from the radar for a month or two, people will forget about you because there are thousands of other artists out there. You would be replaced so easily, so you have to feed the people. If you stay consistent for a long time and put out high-quality tracks, I think that’s the key to success in the music industry.” Over the years, Besomorph has worked with many artists that he either finds through labels he partners 12

with, through promotion channels or through other artists. Most often, he works with vocalists including Neoni, Lunis, and RIELL, who sings “Redemption,” his most streamed song on Spotify with over 12 million streams. It also happens to be one of his favorite tracks. “To be honest, it’s the only track of mine that when I listen to the drop, I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I remember we were having a video shoot for [Redemption] in London – which was never released because it was really bad – and I was with [RIELL], and when she sang it, everybody’s jaw dropped. They were like, ‘What the fucking hell.’ That’s one of the tracks that I actually knew was gonna be successful.” Looking ahead, Besomorph reveals he is planning to release a debut album sometime this year. He also hopes to grow his social media. Although he has over two million monthly listeners, he notes “it’s incredibly difficult to convert your Spotify listeners to Instagram followers.” “I think it’s a matter of branding. I really want everything to be on point. It’s nice to have so many monthly listeners on Spotify, but you need the

people as fans, so you have to convert these listeners to fans. That’s one of my goals.” Check out the rest of my interview with Besomorph below: What music do you like to listen to? I listen to everything, it just changes with time. Right now, for instance, I’m starting to like house music again, which I didn’t like at all in the past. I’ve always been a big hip-hop fan, I would say – but more trap hip-hop, not old school hip-hop. Who are your biggest inspirations? One of my biggest inspirations is somebody who’s not really known; his name is Overwork. Also, Apashe. Oh, The Weeknd is my favorite overall artist. I’m not so sure I’m inspired by him because he’s a singer, but his producer Gesaffelstein is one of my inspirations because he also has this dark, melodic, melancholic sound. Tell me about your creative process. That’s a tricky question because sometimes it just comes out in like two or three hours, and then you just have to fine-tune it for like five or six more hours. To be honest, what I’ve realized is the more you struggle with 13

it, the less of a chance that it will become successful. The faster you make it, without any struggles, the better it is. I mean, that’s just my experience. So, I would say, in general, like five to six hours, if I’m really in the workflow. But some projects that I’m struggling with can take up to 20-30 hours of pure work time. Can we expect a debut EP or album anytime soon? I was actually planning to release an album last Summer, but then I split all the tracks of the album into singles. Why? Because it doesn’t make sense to release an album without a major label. On Spotify, you can only submit one track to the editorial team, which means only one track of the album. Why would I do that if I can release eight singles, submit all of them, and potentially get editorial playlisting? But, I’m still planning to release an album in 2021. What is the number one thing on your bucket list? Find a good relationship.

How have you evolved as an artist since the start of your career? I started with something called “kids trap” – it’s like this festival trap gaming music. I think as I grow older, my sound is evolving more towards the pop genre. It’s still electronic, but it’s leaning more towards pop. “Ego Overdose” was my first pop release, and I think people can expect my sound to evolve more to like dark pop, still heavily influenced by electronic music with lots of electronic elements.

Scan to listen to Besomorph’s latest single “What I've Done” featuring Behmer and Lunis on Spotify.

wo years after dropping her third studio album Fine But Dying, Georgia-born singer-songwriter Liza Anne has returned to the spotlight with her most upbeat and positive album yet. Released at the height of a global pandemic, the new alt-rock record, called Bad Vacation, could not have arrived at a better time. Growing up a sensitive and emotional kid, Liza feels she “was always predisposed to needing some form of outlet.” As a child, she was very into writing poetry and journaling. When she was ten, she took up the guitar, and by 14, she was already writing full songs. “That’s sort of when the fire lit in me, and I’ve just been doing it ever since,” Liza says. “I became attached to the means of expressing myself and giving people more ways of understanding me.”

Music became a tool for Liza’s mental health, a means of expressing her thoughts and emotions. Especially as a misunderstood child, music was a way for Liza to say, “Here’s everything I’m feeling in a three-minute song. Do you get it now?” While attending Belmont University in Nashville, where she studied songwriting, Liza recorded her debut album The Colder Months with friend Zachary Dyke – who produced her first three albums. Liza’s musical influences are constantly shifting as she continues to discover new artists. Although, she does mention there are a few inspirations that have remained a constant since she was a kid, including The Cranberries and Joni Mitchell. “Even the Dixie Chicks,” Liza adds. “Their attitude blows my mind. It’s so funny because I don’t sing country music, but I think their attitude is really strong and empowering.” Lately, Liza has been really into artists like The Talking Heads, Cat Power, and St. Vincent, who “aren’t following any rules, but in the best possible way,” as she puts it. Back in June, Liza released her latest album Bad Vacation, her first project since becoming sober in November of 2019. She wrote the album at one of her lowest points, manifesting a stronger version of herself into existence. Bad Vacation introduces a fresh sound for Liza – an upbeat shift from the softer, more folky sound she has been known for. The new album embodies a summery pop-rock vibe, opening with a 14-second clip of beach

sounds from her island hometown off the Georgia coast. Eleven feel-good tracks follow, including “Desire,” “Bummer Days,” and “Devotion,” a song with a deep-rooted message she describes as “really special and dear to [her] heart.” Check out the rest of my interview with Liza below: How would you describe your sound? Well, it evolves, doesn’t it? It really fits with my mood at the time. I would say I’m currently sitting in a very art-rock place – but it’s just a motive, it fits with whatever the emotion is. Just the other day, I wrote a really somber, simple song that’s just guitar and my voice, which is a whole other side compared to the record I recently put out, which is really full-on and incorporates lots of different instruments. So, I think it lends itself to the emotion I’m trying to portray. I moved from acoustic guitar to electric guitar in like 2014, and that’s really transformed my playing and the messaging, sonically. What music do you like to listen to? I like all different types of music; I don’t really have one corner. I am obsessed with Ariana Grande, I’m obsessed with The Talking Heads, I’m obsessed with Lizzo, I’m obsessed with HAIM – Maggie Rogers is amazing. Really, anything that’s unarguably good, like honest emotion. What I’ve found is emotion is that thing that just touches you – the right sounding guitar, a good melody – and it doesn’t matter the genre; it’s just a good song. Tell me about your creative process. It’s different every song. The notes section of my phone is pretty consistently full of line ideas or words that I paired together or tiny little poems. Also, if I’m sitting in my car and think of a melody, I’ll quickly record like a 30-second voice memo, so it really depends. With Bad Vacation, I would write the words, guitar, vocals, and melody; then I’d bring it to my band, and we would build it out. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? Just life. I have a really hard time writing not from my own experience, and I think that’s because when I was a kid, songwriting was a chance for me to really go full throttle in explaining myself. So, I think what inspires me most are those conversations I envision being really difficult to have with myself or with someone else, and songs are a space where you’re not interrupted, so you have room to really get everything out. For me, those are the things that inspire a song – whether that’s a good feeling or a heavy feeling. It’s those feelings that feel hard to wade through; those are the ones that I end up writing the most about. How have you evolved as an artist since releasing your first single, ‘Room,’ in 2015? I think I’ve become more confident and surer of what I’m trying to say. There’s a beginner's confidence that comes with releasing your first stuff, but I think you just grow more and more sure of your own language

Music became a tool for Liza’s mental health, a means of expressing her thoughts and emotions. Especially as a misunderstood child, music was a way for Liza to say, “Here’s everything I’m feeling in a three-minute song. Do you get it now?” While attending Belmont University in Nashville, where she studied songwriting, Liza recorded her debut album The Colder Months with friend Zachary Dyke – who produced her first three albums. Liza’s musical influences are constantly shifting as she continues to discover new artists. Although, she does mention there are a few inspirations that have remained constant since she was a kid, including The Cranberries and Joni Mitchell. “Even the Dixie Chicks,” Liza adds. “Their attitude blows my mind. It’s so funny because I don’t sing country music, but I think their attitude is really strong and empowering.” Lately, Liza has been really into artists like The Talking Heads, Cat Power, and St. Vincent, who “aren’t following any rules, but in the best possible way,” as she puts it. Back in June, Liza released her latest album Bad Vacation, her first project since becoming sober in November of 2019. She wrote the album at one of her lowest points, manifesting a stronger version of herself into existence. Bad Vacation introduces a fresh sound for Liza – an upbeat shift from the softer, more folky sound she has been known for. The new album embodies a summery pop-rock vibe, opening with a 14-second clip of beach

sounds from her island hometown off the Georgia coast. Eleven feel-good tracks follow, including “Desire,” “Bummer Days,” and “Devotion,” a song with a deep-rooted message she describes as “really special and dear to [her] heart.” Check out the rest of my interview with Liza below: How would you describe your sound? Well, it evolves, doesn’t it? It really fits with my mood at the time. I would say I’m currently sitting in a very art-rock place – but it’s just a motive, it fits with whatever the emotion is. Just the other day, I wrote a really somber, simple song that’s just guitar and my voice, which is a whole other side compared to the record I recently put out, which is really full-on and incorporates lots of different instruments. So, I think it lends itself to the emotion I’m trying to portray. I moved from acoustic guitar to electric guitar in like 2014, and that’s really transformed my playing and the messaging, sonically. What music do you like to listen to? I like all different types of music; I don’t really have one corner. I am obsessed with Ariana Grande, I’m obsessed with The Talking Heads, I’m obsessed with Lizzo, I’m obsessed with HAIM – Maggie Rogers is amazing. Really, anything that’s unarguably good, like honest emotion. What I’ve found is emotion is that thing that just touches you – the right sounding guitar, a good melody – and it doesn’t matter the genre; it’s just a good song. Tell me about your creative process. It’s different with every song. The notes section of my phone is pretty consistently full of line ideas or words that I paired together or tiny little poems. Also, if I’m sitting in my car and think of a melody, I’ll quickly record like a 30-second voice memo, so it really depends. With Bad Vacation, I would write the words, guitar, vocals, and melody; then I’d bring it to my band, and we would build it out. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? Just life. I have a really hard time writing not from my own experience, and I think that’s because when I was a kid, songwriting was a chance for me to really go full throttle in explaining myself. So, I think what inspires me most are those conversations I envision being really difficult to have with myself or with someone else, and songs are a space where you’re not interrupted, so you have room to really get everything out. For me, those are the things that inspire a song – whether that’s a good feeling or a heavy feeling. It’s those feelings that feel hard to wade through; those are the ones that I end up writing the most about. How have you evolved as an artist since releasing your first single "Room" in 2015? I think I’ve become more confident and surer of what I’m trying to say. There’s a beginner's confidence that comes with releasing your first stuff, but I think you just grow more and more sure of your own language

and your creative abilities – even instrumentally. Between my first song and now, I feel way more capable of communicating in a strong and empowered way. Even in my own life – outside of creating music – I feel more capable of being emotionally and mentally healthy. I think music just gives me a tool book of all the ways I can be a softer, kinder, and better person. I think the inner personal growth I’ve had has been really special. And I think that just comes with setting aside time for yourself to process those difficult things, which is what I’ve been doing in my music, and so it’s giving me growing room. What is the number one thing on your bucket list? I have a really simple one: learn French. Also, to buy a house with a screen porch. What are some of your goals as an artist? If you asked me this question, and we weren’t in a pandemic, I would be like, “Sell out my tour,” but I think it’s just to keep the muse going, keep riding, keep being there for myself, and not put pressure on myself to act like the world is in any other state than it is. I could put a lot of pressure on myself right now to do a lot of things that exhaust that natural instinct in me, or I could spend time slowing down and invest in my home life and in my personhood. Being able to slow down enough to be a person is also, in the end, investing in my artistry because it gives me real things to feel and write about. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? I love baking so much, I love making cakes, I love writing poetry, I love playing cards – I feel like I’m describing an 80year-old woman. I like things that aren’t externally focused. Such a big part of being an artist is performative, which is so fun because I love being in front of people and performing, but I think the older I get, I love the things that have nothing to do with someone looking and approving it. But I do love when I bake a cake, and people think it’s good. There's some performance to that still.

Which artist would you like to work with? David Burn is probably top of my list. I just started listening to him recently, and that would honestly be such a dream. Even if he knew I existed, that would be enough. If you could have the answer to any question, what would you want to know? I don’t mean to answer in this way, but I think I’m fine not knowing stuff. More than wanting to have an answer to something, I just want the thing in my soul that needs the answers to everything to settle down. There are so many questions, but I’ve spent so much of my life needing to know stuff, and I think I’m fine just not knowing.

What is your proudest moment? Probably, becoming sober. I stopped drinking in November of 2019, which is something that’s a pretty long-form thing. I’ll never arrive. It’s an everyday decision, but I’ve been proving to myself that I could stop. I also stopped smoking cigarettes about a year and a half ago, so quitting those two things is the proudest I’ve ever been of myself. Scan to listen to Liza Anne’s latest album Bad Vacation on Spotify.

Born and raised in South-Central Los Angeles, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Garren was forced to grow up watching his mom struggle to pay her bills. He realized early on that music had the potential to change his life, so he skipped college and even walked away from a promising football career to pursue music full-time. “I knew that no matter what I did in life, I had to get to the point where I am today, which is 100% committed to the music,” Garren says. Garren’s introduction to music was in the church, which he became very involved with as a boy. He joined the choir and even became the church drummer. At just 17 years old, Garren was offered a publishing deal he could not turn down. It’s the only reason he did not go to college and walked away from multiple full-ride scholarships for football.

He kept the production deal under the table until he turned 18 and signed it just a few weeks after graduating high school. Since then, Garren has released a debut album and even received two Grammy nominations – one in 2018 for his vocal contribution on Nipsey Hussle’s song “Dedication” and one in 2019 for his contribution of background vocals on Dreamville’s number one album Revenge of the Dreamers III. Garren released his first single back in 2012 but took it down when he “revamped” his brand in 2016. Over the past four years, he has been “creating an identity for people to resonate with” but has remained consistent in his message. “I feel like that’s evolution,” he says. His first single since rebranding, called “Wrong Way,” was released in 2017, and in the short time since, Garren has built up a pretty impressive discography, containing a full-length album, two EPs, and quite a number of singles – including some collaborations. “I wanna be one of the biggest artists that break. If it doesn’t happen, I can’t control that, but that’s what I want, and that’s what I’m working for. Right now, I’m in the studio. Quarantine doesn’t stop me. Nothing is stopping me. I’m going hard, and I’m gonna keep going hard every day.” Earlier this year, Garren put out his debut album, the new (normal), a follow-up to his 2018 EP, Normal. The album focuses on “giving women more value, care, and support” and has accumulated over a million streams across platforms. Scan to listen to Garren’s debut album the new (normal) on Spotify.

ou may not recognize the name Maty Noyes, but there is a good chance you are familiar with her voice. The pop singer-songwriter first catapulted into the spotlight in 2015 with her hit song “Stay,” featuring Kygo. That same year, The Weeknd featured her vocals in his song “Angel,” from his third studio album Beauty Behind The Madness. Maty’s connection with music was ignited when she was given her first guitar at the age of 12. Within a week of laying her hands on it, she had already written multiple songs – there was no denying she was a natural. “I’ve always had a deep love for music. I always knew deep down that was what I wanted to do,” Maty says. So, her parents signed her up for an open mic one night, and that’s where it all started. Maty grew increasingly fond of performing and began playing weekly live shows around the Nashville area. “I would drive up [to Nashville] on the weekends and write songs in the backseat of the car on the way to the open mics. Just very raw, beautiful times,” she says. Maty has come a long way since. Now 23, the up-andcoming artist is living in LA and has a debut album on the way. She also has two successful EPs out, which currently have hundreds of millions of streams across platforms. In 2016, Maty released her first EP Noyes Complaint, featuring her most listened-to song “in my miNd,” which currently has over 121 million streams on Spotify. Two years later, she put out a second EP called Love Songs From A Lolita, which features six tracks including her popular song “New Friends.”

“In my songs, I usually try to make sure the whole story is there and that the point gets across, and they have all these complex parts to it,” Maty explains. “But with this song, I wanted it to be as simple as I could possibly make a song without it feeling too simple.” Over the last five years, Maty has had the chance to work with some of the biggest musicians and producers in the industry. In addition to working with Kygo and The Weeknd, she joined Noah Cyrus on ‘The Good Cry’ Tour in 2018.

Later in May, Maty released a softer, more emotional song called “Man Needs A Woman” – a song about dating a narcissist, which she says was the most painful song she has ever written. Three tracks have since followed, including “Handsomer” featuring Molly Moore, “Wrong,” and most recently, “lowkey” featuring Franke.

Most notably, however, she had the incredible opportunity of featuring a fifty-piece orchestra in a few of her songs. Conducted by Bill Ross, the orchestra comprised several legendary musicians, including bass player Nathan East and trumpeter Jerry Hey (Michael Jackson). Maty was just 17 years old at the time and describes the experience as her “favorite, most proud moment.” “Before they played, I went up with these crystals and incense and weird shit, and I said a prayer for everybody. I was like, ‘I want to be a young artist that brings this shit back. I wanna bring the world really good music, and you guys are a part of that with me, and this is amazing.’ Then, I just walked around the room as they played and just meditated on these songs.” The orchestra played on a total of four tracks, two of which are out there in the world, and two that have yet to be released. One was picked up by Celine Dion and released last year – “Boundaries” – and the other is Maty’s 2017 upbeat disco bop “London.” As for the unreleased ones, Maty says “they will be released,” but one of them she cannot put out into the world until she is a bigger star and has a guarantee that people will hear it. Until then, Maty has newer music to focus on. Her debut album, The Feeling’s Mutual, is finally set to drop in the coming months. Earlier this year, she started teasing the new era on Instagram with a series of vivid blue- and yellow-hued posts. She says this era’s theme revolves around colors and that “there’s going to be tons of images released in months to come” which incorporate elements of both LA and Nashville to portray a mix of her “nature-loving side and vibrant, diva side.” At the top of the year, Maty released the album’s lead single, “Love Don’t Cost A Thang,” featuring Franke and Lemaitre. A couple of months later, at the height of the pandemic, Maty shed some positivity out into the world with her next single “Sunlight.” She penned the uplifting tune on a rainy day in an attempt to write “a super simple and happy song.” 28

Since the release of her debut EP four years ago, Maty’s artistry has grown stronger than ever. The Feeling’s Mutual is undoubtedly Maty’s most personal and authentic body of work. She says she definitely has “a better sense of who [she is] as an artist now.” “Back then, I was around so many different people and had so many different opinions in my ear. I was always trying to find myself in the middle of all that, but because of those years of rioting and not quitting, I finally chiseled down to myself.” Looking ahead, Maty is hoping to “put out a bunch of visual content.” If you follow her on social media, you have probably already noticed from all of her recent photoshoots and conceptual videos. “There are really weird video ideas I’ve had for a while that I feel come along with the full circle artist experience that’s in my brain that I really wanna show people.” Scan to listen to Maty Noyes’ latest single “lowkey” from her forthcoming debut album, The Feeling’s Mutual.

r e t r Ca s e v e Re

From playing in a rock band to making feel-good pop music, LAbased singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Carter Reeves has had quite the musical journey. Originally from a small town outside of Boston, Carter does not come from a musical family or background but has had a passion for music for as long as he can remember. As a youngster, he was constantly making noise around the house – banging on pots and pans like a drum set and singing off the top of his lungs like there was nobody around. “My parents were like, ‘Oh my God. If you’re gonna be yelling and bopping around, at least learn a melody or two, and make it useful,’” Carter laughs. In middle school, and then again in high school, he joined the chorus and choir and did acapella as well. But he really started taking music seriously when he joined a fourpiece rock band in high school. “We took it really seriously; practiced for five hours a day every day and kind of planned to skip college and chase the rock band dream,” Carter says. While that, unfortunately, did not work out with all four members, Carter and fellow band member David von Mering split off to form their own two-piece band called AER. “That’s what really solidified me in the music industry and made me a serious player in the game. It totally turned music from a hobby of mine into a potential career and, even more so, the love of my life. It used to be a fun thing to do on the weekends with friends, but now it’s become something that I can’t live without. It’s been a good journey, man – lots of ups and downs and fun projects and stuff.” Over the years, Carter has taken on quite a number of instruments. He

is most proficient in guitar but also plays a bit of piano, bass, ukulele, and basically any other stringed instrument. “No drums! You don’t wanna hear me play drums, it’s awful,” he adds. After seven years, five albums, an EP, and countless shows, Carter and David mutually agreed it would be best to part ways and focus on their individual careers. Six months after the duo’s amicable split in 2016, Carter was already making his solo debut with the release of his first song, “Fresh Fruit.” Since, Carter has put out many other songs, several EPs, and has even gone on a few tours supporting artists such as Somo, Abhi The Nomad, and The Hold Up. His most recent EP, II – a follow-up to his previous EP, I – was released back in April and comprises of five tracks, including his latest single “Home Stretch,” which he describes to have “a little bit more of a dreamy, relaxed, indie sound, compared to a lot of [his] other stuff.” He also notes the song is one of his favorites released thus far. “It’s just something about the chords and the way the chords play with the melodies,” he remarks. Another one of Carter’s favorites, and likely his most meaningful, is his 2019 single “Front Porch,” from his EP, I. “’Front Porch,’ to me, just felt like the perfect culmination of musicality – like, songwriting chords, but also lyrical depth,” he says. “I was just noodling on the guitar one day, and I had just gone through some emotional depth – I had just gotten out of a little relationship – so I felt like I had something to say.” As of now, Carter has no plans to release a debut album in the near future. “I feel like a debut album

comes when the world is asking for it, and I feel like the world isn’t asking for it from me just yet,” he explains. “It’s definitely down the line. Once I feel like I’ve got the momentum for it, I’ll definitely kick that into gear. I’d rather have people asking for it than give too much music too soon.” Carter is also still in the process of discovering his unique sound and wants his debut album to be “everything [he imagines] it to be.” “With these EPs, I’m having fun, exploring different styles, and kind of trying on different shoes and stuff. But once it’s time to put the album out, I’m gonna really put on my perfectionist hat.” For now, Carter is ready to “bust into the next chapter of [his] story” and return to the stage, where he feels most comfortable and connects most with his fans. “On the road is where I also make the biggest impression on new fans,” he adds. “I think once you see me live, you either love me or you hate me, but at least I can give you a damn good decision by the end of the night.” His current focus is on “gaining new fans and continuing to spread the word,” he shares. “I think I have something really cool going, and I’m still trying a bunch of different things out, but I think it’s gonna be a fun story to watch and a fun journey to pay attention to, so I just want as many people paying attention as possible.” Check out the rest of my interview with Carter below: Do you like living in Boston, New York, or LA better? They’re all so different to compare. Boston is where I grew up, so it has my heart and my home. My family

From playing in a rock band to making feel-good pop music, LAbased singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Carter Reeves has had quite the musical journey. Originally from a small town outside of Boston, Carter does not come from a musical family or background but has had a passion for music for as long as he can remember. As a youngster, he was constantly making noise around the house – banging on pots and pans like a drum set and singing off the top of his lungs like there was nobody around. “My parents were like, ‘Oh my God. If you’re gonna be yelling and bopping around, at least learn a melody or two, and make it useful,’” Carter laughs. In middle school, and then again in high school, he joined the chorus and choir and did acapella as well. But he really started taking music seriously when he joined a fourpiece rock band in high school. “We took it really seriously; practiced for five hours a day everyday and kind of planned to skip college and chase the rock band dream,” Carter says. While that, unfortunately, did not work out with all four members, Carter and fellow band member David von Mering split off to form their own two-piece band called AER. “That’s what really solidified me in the music industry and made me a serious player in the game. It totally turned music from a hobby of mine into a potential career and, even more so, the love of my life. It used to be a fun thing to do on the weekends with friends, but now it’s become something that I can’t live without. It’s been a good journey, man – lots of ups and downs and fun projects and stuff.” Over the years, Carter has taken on quite a number of instruments. He

is all still in Boston, which makes it hard to completely leave, but as a musical city, it doesn’t have much. New York was great; although, to me it felt like there was a certain ceiling trying to be a pop musician. New York is really good for indie, rock, and rap, and I felt like I wasn’t really fitting into either of those categories. From a musical standpoint, LA definitely wins because there are so many people in LA trying to do what I’m doing. Obviously, that can be a little daunting and feel a little oversaturated at times, but I’ve made so many great friends, all of whom are in music and doing similar things that I’m doing. I finally feel like I’m a part of a creative community, which I don’t feel I ever got in either of those two other cities. Do you have any regrets, or is there anything you wish you would have done differently? Yeah, I mean, it’s easy to look back and regret or say, “Oh, well now I know I would’ve done this differently.” After the amicable split of the duo I was in, I put music out six months after that happened, so I just totally rode momentum and continued to put music out regardless of the split. I certainly don’t regret the path that I chose, but I think after looking at some of my friends and peers who are musicians, maybe I would’ve taken a little more time to perfectly craft the brand and the look and the sound that I wanted to be known for and felt like I could grow with and scale with forever. I guess what I ended up doing was I just quickly put music out, which I still really love, but it was under a vision and branding move that I’m not sure I identify with now, but more so that I wasn’t sure was as sincere as it could have been from the beginning. So, I don’t know, maybe taking a little more time to just make sure that I feel like I’m

making the right moves and make everything airtight before I drop it off into the world. You can listen to the music I put out three years ago, and you can listen to the music I put out today, and they are completely different styles, but I think that’s what’s so cool and that’s what helps to make me human, is that you listen as my taste changes and as I grow up and the things I talk about change. I think seeing that progress is really important to a fan. What music do you like to listen to? Is it similar to the kind of music you make, or not? It’s kind of all over the place. I always wish I could make the kind of music that I listen to, but then it always comes out being way more pop-y or way more corny or cleancut than I always imagine. But I listen to a lot of surf rock and garage rock. I’ve been diving deep a lot into kind of older stuff, like The Beach Boys, George Harrison, John Lennon – I mean, obviously The Beatles as a whole. But besides that, I like a lot of 70s African funk and instrumental afrobeat stuff because I just feel like the grooves in all that music is infectious. It’s all about the feel, nothing’s quantized. Who, or what, have been your recent musical influences? Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of old country. And by old country– I can’t fucking stand country, like everything from the 80s on is garbage, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about late 50s and 60s because the storytelling is so incredible and also not to mention the chords and the chord changes are really good and give all that music such a timeless sound. I mean, you can listen to something today, and it’s got a retro feel but still sounds fresh and exciting, so I’ve been trying to learn a lot from those.

Talk to me about your creative process. I started as a writer and a vocalist, so I kind of saw writing the song as a chore at first and saw production as a fun playground where I just got to screw around and throw stuff at the wall and see what happened. But I would say my process – I’ve gone more from trying to produce a cool beat and then writing on top of it to sitting down in front of the piano or sitting down with a guitar and just writing a song that way. I think if you can write a beautiful song with chords and melodies and beautiful lyrics, with just you and a guitar, I don’t think there’s anything you can do wrong to it after that. I mean, obviously, you could produce it out and make it sound like shit, which no one wants, but I think if you have a really strong song with just a guitar and voice, then no matter which way you spin it, it’s gonna be looked at as a really strong song. So, lately, I’ve just been trying to, like, hold a guitar, sit in my back yard, and just write some damn good lyrics and some damn good melodies. Then, take it to a computer later because you can always change things later. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? A few things. Definitely, if something somewhat pivotal has happened in my life, and I’ve got a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head, I certainly wanna take advantage of that and try and put the words down, even if it’s a journal entry or something simple, just so I remember how I felt at that moment. If I just rationalize it and move on, I feel like I potentially missed a significant part of my life. Whether it’s good or bad or anxious or whatever the feeling is, I always wanna try and capture how I’m feeling at that moment. But then if I hear a good song or hear a friend of mine make a song or

making the right moves and make everything airtight before I drop it off into the world. You can listen to the music I put out three years ago, and you can listen to the music I put out today, and they are completely different styles, but I think that’s what’s so cool and that’s what helps to make me human, is that you listen as my taste changes and as I grow up and the things I talk about change. I think seeing that progress is really important to a fan. What music do you like to listen to? Is it similar to the kind of music you make, or not? It’s kind of all over the place. I always wish I could make the kind of music that I listen to, but then it always comes out being way more pop-y or way more corny or cleancut than I always imagine. But I listen to a lot of surf rock and garage rock. I’ve been diving deep a lot into kind of older stuff, like The Beach Boys, George Harrison, ohn Lennon – I mean, obviously The Beatles as a whole. But besides that, I like a lot of 0s African funk and instrumental afrobeat stuff because I just feel like the grooves in all that music is infectious. It’s all about the feel, nothing’s quantized. Who, or what, have been your recent musical influences? Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of old country. And by old country– I can’t fucking stand country, like everything from the 0s on is garbage, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about late 0s and 60s because the storytelling is so incredible and also not to mention the chords and the chord changes are really good and give all that music such a timeless sound. I mean, you can listen to something today, and it’s got a retro feel but still sounds fresh and exciting, so I’ve been trying to learn a lot from those.

ell me about your creative process I started as a writer and a vocalist, so I kind of saw writing the song as a chore at first and saw production as a fun playground where I just got to screw around and throw stuff at the wall and see what happened. But I would say my process – I’ve gone more from trying to produce a cool beat and then writing on top of it to sitting down in front of the piano or sitting down with a guitar and just writing a song that way. I think if you can write a beautiful song with chords and melodies and beautiful lyrics, with just you and a guitar, I don’t think there’s anything you can do wrong to it after that. I mean, obviously, you could produce it out and make it sound like shit, which no one wants, but I think if you have a really strong song with just a guitar and voice, then no matter which way you spin it, it’s gonna be looked at as a really strong song. So, lately, I’ve just been trying to, like, hold a guitar, sit in my back yard, and just write some damn good lyrics and some damn good melodies. Then, take it to a computer later because you can always change things later. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? A few things. Definitely, if something somewhat pivotal has happened in my life, and I’ve got a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head, I certainly wanna take advantage of that and try and put the words down, even if it’s a journal entry or something simple, just so I remember how I felt at that moment. If I just rationalize it and move on, I feel like I potentially missed a significant part of my life. Whether it’s good or bad or anxious or whatever the feeling is, I always wanna try and capture how I’m feeling at that moment. But then if I hear a good song or hear a friend of mine make a song or

something, that inspires me. My friends at Yes Please just sent me their next single last night, and I heard it and was just like, “Oh fuck alright,” so I ran down into the studio and started working on stuff because I heard what they did, and it just pushed me to go and do something better or, you know, it pushed me to then say, “Oh shit, they’re killing it. I hear what they’re doing here. Let me try something.” So, I would say definitely when I have something to say or if I hear something that excites me, it kinda gets me wanting to get into music and learn something new.

didn’t even really feel like 60,000 random people; it truly felt like 60,000 fans in the crowd, yelling the words. That was definitely the biggest project and the biggest show and the biggest period of music that I’ve been involved with so far. That still stands out to me as one of the moments where I was like, “Oh shit, this thing that used to be just a hobby, just a fun thing to pass the time, has really become a career. Not only a career, but it’s really connected with so many other people that we’ve got 60,000 people here screaming about it.”

Which artists would you like to collaborate with? I think these guys Surfaces are really killing it right now. I really like what they’re doing – this fun, beachy, summer pop, which I think would just line up super perfectly with what I’m doing. I would say Surfaces, or Yes Please. We have so much music that we’ve worked on together throughout the years, but I would love to just get back in the studio and work on something funky and new with them.

What is the number one thing on your bucket list? It sounds silly, especially because we’re young, and this is so common now, but skydiving. I mean, it’s like, I don’t really wanna go skydiving; that’s why I still haven’t gone. Like, it sounds scary, but to me, something on your bucket list is something that puts you out of your comfort zone and is something that, when you’re on your death bed, you can say, “At least I did this.” I feel like I’m a strong enough person where I can go skydiving, but it’s definitely not something I wake up every day being like, “Ugh, I wish I could skydive.” But it’s definitely on the list. I gotta do it at some point, you know.

What do you enjoy doing aside from music? Well, I’m currently up in Maine during this quarantine, so I’ve been surfing a lot, which has been great. I love being in the water. I typically live in LA, so I’ll surf a lot when I’m out there, too. I love to cook. For a while there, I was making this really good tajin lamb with a lemon pasta, which was pretty fucking good. It’s just fun, you know, it’s nice to play some music and put some slippers on and just get cooking in the kitchen. What is your proudest moment? Maybe my proudest moment, still to this day, was when I was with my last project, AER, and we played Firefly Festival in Delaware in front of like 60,000 people. It

making this death metal song and then look in the back of my brain and have it be like, “ding, ding, ding, you’re killing it, keep going,” and then it’s just like, “Okay, who knows? Maybe this is a fun path to take.” Maybe that would dictate too much of my behavior, but I think it could be nice to have a guiding force a little bit. Scan to listen to Carter Reeve’s latest EP, II, on Spotify.

If you could have the answer to any question at all, what would you want to know? You wanna say, “Where will I be in five years? Where will I be in 10 years?” But you also don’t wanna put that pressure on yourself; you don’t wanna give it away. I guess almost having like a “hot and cold” sensor or a radar that tells you the direction that your life’s going in. If I could constantly, in real-time, know if I’m moving in the right direction, that would be really cool. I mean, it’d be funny to be like

this, like, death metal song and then look in the back of my brain and have it be like, “ding, ding, ding, you’re killing it, keep going,” and then it’s just like, “Okay, who knows? Maybe this is a fun path to take.” Maybe that would dictate too much of my behavior, but I think it could be nice to have a guiding force a little bit. Scan to listen to Carter Reeves' latest EP, II, on Spotify.

ELLIOT JONES 40

oung and budding singer-songwriter Elliot Jones is closing out this bizarre year with two new tracks in his discography – “Groupie” and “Do It Again” – and they are no less killer than his previous releases. Brought up on artists such as Lana Del Rey, Tove Styrke, and Amy Winehouse, Elliot has found comfort in expressing vulnerability through melodic indie-pop music,” and he never misses. Before ever even considering a career in music, Elliot was fully intent on becoming an actor. Though, he quickly realized the extent of acting’s restrictions on creative freedom and self-expression. “I was getting frustrated because I felt like there was a lot I wanted to say – as opposed to memorizing and reading lines – and I wanted to write my own stuff, but I wasn’t really much of a playwright,” Elliot explains. In his search for an alternative avenue, Elliot discovered poetry, which eventually transformed into songwriting. After his eighteenth birthday, Elliot moved from his hometown of Toronto to New York City, where he spent a couple of years on the live music scene. Then, one summer, he visited LA and instantly knew that was where he had to be. In 2017, Elliot released his first song “Let You In,” but he was 19 at the time and says he was an entirely different person then. “While I love those first releases, it took a while for me to be able to do exactly what I wanted to do,” he shares. It wasn’t until Elliot was living in LA that he was able to truly explore his sound. “I’ve been in LA for over a year and a half,

and I love it,” he says. “I feel like I’m really finding my ground as an artist and taking in all my influences to create something unique I can call my own artistic style.” Over the last year and a half, Elliot has put out a number of songs, commencing with the mid-2019 release of “Emotions,” which has become his most streamed song to date. Months later, he dropped “i’m in love,” a song he describes as one of his “most special releases” and his “biggest step, artistically.” “‘i’m in love’ was pretty experimental compared to my earlier songs, and it was so very well received. I feel like I gained a bit of a following from that song, so that one particularly sticks out to me, and I’m really proud of it.” Since moving to LA, Elliot says he has become “a stronger songwriter, stronger singer, and stronger artist,” both visually and sonically. “I know specifically what I want now. It’s really frustrating because when you’re an artist, what you hear in your head and what you visualize in your mind won’t come out that way.” Last Month, Elliot dropped his most recent single “Do It Again,” an infectious tropical-sounding bop about the inability to let go of a toxic relationship and one’s willingness to settle for less in the name of love. As for a debut album, Elliot says he has “that and more planned,” but “right now, the timing is so off.” “When you release something, everything has to align. You wanna go out and celebrate and be in a good headspace, and right now, it’s just a bunch of really weird times. But once all this is over, you can expect a lot,” Elliot reveals.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS. It’s funny – usually, I’m just walking around daydreaming, and I get a melody or some lyrics in my head. I’m a big thinker. I’m constantly thinking, so words and lyrics come to me almost like poems, and then the melody will just come. You know, I say that I write by sitting down at the keyboard, but the song is usually already written, and I’m just finding the chords. Like, I’ll go on walks, and when the song’s written, I’ll just come home and find the chords. Then, I’ll go to my producer and get it produced, or I’ll make a really shitty demo – because I do have, like, okay production skills – and bring that over to him. TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR SINGLE “GROUPIE.” So, I was living in LA, spending time around all these entertainment people, and I was hanging out with this one dude who was just inspiring to be around. He always had some cool stuff going on, and it was really motivating. But after a while, it felt like when we were talking about him, the conversation was flowing and going with everything he’s been doing, but when we were talking about me, he would get bored and let the conversation die out. So, for a while, I was doting on those feelings of not feeling respected and was looking for an interesting way to play that into a pop song – because I didn’t wanna write some sad ballad, you know? I thought a lot about different ways I could suggest I was feeling this way, and it kind of came out, like, “I feel like a groupie to this rock star.” WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE THING ON YOUR BUCKET LIST? When I think of a bucket list, I think of something crazy, so maybe to go on a large tour with a lot of people.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING ASIDE FROM MUSIC? I’m a pretty active person. I don’t really like to sit at a desk for too long, so if I’m not walking or running around, I’m jumping rope or biking or just staying busy. WHICH ARTISTS WOULD YOU LIKE TO COLLABORATE WITH? I’d love to collaborate with Lana Del Rey or Tame Impala. WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT? I mean, moving to New York at 18 was a really crazy decision that I went through with. And then, moving to LA shortly after was crazy. I was young, and it was a big risk, so I’m really proud of myself for that and for following my dreams in general and pushing myself to be the artist I want to be. There’s still so much to do, but I’m proud of just being an artist and putting my ideas and these visuals out there. I do feel accomplished in that sense. IF YOU COULD HAVE THE ANSWER TO ANY QUESTION AT ALL, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO KNOW? What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Where do we go? What is love? I want the answers to all the questions, that’s the thing. What is the truth of it all? Scan to listen to Elliot Jones’s latest single “Do It Again” on Spotify.

Like most songwriters out there, Australian-born Guard found himself becoming very attached to the songs he would write. He equates each song to “a page out of a journal.” In 2017, he launched his singing career and released his first two singles, “Xylophone” and “Pineapple Crush,” which remain his two most listened to songs on Spotify to date, with nearly five million combined streams. After a two-year hiatus, the singer-songwriter returned in late 2019 with his song “I (Don’t) Hate You.” Throughout the first half of 2020, Guard put out one song each month – ultimately leading up to the June release of his debut project, The Identified Patient. The 11-track album recounts Guard’s healing journey following the fall of a toxic relationship. “It’s not meant to drag or blame anyone. It’s more about how this relationship sparked a bit of breakdown for me, mentally, and how I found myself after all of it. I’m just really trying to stay as authentic to myself as I can in this process.” Being a fully independent artist, Guard has the liberty to be his true self. He is working on his own terms, creating at his own pace, and he is having an absolute blast doing it. “I’m just kind of trialing and error, and it’s fun to put out music, so I’m just doing what I want and releasing music when I feel like it,” he says. “I do have a plan, but I’m not working by anyone else’s time constraints, and it’s the first time in my professional career where I’ve been able to do that, so I’m really enjoying it.”

Guard has certainly evolved quite a bit since the start of his music career. He is much more confident and strong in his artistry. “I feel like when I was first getting started, I was just making music for the sake of making music,” he admits. “Now, I know who I am more. If I have something to say, I’ll put it in music.” Guard’s music can be best described as electronic alternative pop, though he says his sound “changes with how [he is] feeling.” A lot of his music includes a soft guitar, trap beats, and hyperpop elements. “I don’t feel constrained by a genre or anything like that,” he explains. Something you should definitely know about Guard is that he also doubles as an Instagram meme god. He currently manages several meme pages, most of which have accumulated a following of more than 200 thousand. “I just like putting out content. I think I’m like every gay who thinks that they have something important to say, so I’m constantly putting out content because I’m very important, and everyone needs to laugh at what I’m posting,” he laughs. Check out the rest of my interview with Guard below: Would you ever consider moving to the States? Well, I actually lived in LA for a year, in Sherlan Oaks in the Valley. It was cool, but I feel like it’s just very intense there, and there are a lot of – I don’t know how to describe it other than lost souls. There are people that are just on a journey to self-destruction, and if you are in a bad place yourself, you can be susceptible to that, which I kind of found was happening with me. I just wasn’t in a good place living there, and I had to leave for my own mental well-being, but I totally would love to go back and live there. If the timing’s right and it could work out, yeah, I would 100 percent move there, but I’m okay in Melbourne for now. Which artists would you like to collaborate with? There are a lot of indie alternative artists that I’d love to work with; like there’s an artist called Carlie Hansen who I would love to work with. Also, bülow – she’s a really cool alt-pop girl – I think she’ll be cool. There are a lot of producers I would like to work with as well. My ultimate goal would be to work with someone like Banks. Her sound influences me a lot, so I feel like we could make something cool if she would be open. I’d also love to work with some of my friends as well, sort of within the online queer community, like I’d love to work with That Kid. I’ve written for him quite a bit, but I’d love to do an actual collaboration with him.

playlist. I don’t know why, but it’s such a focus for so many indie artists – even artists under record labels – so it was a really big deal for me to have a lot of my new music featured on the Australian New Music Friday playlist. I also wrote a song for Slayyyter called “Cha-ching,” which came out last year, and that one was featured on the main New Music Friday playlist, so I was really proud of that. Having a writing credit on that playlist was great. Not professionally, my proudest moment was dealing with my mental health. I had gone however many years not functioning properly, and it took a bit of a wakeup call in LA to realize, “Hey, if you don’t wanna live sad all the time, if you actually wanna have a good life, you have to do something about it.” So, recovering from that has been really fulfilling; realizing that I don’t have to live with depression; I don’t have to be depressed all the time. It can be hard to hear that if you don’t understand it – and when you’re in it, it can just feel like there’s no end – but there is an end. You just have to put in the work, and I’m so grateful to be happy. What is the number one thing on your bucket list? Well, for years, it was to go to the 9/11 ground zero memorial, and I finally ticked that off. I went up the freedom tower, and that was literally the scariest moment of my life. I’ve never had vertigo before, but I don’t know why my toes were trying to grip the floor through my shoes. I was so dizzy and so scared, but I just really needed to go there, and that was a big thing for me. I just really wanna travel and see more of the world, and I’m hoping that that will come with being able to tour more. Hopefully, I can book some shows when everything is back to normal and potentially see the world that way. I wanna keep taking this as far as I can and really pursue music and succeed in it. That would be something to tick off. If you could have the answer to any question at all, what would you want to know? What is the point of us being here? I don’t know, there are so many questions. I would love to understand the relationship between the human soul and our living experience a little bit more. In my experience, I feel like the soul and spirit are super important, almost who you are, like your true self. I do feel like we are potentially spiritual beings having a physical experience, but I’d love to have clarification and understand exactly what the hell is going on here. Scan to listen to Guard’s debut album The Identified Patient on Spotify.

What is your proudest moment? When you’re starting as an artist in this day and age, there’s so much pressure put on getting on the New Music Friday

Guard has certainly evolved quite a bit since the start of his music career. He is much more confident and strong in his artistry. “I feel like when I was first getting started, I was just making music for the sake of making music,” he admits. “Now, I know who I am more. If I have something to say, I’ll put it in music.” Guard’s music can be best described as electronic alternative pop, though he says his sound “changes with how [he is] feeling.” A lot of his music includes a soft guitar, trap beats, and hyperpop elements. “I don’t feel constrained by a genre or anything like that,” he explains. Something you should definitely know about Guard is that he also doubles as an Instagram meme god. He currently manages several meme pages, most of which have accumulated a following of more than 200 thousand. “I just like putting out content. I think I’m like every gay who thinks that they have something important to say, so I’m constantly putting out content because I’m very important, and everyone needs to laugh at what I’m posting,” he laughs. Check out the rest of my interview with Guard below: Would you ever consider moving to the States? Well, I actually lived in LA for a year, in Sherlan Oaks in the Valley. It was cool, but I feel like it’s just very intense there, and there are a lot of – I don’t know how to describe it other than lost souls. There are people that are just on a journey to self-destruction, and if you are in a bad place yourself, you can be susceptible to that, which I kind of found was happening with me. I just wasn’t in a good place living there, and I had to leave for my own mental well-being, but I totally would love to go back and live there. If the timing’s right and it could work out, yeah, I would 100 percent move there, but I’m okay in Melbourne for now. Which artists would you like to collaborate with? There are a lot of indie alternative artists that I’d love to work with, like there’s an artist called Carlie Hansen, who I would love to work with. Also, bülow – she’s a really cool alt-pop girl – I think she’ll be cool. There are a lot of producers I would like to work with as well. My ultimate goal would be to work with someone like Banks. Her sound influences me a lot, so I feel like we could make something cool if she would be open. I’d also love to work with some of my friends as well, sort of within the online queer community, like I’d love to work with That Kid. I’ve written for him quite a bit, but I’d love to do an actual collaboration with him.

What is your proudest moment? When you’re starting as an artist in this day and age, there’s so much pressure put on getting on the New Music Friday

“Music brings people together.” You hear it time and time again, but it could not be more true. Joining from Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, and California, the newly formed indie-pop band Dream Kid is concrete proof. Band members Annick Blaize, Sasha Bellentine, Natalie Brown, and Steven Gudino met for the first time while attending a songwriting program at NYU during summer of 2019, and from the moment they started working together, everything just clicked. “I feel like it honestly happened really naturally,” Natalie remarks. To put their chemistry into perspective, the group started writing their now-released track “San Francisco” together on the same night they met! “Sasha, Steven, and I were paired together on the first night at NYU,” Natalie explains. “We had a challenge to write a song around the theme of home, and so we wrote ‘San Francisco,’ and we were like, ‘This is actually really good, we should expand on this.’” The following week, Annick joined them for the next songwriting challenge, which is when the group wrote their song “Grenada,” named after the small Caribbean island where Annick is originally from.

finish it instantly,” Natalie emphasizes. “It’s like we don’t even write the song. It’s like the song has already been written, and we just have to vocalize it.” Following the location-based theme they introduced with their first two songs, they titled the EP Travel Tapes and named the last two songs “Bleecker Street” and “Paris (City of Lights).” With three vocalists in the group, the girls explain that they “switch off who’s singing the lead vocals,” and “all do harmonies and background vocals.” Right now, the band is focused on promoting the EP and “trying to get as many people as possible to listen to it.” They also hope to reunite sometime soon for a group performance. “Because of Corona, I don’t know how possible this would be, but it would be nice if we could get together again and maybe do an acoustic set or 'tiny desk' concert,” Annick offers.

By the end of the songwriting program, the group had already written half of their EP and thought, “why not finish it?” “I remember leaving NYU, and I was like, ‘No, I’m not losing these people. I’m gonna call them every day if I have to. This is happening,’” Sasha recalls. And it did happen; they finished the EP. Distance was clearly no match for Dream Kid’s natural chemistry. Despite living more than a thousand miles from each other, the band remained more connected and committed than ever. After weeks of virtual songwriting sessions through FaceTime and Skype, they were able to wrap up the EP remotely. “Writing with these people is just so easy; they make it so incredibly easy. I had never been in a situation before where I would start writing a line, and someone else would

Check out the rest of my interview with Dream Kid below: Tell me a little bit about each of you and how you got into music. SASHA: I’m Sasha, and I’m from Massachusetts. I have been songwriting for a long time, honestly since I was really, really young. I started posting original music on Instagram like two years ago, and through that, I met a couple of musicians. Then, we ended up going to the NYU songwriting program, where I met these ladies, and we started a band. And now, we’re putting out music. NATALIE: I’m Natalie, I’m 16, and I’m from Houston. I actually started doing musical theatre when I was around five, and I’ve been doing that ever since. But I started writing songs when I was about 12 because I wanted to be able to tell my own stories. And so, I’ve been writing songs since then, and I just love it; it’s the only thing I do. ANNICK: I’m Annick, and I’m from Miami. I’ve always really loved music, but I probably started writing around middle school. I fell in love with Taylor and Swift,I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is so cool,’ because she started writing music when she was like 12, and look at her now. I really wanted to start writing music, so I convinced my parents to buy me a guitar, and once I got one, I started writing. It kind of sucked then, but now I can definitely say it has gotten a lot better. Recently, I had been wanting to do more

collaborative work because I felt like I was stuck in the same bubble. I would use the same chords and didn’t really experiment much outside of my comfort zone. So, I started looking into songwriting camps, which is how I found NYU and met these wonderful ladies. Who are each of your musical inspirations or influences? ANNICK: Taylor Swift – who I still love so much – was my first big musical inspiration. Recently, I have been listening more to Lorde and King Princess. Oh, and Julia Michaels. I love Julia Michaels. I really admire her as a songwriter, and so she’s someone that I really look up to these days. NATALIE: Definitely, Taylor Swift. Big, big, big fan – obsessed with her, would die for her. Then, I mean, it really depends on the day. I will always have a very big part of my heart devoted to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, who I was raised on. And recently, Lolo Zouaï. I literally adore her. She is the pinnacle for me. SASHA: When I was younger, I listened to a lot of Avril Lavigne. It was slightly before my time, but I found “Sk8r Boi” on my cousin’s iPod, and I was like, “She’s the coolest.” Also, my family listened to a lot of Gnarls Barkley – CeeLo Green’s old band – and Vampire Weekend, so those were kind of the groups that influenced me. Now, I love Maggie Rogers, I love King Princess, and I love Pharrell – all the things he writes and produces are just so great. NATALIE: Maggie Rogers is definitely our band’s spiritual worshiper. ANNICK: She really is, it’s kind of scary. She doesn’t know what she’s done for us.

How did you guys come up with the name Dream Kid? SASHA: There was such a list, oh my gosh. I got my whole family involved. I was like, “Guys, we’re brainstorming.” ANNICK: At first, we were called Breadstix, and then we were like, “We can’t actually be called Breadstix. We need to come up with a name.” And we were on a time crunch because I had an interview with some magazine in Miami, and I was like, “Guys, I wanna promote the band, but we don’t have a name.” So then, we were on FaceTime for hours, just asking our family members, running ideas past everyone. I actually don’t even know who said Dream Kid. I think it was a mixture of everyone throwing things out there. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? SASHA: Oh, podcasts! Annick and I just started a podcast called Songwriting Saves the World. New episodes are out every Friday. That’s what my new pastime is during quarantine. What’s your proudest moment? SASHA: One of my proudest music moments is the first time I co-wrote. I was in Nashville at a songwriting weekend thing, and I had never co-written before but had always wanted to. It was the first time I was surrounded by other songwriters and musicians, and it was just a confirmation that “Oh, I really do love this, and I really do want this,” and I was proud of getting myself there.

here, we’re in the moment, and we wrote these amazing songs that no one had ever heard before.” It was just really powerful. What is the number one thing on your bucket list? SASHA: I want to train through Canada. There’s this train you can take from one side of Canada to the other, and it’s nonstop. It has a glass window, and I’ve been dreaming of this train. It takes like four days or something. If you could have the answer to any question at all, what would you want to know? NATALIE: I feel like I would just ask, “Why?” That would explain everything, you know? Like, “they” would know what I mean. SASHA: If I could have the answer to any question, it’d be an answer to this one. I honestly have no idea. Scan to listen to Dream Kid’s debut EP Travel Tapes on Spotify.

ANNICK: My proudest moment was probably quitting my job to go to New York because it was a leap of faith and something that I really wanted. It solidified that was what I wanted to do, and that it was worth losing my income over. So, I would say my proudest moment was taking that chance and being like, “No, this is what I care about more, and this is what I’m gonna do. I’ll just figure it out as I go along.” NATALIE: I think my proudest moment was – at the end of the NYU program, we had this thing called a song share, and the last song in the song share was this song that three people in our group had written, and our whole group got up and sang it together. It was just such a loving and powerful moment, and it was really just like, “We did this. We all did this. We’re

NIIKO IKO X SW SWAE A

D eV a DeVita De Viiittta What have you been doing to keep busy during quarantine? I’ve been spending time watching movies and reading books during this quarantine. How did you get into music? Since I was young, I always wanted to be an artist. After I graduated high school, I uploaded my tracks to SoundCloud, and I guess it all started from there.

How would you describe your sound? I wouldn’t describe it in words. I don’t think that music should be described, but should be felt. What music do you like to listen to? I go through different phases of listening to music. Also, to be honest, I’ve been listening to my new stuff the most lately. Who have been your biggest inspirations? I’ve looked up to Jay Park since I was a kid, and it is such an honor to be on his team. Thanks to him, I think Asian American kids feel more included in the picture now. I want to be an artist like him. Tell me about your creative process. It depends on what song I’m working on and the mood I’m in. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? I don't think there is an exact answer to this question. I get inspired by life itself. It’s just music; it’s just good music.

Talk to me about your debut EP, CRÈME. The EP, CRÈME, was named after "crème de la crème," which means "best of the best" in French. There are five tracks I carefully selected, including the doubletitled tracks "EVITA!" and "All About You." Which song on the EP is your favorite or most special to you? They are all my babies! All five tracks are special to me, but if I really had to pick one, I would say "1974 Live." The song is about my most honest feelings. How do you think you have evolved as an artist since starting music? I think my music grows as I grow as a person from a child to an adult. Which artists would you like to work with? There are so many artists that I would like to collaborate with, but I would say Cirque du Soleil and Jan Švankmajer for now. If you could see any artist in concert, dead or alive, who would you want to see? If I have to pick one, it would be Damon Albarn from the bands Gorillaz and Blur. It can be Gorillaz or Blur; it doesn’t matter as long as I get to meet him one day. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? I like painting and making art. What are some of your goals as an artist? I do not want to say it since I want to make people fret themselves that they would die to see me more.

What is one of your proudest moments in life? I would say my proudest moment was going back to Korea for a debut. As Travis Scott says, "Drove back to the hood Lambo." Scan to listen to DeVita's latest single "Movin'" on Spotify.

AViVA After putting out several infectious tracks over the last three years, LA-based musician AViVA recently dropped her debut album, VOLUME I. The Australian born singersongwriter has created a unique and hypnotic sound for herself best described as dark alternative pop infused with elements of rock. Music has been a part of AViVA’s life since she was just a toddler. At four years old, she started learning how to play the violin and soon took on the piano.

In her early teens, AViVA decided she wanted to become a classical opera singer, which is when she started taking singing lessons. She trained classically for about six years and then realized it was just not her style. She does note, however, “the classical training was very useful for me because it allowed me to sing stronger than I probably would’ve already been able to sing.” AViVA has been putting out music under her current alias since 2017 but has previously released music under other monikers. She was even part of a band for a bit but ended up leaving because she grew unhappy with the fact that her bandmates “were not very productive.”

In search of a new music partner, AViVA found Matais, who was also leaving a band at the time and looking for someone new to work with. “Matais and I started working together, writing songs, and we were writing a slightly different sound. One day, we pulled back and were like, ‘what do we like listening to?’ and from that point decided to work on our own stuff regardless of what was popular or whatever,” AViVA shares. Together with Mathias, AViVA wrote and produced her first single “GRRRLS,” which has become her most streamed song with hundreds of millions of streams across all platforms. Over the next couple of years, AViVA consistently put out nine more songs, leading up to the ultimate release of her debut project, VOLUME I, in early 2020. The 11-track album includes all of her most popular releases, like “BLAME IT ON THE KIDS,” “HUSHH,” and “RABBIT HOLE,” as well as some lesser-known songs, like “BRN” and “DROWN,” which are two of AViVA’s favorite releases. AViVA describes “DROWN” as “the perfect song to listen to when you’re not feeling good and you wanna feel better.” “BRN,” on

the other hand, holds a deeper meaning and serves as “a good representation” of herself, as she would explain. Ahead of her upcoming second project, AViVA has dropped seven new songs this year, which have amassed over ten million combined streams across all platforms. Apart from her upcoming music, AViVA has some other exciting projects in the works. If you didn’t know, songwriting is just one avenue of her self-expression. She has also been an avid creative writer for much of her life. “The two things that I’ve consistently been doing my whole life are writing songs and writing stories,” she says. She recently finished writing the first book in a young adults’ book series, called Selfless, which is currently in the process of getting published. “The story all ties in with the sound,” AViVA divulges. “The music is what the characters would be listening to if you could hear what they were listening to.” In addition to the book series, AViVA has also hinted at some other upcoming projects on her YouTube channel. While she says she “can’t really talk about them just yet,” she is extremely excited for what is to come.

How do you think you have evolved as an artist? Well, with my first releases, I was writing and performing under a different name, and I didn’t really have any perception of the globalized leap that I would have. I never really thought it was that possible. Things have changed, and as I’ve developed as an artist, I have gained an active fanbase that I can actually engage with and share my music with and see what they’re passionate about. That has made me more conscious at providing art for them; not just providing art for art's sake but as something to help embellish other people’s lives, which is so fulfilling for me. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? I’m sparked by a lot of things. I’m very inspired by nature and by human nature. Most, if not all, of my songs are about friendship relationships because I am heavily influenced by my own personal experiences with friends. I know how powerful friendships can be and how heartbreaking it can be when they break down. I find that a lot more impactful than relationships. What is your proudest moment? I think crossing a billion streams because that’s a big accomplishment if I do say so myself. When you’re working pretty hard, and then you see something like that, it’s kind of like a small way to actually be able to measure your effort a little bit.

Who have been your biggest inspirations? Well, my favorite band is The Smiths. I love Lana Del Rey and the characterization that she does with each album. I also really love Kate Bush.

Tell me about your creative process. Usually, we start with a beat, and then I write the lyrics. It’s very quick for me to do it that way. It takes a bit longer if we start with lyrics and melodies than with a piano or a guitar. I find it comparable to sculpting. If I have a beat, then I can kind of see where the song needs to go, and it reveals itself to me. Scan to listen to AViVA’s latest single “CURSED” on Spotify.

What is the number one thing on your bucket list? I really wanna go to Japan. I actually haven’t been able to do any of the things that I had planned for now, which is a bit of a bummer. Which artists would you like to work with? I would love to do a collaboration with Billie Eilish. 64

Who have been your biggest inspirations? Well, my favorite band is The Smiths. I love Lana Del Rey and the characterization that she does with each album. I also really love Kate Bush.

RACHEL BOCHNER RRA A C H E L OCCHHNEERR RACHEL CHEL BBOCHNER

ew York-born singer-songwriter Rachel Bochner has always had a deep passion for music and always knew she wanted it to be part of her life in some way. Two years ago, she was interning at a record label, and that’s when she realized she belonged on the other side of that glass.

Interestingly, it was Del Rey’s heavily criticized SNL performance back in 2012 that roped Rachel into the fandom. “Something about that performance – her voice and her lyrics caught me off guard and made me have to know who she was and hear more of her music,” she recalls.

“I think, subconsciously, I always wanted to take that step but was a little bit intimidated because I got into it late, and sharing your art can be scary when it still feels kind of new to you. I guess I just needed that ‘aha!’ moment to push me to do it.”

In late 2019, Rachel released her debut song “Ocean Drive” featuring Sera Selin. The song was added to Spotify’s Indie Pop playlist and has accumulated more than 400 thousand streams since its release. This year, she has put out eight more songs, including “Be Happier,” “Strangest Dreams,” and the exceptional “Purple,” which she co-wrote with a few of her closest friends.

Rachel’s greatest influence throughout most of her life has been Lana Del Rey, particularly in her writing. “I think she’s so creative with words, especially her last album – it sounds like poetry type of music. I admire her writing a lot,” she emphasizes.

“’Purple’ was really fun to work on,” Rachel shares. “I was at my producer Liam’s (known as BABYBOYBLUE) apartment, and he

was like, ‘I’m gonna make a beat. Give me a random word to keep in mind,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, purple.’” And thus, the concept of “Purple” was born. “I feel like, in the context of a relationship, purple represents comfort and stability, as opposed to blue or red that maybe feel a bit more volatile,” she explains. “Also, the timing just felt right because it’s such a feel-good song, and it was kind of a nice change of pace with all the heaviness going on.” Rachel is only at the start of her musical journey and could not be more excited to continue developing her artistry and for all the experiences that are yet to come. Looking forward, she is hoping to “continue writing music that resonates with people” and expand her network of artists. “I think that having a support system within the music community is important and can be really inspiring.” Arriving just a few months after her debut, the pandemic seriously disrupted the launch of Rachel’s music career. She has been unable to perform and could not be more eager to finally hit the stage again. “I think I’m my happiest when I’m performing for people, so I wanna start doing more shows, once we're allowed to again and it’s safe,” she says. Rachel just dropped her debut project, called 2 AM, on all streaming platform. The five-track EP includes her three latest singles along with two new songs. Check out the rest of my interview with Rachel below: What music do you like to listen to? I listen to a combination of music from when I was growing up and, obviously, new music. Like, I’ll go from listening to a song off of Dua Lipa’s new album to a YouTube song I found that my dad would play growing up, then switch to Frank Ocean, and finish with some Maggie Rogers. But, I think, regardless of the genre, the thing I’ve always paid a lot of attention to in songs are the lyrics. Ever since I’ve had access to a computer, I would look up the lyrics to songs and memorize them. I think I was just always really interested in the way that artists were able to articulate similar feelings in different ways. Tell me about your creative process. Do you usually write a song first and then make the beat, or do you write the song based on the beat? It definitely depends. If I’m writing about something I’ve experienced, which can be really cathartic, the words might pour out first, and then I’ll work on the

music and production afterward. And then, sometimes if I just wanna write, but I don’t have a clear direction, I’ll play around with a chord progression that I like and just kind of see what happens. I also love writing with other people, so I think that makes me approach things in a new way, and kind of pulls the best ideas out of each person in the session, which just ends up creating something really special. Do you do your own production, or do you work with a producer? At some point, I would love to do my own production, but for now, I usually work with producers, and that can also kind of shape the creative process. If I’m working with a producer from scratch, we might build a beat first, then add lyrics and melody afterward. It’s fun collaborating with other people because it’s always different. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? Sometimes, songs are inspired by things that are pretty personal – something I’ve experienced or a feeling or emotion I’m going through – but I also like to pull from conversations I’ve had with other people about their own experiences and things they’ve been through to sort of put myself in their shoes. Also, something I love about co-writing is being able to pull out the bits and pieces from our individual experiences to contribute to a shared story or feeling. Which artists would you like to collaborate with? I mean, my go-to is always Lana, even though I think I would be starstruck. I would love to pick her brain. That would be a dream come true, but also so scary. If you could see any artist in concert – dead or alive – who would you want to see? I really want to take my dad to a Billy Joel concert one of these days. My dad always plays music around the house when he’s cooking and stuff, and he plays a lot of Billy Joel, so that would be nice. Also, I think seeing a Jimi Hendrix concert would probably be insane. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? Well, pre-quarantine, I loved being outside, exploring, hearing live music, hanging out with human beings that aren’t living in my household. Love my family to death, but yeah, hanging out with friends, making new friends. You know, these days I’ve been spending a lot of time painting, cooking, and hanging out with my golden retriever.

was like, ‘I’m gonna make a beat. Give me a random word to keep in mind,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, purple.’” And thus, the concept of “Purple” was born. “I feel like, in the context of a relationship, purple represents comfort and stability, as opposed to blue or red that maybe feel a bit more volatile,” she explains. “Also, the timing just felt right because it’s such a feel-good song, and it was kind of a nice change of pace with all the heaviness going on.” Rachel is only at the start of her musical journey and could not be more excited to continue developing her artistry and for all the experiences that are yet to come. Looking forward, she is hoping to “continue writing music that resonates with people” and expand her network of artists. “I think that having a support system within the music community is important and can be really inspiring.” Arriving just a few months after her debut, the pandemic seriously disrupted the launch of Rachel’s music career. She has been unable to perform and could not be more eager to finally hit the stage soon. “I think I’m my happiest when I’m performing for people, so I wanna start doing more shows, once we're allowed to again and it’s safe,” she says. Check out the rest of my interview with Rachel below: What music do you like to listen to? I listen to a combination of music from when I was growing up and, obviously, new music. Like, I’ll go from listening to a song off of Dua Lipa’s new album to a YouTube song I found that my dad would play growing up, then switch to Frank Ocean, and finish with some Maggie Rogers. But, I think, regardless of the genre, the thing I’ve always paid a lot of attention to in songs are the lyrics. Ever since I’ve had access to a computer, I would look up the lyrics to songs and memorize them. I think I was just always really interested in the way that artists were able to articulate similar feelings in different ways. Tell me about your creative process. Do you usually write a song first and then make the beat, or do you write the song based on the beat? It definitely depends. If I’m writing about something I’ve experienced, which can be really cathartic, the words might pour out first, and then I’ll work on the music and production afterward. And then, sometimes if I just wanna write, but I don’t have a clear direction, I’ll play around with a chord

progression that I like and just kind of see what happens. I also love writing with other people, so I think that makes me approach things in a new way, and kind of pulls the best ideas out of each person in the session, which just ends up creating something really special. Do you do your own production, or do you work with a producer? At some point, I would love to do my own production, but for now, I usually work with producers, and that can also kind of shape the creative process. If I’m working with a producer from scratch, we might build a beat first, then add lyrics and melody afterward. It’s fun collaborating with other people because it’s always different. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? Sometimes, songs are inspired by things that are pretty personal – something I’ve experienced or a feeling or emotion I’m going through – but I also like to pull from conversations I’ve had with other people about their own experiences and things they’ve been through to sort of put myself in their shoes. Also, something I love about co-writing is being able to pull out the bits and pieces from our individual experiences to contribute to a shared story or feeling. Do you have plans for a debut EP or album? More down the road, definitely. Which artists would you like to collaborate with? I mean, my go-to is always Lana, even though I think I would be starstruck. I would love to pick her brain. That would be a dream come true, but also so scary. If you could see any artist in concert – dead or alive – who would you want to see? I really want to take my dad to a Billy Joel concert one of these days. My dad always plays music around the house when he’s cooking and stuff, and he plays a lot of Billy Joel, so that would be nice. Also, I think seeing a Jimi Hendrix concert would probably be insane. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? Well, pre-quarantine, I loved being outside, exploring, hearing live music, hanging out with human beings that aren’t living in my household. Love my family to death, but yeah, hanging out with friends, making new friends. You know, these days I’ve been spending a lot of time painting, cooking, and hanging out with my golden retriever.

What is your proudest moment? I like to celebrate the little wins, and I think that’s important for new artists to do. Since releasing my song “Half of You,” I got messages from people telling me how much they related to the song and how it made them feel something, and that was really special to experience. I’ve always connected to music by relating to the lyrics or being moved by the overall sound, so to think that someone has that same moment with something that I’ve made is incredible to me. Then, I would also say a proud moment was “Ocean Drive” getting on Spotify’s Indie Pop playlist. That was a happy day. If you could have the answer to any question at all, what would you want to know? That’s tough. Not to get all cheesy, but how to truly be happy.

What is the number one thing on your bucket list? I don’t have one yet, but if I did, I would say to sell out a world tour or move into my own apartment in New York City. Whatever comes first Scan to listen to Rachel Bochner’s debut EP, 2 AM, on Spotify.

MAA MAASHO A SHO AA 71

CHRIS LAROCCA

How would you describe your sound? I'd say my shit sounds hella soulful, authentic, raw, and it tells a story. I enjoy telling stories. What music do you like to listen to? Grunge, gospel, and everything in between. To be honest, I listen to all types of music, and that's partly the reason the EP is called Grunge Gospel. Who have been your biggest inspirations? The easy answer is my moms, Jasmine Sullivan, Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Frank Ocean, Kurt Cobain, James Brown; the list goes on. Tell me about your creative process. There’s no one way to do things; each song is pretty different. Songs usually start with a voice note. I try to write less these days, and I’m pretty hands-on everything, especially in the recording and production process. Every sound and sonic matters. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? Everything. I used the records as a journal. Which of your songs is the most special to you or your favorite? I have this song that's not out yet called "Unclear." It’s probably the greatest thing I've ever written, and so pure.

What was it like recording your first EP, and what’s your favorite song on it? At the time when I wrote this, I was in a good place. I was in LA, making a lot of music, trying a bunch of shit, and really just having fun. But through it, however, I had a dark cloud over my head. The feeling that people were doubting me and didn’t care for me to succeed and getting people to support was always an issue for me. This is something I’ve shared with my dawgs many times; they can relate. When things got tough or seemed hard, I was never one to back down. I'd rather knock down that door and run through it than avoid the problem. It's more than just words; it is a real ting. I don't fuck with fear or doubt, nor should you. Sometimes anxiety takes over, and I have to tell it to back off. So, whoever relates, I feel you. I wrote this song really quickly. It took me like 15 - 30 mins, so it is pure as water. Fear nothing but God, and push through whatever it is you are going through. You are not alone.

How have you evolved as an artist since starting music? By learning from people around me. Life is a big lesson, and I tend to soak every bit up.

Which artist would you like to collaborate with? I wouldn't mind writing with Frank Ocean.

How would you describe your sound? I'd say my shit sounds hella soulful, authentic, raw, and it tells a story. I enjoy telling stories. What music do you like to listen to? Grunge, gospel, and everything in between. To be honest, I listen to all types of music, and that's partly the reason the EP is called Grunge Gospel. Who have been your biggest inspirations? The easy answer is my moms, Jasmine Sullivan, Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Frank Ocean, Kurt Cobain, James Brown; the list goes on. Tell me about your creative process. There’s no one way to do things; each song is pretty different. Songs usually start with a voice note. I try to write less these days, and I’m pretty hands-on everything, especially in the recording and production process. Every sound and sonic matters. What usually sparks inspiration for a song? Everything. I used the records as a journal. Which of your songs is your favorite or most special to you? I have this song that's not out yet called "Unclear." It’s probably the greatest thing I've ever written, and so pure.

What was it like recording your first EP, and what is your favorite song from it? At the time when I wrote this, I was in a good place. I was in LA, making a lot of music, trying a bunch of shit, and really just having fun. But through it, however, I had a dark cloud over my head. The feeling that people were doubting me and didn’t care for me to succeed and getting people to support me was always an issue for me. This is something I’ve shared with my dawgs many times; they can relate. When things got tough or seemed hard, I was never one to back down. I'd rather knock down that door and run through it than avoid the problem. It's more than just words; it is a real ting. I don't fuck with fear or doubt, nor should you. Sometimes anxiety takes over, and I have to tell it to back off. So, whoever relates, I feel you. I wrote this song really quickly. It took me like 15 - 30 mins, so it is pure as water. Fear nothing but God, and push through whatever it is you are going through. You are not alone.

How have you evolved as an artist since starting music? By learning from people around me. Life is a big lesson, and I tend to soak every bit up.

Which artist would you like to collaborate with? I wouldn't mind writing with Frank Ocean.

If you could see any artist in concert – dead or alive – who would you want to see? Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Jasmine Sullivan, Beyoncé. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? Playing ball.

What is your proudest moment? When "Vent" hit a million or the Side A release party we threw. That was my first release party. Scan to listen to Joël's latest single "In Place" on Spotify.

What are your goals as an artist? I wanna perform more and grow my brand so I can reach more people.

f you could see any artist in concert dead or alive who would you want to see? Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Jasmine Sullivan, Beyonc . What do you en oy doing aside from music? Playing ball.

What is your proudest moment When " ent" hit a million or the Side A release party we threw. That was my first release party. Scan to listen to Jo l's latest single "In Place" on Spotify and Apple Music.

What are your goals as an artist? I wanna perform more and grow my brand so I can reach more people.

CHEMICAL

SURF 86

What led you to make music together? Since we both always had an appetite for music, it naturally led us to start making sounds together.

Which artist would you like to collaborate with? Rüfüs Du Sol

How would you describe your sound? Our motto is "R.I.P Genres." We believe music is about feeling, so a genre should never be the limit. We are always trying to bring new perspectives to music production, creating hybrid tracks, and discovering new sounds. In our discography, you can find influences from house, tech house, progressive, bass music, hip-hop, and many others. Tell me about your creative process. What does a typical day in the studio look like? We usually define a "theme" for the track when we start it and discuss what kind of feeling we want to bring with that song. It really depends. When we work with vocalists, for instance, we ask for a topline and start building the track around it. If it's a dancefloor-oriented track, we start creating a beat and then add the synths. Each case is unique. What usually sparks inspiration for a beat? We think that remembering the feeling of playing at a big festival and getting all the energy from the crowd is something that really gets us going and brings inspiration for new beats. Which of your songs is your favorite or most special to you? "Hey Hey Hey" is a very special one for us. It was an explosion that we were not expecting, and in just a few months, it was played by big names around the world and reached millions of streams on streaming platforms. "Pararam," which was coproduced with Tiësto, is also very important for us. We were really happy to see how far our music could take us. Who have been your biggest inspirations? Three artists that have really inspired us from the beginning are FatBoy Slim, Paul Oakenfold, and Cosma. What music do you like to listen to? We keep our ears open to pretty much everything. Most of the stuff we listen to influences our own tracks. Besides electronic music, we really enjoy hip-hop and rock.

Talk to me about your latest EP, Terremoto. What is the meaning or inspiration behind it, and why did you choose that title? We met the STMPD team when we performed at Martin Garrix's tour in Brazil in 2018. We felt a great connection with the crew since the beginning and, at some point, decided to release an EP with them. All four tracks really represent the Brazilian dancefloor vibe with a touch of Chemical Surf and the other amazing artists we've collaborated with (Victor Lou, Breaking Beattz, and Ghabe). Terremoto' is 'earthquake' in Portuguese. We chose this title because we really feel the dancefloor shaking when we play the track. We can't wait to be back on the road and play it live again. What is your favorite song off of the EP? That's a hard question. All four tracks are really special to both of us and represent a unique perspective. We'll leave you to answer this one. If you could see any artist in concert, dead or alive, who would you want to see? 2Pac

How have you evolved as artists since releasing "Paperdoll" in 2013? Wow, it's been a great ride. We have the feeling that music is infinite; it never stops. We've evolved a lot since 2013, of course, but we are essentially the same Lucas and Hugo. We believe that all the touring experience allowed us to evolve as artists and people. We got in touch with so many different people and cultures, and this has a natural influence on our creations. We're really thankful for this. What do you enjoy doing aside from music? We love spending time at the beach with family. We live on the coast, so the sea is a big part of our lives. What is your proudest moment in life? When we brought our parents to watch our performance at Rock In Rio. They dreamed of going to the festival since 1985, so making it possible and playing for them made us really proud.

Who are your favorite artists to work with? It's been great to collaborate with Afrojack and Steve Aoki. We played with Nick (Afrojack) at this party in Val Thorens (France), and it was really special. We're also pretty excited about the collaboration with Steve, and we can't wait to play it live when we're back on the dance floor! What are some of your goals as a duo? We're looking forward to putting out all of the music we're currently working on. Everyone is pretty excited about it. We also can't wait to debut in the States, since our tour was postponed due to COVID. Scan to listen to Chemical Surf's latest single "Interestelar" featuring Theff on Spotify.

ince parting ways with Kidz Bop back in 2016, 18-year-old music prodigy Grant Knoche has established a thriving solo career for himself and has even managed to develop his own sound – one vastly different to that of Kidz Bop.

Before ever getting into singing, Grant was actually a dancer. Starting at just seven years old, he took dance classes of every style you can think of – jazz, tap, ballet, hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary, the list goes on. As a dancer, he performed and competed across his hometown, Dallas, and even participated in a national competition hosted in New York City. Dancing is what ultimately sparked Grant’s love for music because he would listen to it all the time – practically every time he danced. “I fell in love with lyrical music, like really slow songs and ballads that incorporate a lot of piano,” he explains. Through YouTube, Grant learned how to play the piano and eventually grew an interest in singing. Since day one, his single greatest musical influence has been Adele. “[Adele] was the artist that really got me into wanting to make music,” he admits. “She was the one artist I would sing many, many songs of.” (Grant still has a couple of old Adele covers up on his YouTube channel, if you want to check them out.)

started learning during his first year with the group. “It was pretty cool because one of the other kids also got into production around the same time as me, and we ended up working together and pushing each other to get better,” he shares. “Sort of like a healthy competition.” One thing Grant was not able to accomplish with Kidz Bop, however, was discovering his sound. Since all he did was cover radio hits, he never really had the chance or means to experiment with his sound. As is the case with most musicians, this was the biggest challenge Grant had to face going into his solo career. In 2017, Grant released his first song “Downpour,” followed by “Unfair” in 2018. But things really started to pick up in 2019 with “Emotions,” the first song he wrote and produced entirely himself. “For years before I put out ‘Emotions,’ I was always writing, always producing, always trying to figure out what songs I wanted to put out. I would listen to demos and was always like, ‘I don’t feel like this fits me exactly, and I just wanna make something that fits me.’”

During his three years with Kidz Bop, Grant shot several music videos and commercials and recorded twelve albums – nine of which made it to the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When he was just 11 years old, he went on his first tour ever, during which he performed 162 shows in 48 different states. “To be performing in front of 10,000 people at that age was such a valuable and amazing experience,” Grant notes, one that was unknowingly setting him up for the subsequent transition into his solo career. “Learning how to be on stage and talk to a crowd and those kinds of basics was extremely beneficial,” he adds. Grant also came out of Kidz Bop with three years of production experience under his belt, since he 92

At the same time, Grant was still getting used to working with other producers and had to grow comfortable enough to express exactly what he wanted. “It’s hard because you gotta get used to saying, ‘I don’t like this,’ or ‘I do like this,’ and be an open book with what you want, which was not easy so easy to get used to,” he says. Today, Grant could not possibly exhibit more confidence in his artistry. “I’ve really gotten a grip on what I want to sound like, which is cool, and I’m excited about that,” he remarks. As a young musician who writes and produces most of his music himself, Grant has been greatly inspired by fellow teen artists Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS. “It’s cool to see other people grow up doing the same thing as you and having success because it feels more possible that it can happen for you,” he points out. Over the past year, Grant put out six consecutive singles, leading up to the August release of his debut EP Color Me Blue. The nine-track EP includes three brand new tracks plus all of his releases since “Emotions,” including “AS IT SHOULD,” “PAPER HOUSE,” and my personal favorite, “DIAL TONE.”

he was like, ‘I know who that’s about,’ and that was a pretty cool moment because I could see the progress of my writing and that I’m getting more and more vulnerable with it,” Grant says. Something you probably do not know about Grant is that he is also an actor. Following in the footsteps of his older brother – who used to be on Barney and did several Smucker’s commercials as a child – Grant has been a natural in front of the camera since he was around six years old. “I did a lot of commercials and that kind of stuff, and then started getting into more of the acting side of it, which has been really good,” Grant explains. Grant has been up for some pretty big shows, including West Side Story, and he was even flown out to New York City for a one-on-one audition with Steven Spielberg. His dad tells us “he’s got a bunch of shows right down to the final,” none of which he can name, “and he’s actually up for another big one again that’s been delayed, so we’ll see what happens.” Scan to listen to Grant Knoche’s debut EP Color Me Blue on Spotify.

The EP also includes Grant’s most-streamed song, “DON’T MAKE ME MAKE YOU CRY,” an emotional pop ballad about a close friend who developed feelings for Grant. “That song was basically saying, ‘Don’t tell me you like me because I don’t wanna let you down by telling you I just wanna be friends. I don’t wanna make you cry,’” he reveals. “If you’re friends with someone and you move onto having an actual relationship, I don’t feel like you can ever really go back to being friends. You can’t undo the things you go through, and she’s just a really important person as a friend in my life.” “DON’T MAKE ME MAKE YOU CRY” is undoubtedly Grant’s most meaningful track to date, and one that marked a milestone in his artistic career. “Right after my dad listened to it for the first time, 94

LOURDIZ

At just 19 years old, singer-songwriter Lourdiz is taking the music industry by storm, and she is rising quickly. Originally from San Antonio, she and her family moved to LA a couple of years ago to pursue her dream of becoming a successful artist. Within her first year living there, Lourdiz landed a deal with Prescription Songs writing for artists like Annita and G-Eazy. By her second year, she had already begun exploring her own artistry. “I met my main collaborator in South Korea. We started catching a vibe and just went from there, and I released some music,” she shares. Lourdiz’s debut single “I’m Pissed” was released in March of 2020, shortly followed by her song “Suicide Down” featuring Lil Gotit. “Suicide Down” is an energetic and catchy hip-hop song meant to “resemble the craziness of life, the ups and downs, the bad times and the good times,” she explains. “The whole music industry is very risky, and you have to sacrifice a lot of things. With ‘Suicide Down,’ I tried to exhibit all of those emotions and how I felt and what I was going through.” In early May, Lourdiz released “Ground Control” featuring Puerto Rican rapper Jon Z. The experimental hip-hop track is

What is your creative process like? If I wanna set the mood, I’ll go do the beat and catch the vibe from the beat of what I’m feeling that day. But normally, I’ll go through tracks and kind of get into a mood, whether it’s happy or sad. Then, I come up with melodies, and I’ll mumble things here and there and come up with my hook. I usually always try to start with the hook. What is your proudest moment? My proudest moment would probably be getting me and my family to LA and being able to financially support a home. I was also super proud when I got to sign with Prescription. I think that really got me where I am.

heavily influenced by her bilingual upbringing and serves as a tribute to her Mexican American background. “My family’s Mexican culture is a big part of my identity. It’s who I am and where I come from, so it’s all about blending elements from the music I grew up listening to with the music I love today.” Growing up, Lourdiz looked up to a lot of Latin artists. “I loved Shakira so much when I was younger. I used to dress up like her and do the little hip thing,” she laughs. Her recent influences include Post Malone, Bad Bunny, and Travis Scott. In October, Lourdiz dropped her single “Somersault,” an ode to her upbringing. The opening lyric “can’t keep my eyes closed” speaks to her experience living in Texas and learning at an early age to “keep [her] eyes wide open and [her] mouth shut,” a tactic she still applies throughout her journey living in LA. Most recently, Lourdiz put out her latest single “Za Za,” serving as the fifth single off of her forthcoming project, which is slated to be released sometime in the weeks to come. Check out the rest of my interview with Lourdiz below:

What do you enjoy doing aside from music? Smoking weed, listening to and finding new music, being outside. Here in Texas, we have a lot of goats and horses and four-wheelers and shit. What are some of your goals as an artist? I kind of just want to get to whatever’s next for me from where I am right now. I feel like it’s a crazy time, so with everything going on, I can hopefully go on tour one day. One of my biggest dreams is to be a successful artist and just travel and get to perform the music I’m making. Scan to listen to Lourdiz's latest single "Za Za" on Spotify.

Which artists would you like to collaborate with? I would love to collaborate with Future, Post Malone, Travis Scott. [Travis] is one of my big influences.

If you could see any artist in concert – dead or alive – who would you want to see? Probably XXX. Specifically, his song “Looking For A Star.” Maybe Selena.

Teen singer-songwriter Lourdiz is taking the music industry by storm, and she is rising quickly. Originally from San Antonio, Lourdiz and her family moved to LA a couple of years ago to pursue her dream of becoming a successful artist. Within her first year living there, Lourdiz landed a deal with Prescription Songs writing for artists like Annita and G-Eazy. By her second year, she had already begun exploring her own artistry. “I met my main collaborator in South Korea. We started catching a vibe and just went from there, and I released some music,” she shares. Lourdiz’s debut single “I’m Pissed” was released in March of 2020, shortly followed by her song “Suicide Down” featuring Lil Gotit. “Suicide Down” is an energetic and catchy hip-hop song meant to “resemble the craziness of life, the ups and downs, the bad times and the good times,” she explains. “The whole music industry is very risky, and you have to sacrifice a lot of things. With ‘Suicide Down,’ I tried to exhibit all of those emotions and how I felt and what I was going through.” In early May, Lourdiz released “Ground Control” featuring Puerto Rican rapper Jon Z. The experimental hip-hop track is

Which artists would you like to collaborate with? I would love to collaborate with Future, Post Malone, Travis Scott. [Travis] is one of my big influences.

If you could see any artist in concert – dead or alive – who would you want to see? Probably XXX. Specifically, his song “Looking For A Star.” Maybe Selena.

ANNIKA ROSE At only 18 years old, LA-based pop newcomer Annika Rose is no stranger to the musician life. Born into a family of musicians, Annika has been in and out of performing with bands since she was a kid. When she was just 10 years old, she was in a band performing covers of Led Zeppelin and The Beatles around the LA.

“Having those experiences at such an early age was so vital to my evolution not only as an artist but also as a person. I think I’ve gotten a lot better at trusting myself and my intuition and saying yes and no to things. It feels good to know I will continue to have these experiences and evolve and get better and learn more.”

Three years later, she joined an all-girl band and signed to Syco Entertainment, Simon Cowell’s joint venture with Sony Music. The band was signed for two and a half years, and although they never got around to releasing any music, the experience was life-changing for Annika.

In September of 2019, Annika released her debut single, “In The End,” an upbeat pop ballad that perfectly shows off her vocal abilities and brilliant lyricism. Two months later, she released her first and only EP, Ventura Boulevard, a moment she describes as her proudest.

“It was a crazy experience because I had never done writing sessions before. I didn’t even really know that was something that existed, and that was what threw me into the whole writing session machine,” Annika says. During her time with Syco, she also took up piano, an instrument that has become a defining element in her songwriting process.

“To be honest, putting out [Ventura Boulevard] was just a moment of instant validation. All the painful experiences I had gone through prior to that, they were all just leading moments to the feeling of actually crossing that line of releasing music, and it felt so good. I felt proud of myself for persevering and for getting back up every time that something didn’t work out the way I would’ve wanted it to.”

After being dropped from the label at 15 years old, Annika then signed a production deal – which did not end up working out – before finally signing to her current label, Tap Music. Finding herself in a tough spot in life, Annika turned to songwriting as a coping mechanism and spent the next year honing her craft. “I started developing my writing at home and creating my own little world and my own space. I finally found this select group of people who I really connected with to help bring those songs to life, and that’s kind of where I’m at now.”

It's been a few years since Annika was thrown into her first writing session, and a lot has changed since then. “You do a lot of growing up between 15 and 18,” she laughs. Naturally, she has evolved as a writer and performer, but her growth extends beyond just that.

Since the beginning of quarantine back in March, Annika notes that living in isolation has taken a bit of a toll on the creative process. “I tend to write only from personal experience, and being in the confinement of my own home, it’s a little bit more difficult to have experiences, and therefore, inspiration kind of lacks.” Although her songwriting has not been as consistent, she says the situation has led her to explore a more thought-out process. “It’s been a great test and a fun challenge for me to try and write about something I experienced in the past or something that a friend is going through.” The last song Annika wrote before going into quarantine is called “Paranoid,” which she says is definitely her favorite and reveals it should be coming out at some point soon.

“To be honest, putting out [Ventura Boulevard] was just a moment of instant validation. All the painful experiences I had gone through prior to that were all just leading moments to the feeling of actually crossing that line of releasing music, and it felt so good. I felt proud of myself for persevering and for getting back up every time that something didn’t work out the way I would’ve wanted it to.”

With an EP and several songs out, Annika is really hoping to be able to play shows sometime soon to be able to “really bring those songs to life in a visual sense.” “Hopefully once this disappears, I can tour. I wanna play shows, I wanna hug people and meet people and just keep doing the thing.” Check out the rest of my interview with Annika below:

How did you deal with school while building up your music career? Well, I went to real school until halfway through my freshman year of high school because that was when I got thrown into all those sessions. I’m definitely a perfectionist and kind of a teacher’s pet, to be honest, and I struggled a lot coming out of school because I was working in sessions five days a week, and I couldn’t keep on top of my work. It was freshman year of high school – it’s the ‘whole thing’ – and so it was definitely quite difficult, but the label at the time put me into this online school program. The thing that I was not aware of was that homeschooling takes much more discipline. It’s a lot, but I’ve been doing it; I’m getting it done. Especially during quarantine, I have a lot more time. There are no more excuses. Who have been your biggest inspirations? I think writing-wise, I’m heavily influenced and inspired by Alanis Morsette, Hayley Williams, and Maty Healy from The 1975. A couple of those also play a huge role in the inspiration I have aesthetically. And also, Paramore. I’m like a Paramore fangirl, you don’t even know. Oh my god, and Hayley dropped her album! So exciting! Yeah, those are definitely my top three. Also, Gwen Stefani, No Doubt, Cheryl Crowe, all my little 90s girls. What is your creative process like? I think it varies. In the beginning, when I was really young, it was all based on the production. I would be in the studio with the producer creating a track from scratch, and I learned a couple of years in that was not my preferred process. These days, I write everything at home, on piano, in my own little space. Whatever I connect with the most, I bring into sessions, and the song develops from there. Most

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Scan to listen to Annika Rose's latest single "Fuck You" on Spotify.

of the time, I’ll write up to a chorus, and once I bring the production in and know the direction that it’s supposed to go in, I can base the second verse and bridge and melodic choices on that. When I write at home, I’d say like 90 percent of the time, it usually stems from melodies. I’ll start playing piano and mumble something under my breath, and then I’m like, “Oh, what’s the connection between this cool word or this thing that I’m saying that is interesting to my life?” and that’s kind of how it goes most of the time. But there are also times when I see something or I smell something or I hear something and I’m like, “Oh shit, this is cool. Let me write this down,” and I’ll have little bits and pieces in my notes. Which artists would you like to collaborate with in the future? I wanna say Hayley Williams, but I also think I’m just saying that because I wanna be her best friend. Haha! There’s actually an artist called Rhye, and he’s not the biggest artist in the world, but he is so wonderful. I watched his NPR Tiny Desk concert last week, and I was like, “Oh my God.” First of all, I thought it was a woman for so long because his voice is so high and beautiful, and then I saw him, and I was like, “Oh my God. This makes it even better. This is crazy!” I have a song, actually, that I hear his voice on. Oh man, I really wanna do that. He’s so, so talented. What do you enjoy doing outside of music? I like to see my friends, that’s always fun. I love being in nature and hiking and anything that has to do with being in the middle of nowhere. I started painting a little bit, which is really nice and interesting and kind of meditative during this time. What is the number one thing on your bucket list? Go on tour, man. I gotta go on tour. I need to do it. I’ve never done it before, and I’m so ready. It’s gonna be so fun. If you could have the answer to any question at all, what would you want to know? I feel like every single time someone asks me a question like this, I wanna somehow relate it to Paramore, like, “What was the decision for Hayley to become the lead singer?” Haha! It’s so irrelevant to everyday life, but it’s something I need to know.

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With an EP and several songs out, Annika is really hoping to be able to play shows soon and “bring those songs to life in a visual sense.” “Hopefully once this disappears, I can tour. I wanna play shows, I wanna hug people and meet people and just keep doing the thing.” Check out the rest of my interview with Annika Rose below How did you handle school while building up a music career? Well, I went to real school until halfway through my freshman year of high school because that was when I got thrown into all those sessions. I’m definitely a perfectionist and kind of a teacher’s pet, to be honest, and I struggled a lot coming out of school because I was working in sessions five days a week, and I couldn’t keep on top of my work. It was freshman year of high school – it’s the whole thing’ – and so it was definitely quite difficult, but the label at the time put me into this online school program. The thing that I was not aware of was that homeschooling takes much more discipline. It’s a lot, but I’ve been doing it I’m getting it done. Especially during quarantine, I have a lot more time. There are no more excuses. Who have been your biggest inspirations? I think writing-wise, I’m heavily influenced and inspired by Alanis Morsette, Hayley Williams, and Maty Healy from The 19 5. A couple of those also play a huge role in the inspiration I have aesthetically. And also, Paramore. I’m like a Paramore fangirl, you don’t even know. h my god, and Hayley dropped her album So exciting Yeah, those are definitely my top three. Also, wen Stefani, No Doubt, Cheryl Crowe, all my little 90s girls. What is your creative process like? I think it varies. In the beginning, when I was really young, it was all based off of the production. I would be in the studio with the producer creating a track from scratch, and I learned a couple of years in that was not my preferred process. These days, I write everything at home, on piano, in my own little space. Whatever I connect with the most, I bring into sessions, and the song develops from there. Most

Scan to listen to Annika Rose's latest single Fuck You on Spotify.

of the time, I’ll write up to a chorus, and once I bring the production in and know the direction that it’s supposed to go in, I can base the second verse and bridge and melodic choices on that. When I write at home, I’d say like 90 percent of the time, it usually stems from melodies. I’ll start playing piano and mumble something under my breath, and then I’m like, “ h, what’s the connection between this cool word or this thing that I’m saying that is interesting to my life ” and that’s kind of how it goes most of the time. But there are also times when I see something or I smell something or I hear something and I’m like, “ h shit, this is cool. Let me write this down,” and I’ll have little bits and pieces in my notes. Which artists would you like to collaborate with in the future? I wanna say Hayley Williams, but I also think I’m just saying that because I wanna be her best friend. Haha There’s actually an artist called Rhye, and he’s not the biggest artist in the world, but he is so wonderful. I watched his NPR Tiny Desk concert last week, and I was like, “ h my od.” First of all, I thought it was a woman for so long because his voice is so high and beautiful, and then I saw him, and I was like, “ h my od. This makes it even better. This is crazy ” I have a song, actually, that I hear his voice on. h man, I really wanna do that. He’s so, so talented. What do you enjoy doing outside of music? I like to see my friends, that’s always fun. I love being in nature and hiking and anything that has to do with being in the middle of nowhere. I started painting a little bit, which is really nice and interesting and kind of meditative during this time. What is the number one thing on your bucket list? o on tour, man. I gotta go on tour. I need to do it. I’ve never done it before, and I’m so ready. It’s gonna be so fun. If you could have the answer to any question at all, what would you want to know? I feel like every single time someone asks me a question like this, I wanna somehow relate it to Paramore, like, “What was the decision for Hayley to become the lead singer ” Haha It’s so irrelevant to everyday life, but it’s something I need to know.

eing the music director of one of the biggest artists in the world sounds like it can be a lot of pressure, but 35-year-old singer-songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist Bernard “Harv” Harvey makes it work. Harv started as Justin Bieber’s bassist back in 2010 but quickly evolved into his music director and has stuck with Bieber for a decade now.

Harv has accompanied Bieber on every one of his tours and is involved in some of the writing and production of his music. He co-wrote and coproduced three tracks on Bieber’s latest album Changes: “Available,” “At Least For Now,” and “Forever” featuring Post Malone and Clever. At the beginning of 2020, Harv was preparing to embark on Bieber’s Changes Tour, but it was postponed in July due to COVID-19. Being Justin Bieber’s music director doesn’t consume all of Harv’s time, though. The Kansas City native has collaborated with some other big names, such as Summer Walker and Post Malone, and has contributed to hits like Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” and Eminem’s “A Kiss.”

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Harv’s infatuation with music arose when he was just nine years old. He started learning how to play the cello when he was in fourth grade and eventually learned how to play other instruments, including the piano, guitar, drums, trombone, tuba, and bass, which he is most proficient in. After graduating from Alabama State University in 2007 with a degree in music technology, Harv settled down in Atlanta, where he lived for about a decade. Three years ago, he relocated to LA and has been based there since. In March 2020, Harv dropped his latest single “Hail Mary” featuring Fury, which he reveals is the first single from his upcoming debut album, which is slated to come out sometime in 2021. Scan to listen to Harv’s latest single “Hail Mary” featuring Fury on Spotify.

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CAUTIOUS L A Y

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“You can’t waste time doing something you don’t like because it’s just not gonna be great in the long run,” says the ambitious Cautious Clay. “It’s better to be a little broke and happy than to be flushed with cash and super unhappy.” And so, in 2017, he quit his job in advertising to officially pursue a career in music. Since then, the 27year-old singer-songwriter, producer, and multiinstrumentalist has released three EPs and accumulated several hundred million streams across platforms. His music has also been featured in shows such as HBO’s Insecure and Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. If the name Cautious Clay isn’t ringing any bells, maybe you know some of the artists he has written and produced for: Alina Baraz, Khalid, John Legend, Quinn XCII, the list goes on. Anyone sound familiar? He has also collaborated with several artists including UMI, Petit Biscuit, and AlunaGeorge. Although he did not start writing and producing music until he was in college, Clay has been passionate about music and playing instruments his entire life. He is formally trained on the flute but also plays the saxophone, as well as a bit of guitar, drums, piano, and other instruments “just to get by.” Thanks to SoundCloud, Clay grew fascinated with music production and spent a significant chunk of his time in college refining his skills and continuously creating. “Cautious Clay was actually a DJ project before I started singing,” he shares. “I was a SoundCloud producer making beats and remixes in college, and then I kind of discovered that I was mixing. Then from there, I just started recording my voice, and now we’re here.” While working towards a degree in international affairs at The George Washington University, Clay became really involved in the D.C. music scene. “I knew I wanted to pursue music in some way,” he says. “I didn’t know how, but when I first got this gig playing saxophone in a reggae band in college, I knew that I at least wanted to do it on the side.” After graduating college, Clay worked two jobs, first as a real estate agent, then as an advertiser. “It was terrible,” he assures, “but that sort of funded the start of what Cautious Clay would become.” In September 2017, months after quitting his day job, Clay released his debut single “Cold War” on SoundCloud.

The melancholic R&B tune quickly caught the attention of many blogs and was eventually picked up by Hype Machine, where it sat at number one on their charts for two months straight. When the track was eventually uploaded to Spotify, the hype only continued. In 2019, it was even sampled by Taylor Swift in her song “London Boy” from her seventh studio album, Lover. In the months following his debut release, Clay put out two more singles, “Joshua Tree” and “Juliet + Caesar,” before finally dropping his first full project Blood Type in February of 2018. The seven-track EP pulls from his “experience working as a real estate agent and not liking it, but also kind of being in a relationship that [he] didn’t really know was sustainable or not.” Finding himself in a pretty rough situation and feeling absolutely lost in life, Clay came up with the ingenious concept for Blood Type. “The title Blood Type in and of itself is like another word for identity. So, my identity, or my blood type, is who I am.” In October, Clay dropped his first solo release of the year, “Agreeable,” serving as the first single off his forthcoming debut album. His latest single “Dying in the Subtlety” will also be included in the album, which is due sometime in early 2021. Check out the rest of my interview with Cautious Clay below: Tell me about your creative process. Do you usually write lyrics first and then make the beat, or do you make the beat first and then write lyrics? I guess it’s a little bit of everything. I don’t really have one formula. I just kind of make shit all the time, and sometimes it’s better than other times. For example, there are certain songs, like “Stolen Moments” – that was sort of a freestyle, so I sat down, had the guitar parts, worked it out in my head, played them really rough, and then sang all the parts in like two or three hours. I was just kind of freestyling until I felt like every part made sense. Then, I had my guitar player lay down the guitar better than I did, and at that point, the song was more or less finished. I mean, that was over probably like a month, but the song itself was done in like a day, and then I just made it better. Then there are other songs that take more time, not because they’re harder to write, but because they sort of come like a burst of inspiration around certain ideas. I’ve been in that mindset recently 109

because everyone’s just been stuck at home, so I’ve just been making a ton of shit, and it feels good. But I’m very aware of my own process, and a lot of times, I’ll just sit down, freestyle some ideas, and that’s what it is. Or sometimes, I’ll write a poem and then half of that poem becomes a song. Or I’ll have beats lying around I really like that I’ll just write to. Or I’ll make a new beat and everything from scratch, so there are multiple ways. That’s why I wanted to produce in the first place – I wanted to be able to have the agency and the ability to do anything without anyone. I don’t want to be asking people for beats. I can just do it all myself when I need to. What music do you like to listen to? Is it similar to the kind of music you make, or not? I would say some of it is similar and some is different. A lot of times, I’ll listen to music that’s different, get inspired, and then create with that lens in some way. I try to be informed by a variety of things, but I would say I like rhythmic stuff. I’ve been a really big jazz head since I was probably 16, but I don’t make jazz music. How did you come up with the name Cautious Clay? I guess I was always particular about my music, so I felt like because I was so particular– it’s like, Cautious Clay sounds better than Particular Clay. I also just felt like it made sense with how I was as an artist and a writer. I’ve always been very particular about how I want things to sound and feel, emotionally, when I write and produce. Do you enjoy singing or producing more? I like both pretty equally, to be honest, but I like singing because it takes less time. I probably spent, collectively, an entire year learning how to produce, and I’ve been producing for like seven or eight years. If you were to calculate every hour I just sat at a computer, it’d be pretty sad. What are some of your goals as an artist? I guess my main goal is to put out music that pushes me further as a creative. There are some songs that I really wanna shoot videos for, but I’m not sure how I would be able to do that considering the situation, so I’m hoping that I can do that. Also, just creating something that I feel like is a new direction for me, but that also feels genuine. That’s my main goal. I’ve been writing treatments for videos since the beginning of my artist career as Cautious Clay, but I’ve never fully directed a video, so that’s also a goal of mine – to get into directing a little bit more.

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Who have been your biggest inspirations? I am really inspired by artists who can do a lot of things really well. I really like Childish Gambino. I also really like Quincy Jones. Also, Bo Jackson is pretty dope, but he’s, like, a football player and a baseball player. I just think it’s cool when people do multiple things, and they’re not doing it because they’re trying to prove anything; they’re just doing it because that’s what they like. What is your favorite song on the album? I think it would probably be “Stolen Moments.” Which of your songs is your favorite or most special to you? I guess “French Riviera” is a really special one for me just because I’m a person of color, and it’s sort of speaking to my experiences there and how I feel about my own life and the things that I’ve gone through. How have you evolved as an artist since releasing your first EP, RESONANCE, in 2018? I think I’m a little bit more aware of what’s around me, but not in a bad way. I think that I’m just now in a scenario where I know what I can do, and I’m sort of trying to continue to push myself without necessarily feeling stale. I think, being an artist, the worst thing you can do is get in your own way by making music overly complicated or overly pop-y or overly anything. You just have to make something that speaks to you as an artist and that people can expect – but also won’t expect – and fully embrace that side of what you do. Every time someone’s like, “Oh, they totally changed” or whatever, and it’s not a good thing, I feel like it’s because people just lose their way artistically. So, I’ve always just kept a level head and tried to not get consumed by tons of other things, but always being aware of other things. Scan to listen to Cautious Clay’s latest single “Dying in the Subtlety” on Spotify.

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NUEVO FUEGO

THE HOLIEST

ORCA

My favorite 50 bops at the moment.

My all-time favorite bangers

Laid-back, alternative, chill music

SOFT N SILKY

THROWBACKS

GOLDEN BUZZER

The most beautiful ballads you've ever heard

Over 1,000 songs from the 2000s & 2010s

Bops from the last decade 113

artists' picks playlist If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know) COFFIN

The 1975 Jessie Reyez, Eminem

Missed You

The Weeknd

If I Fell

The Beatles

Places And Spaces

Donald Byrd

Breaking Me - RetroVision Remix BELIEVE IT Ain't No Sunshine 25 in Barcelona Selfish Fallingwater Tia Tamara Bags YEAH RIGHT No Idea From Where You Are Reflex Boss Bitch Mariposa

Topic, A7S, RetroVision PARTYNEXTDOOR, Rihanna Bill Withers JP Saxe Madison Beer Maggie Rogers Doja Cat, Rico Nasty Clairo Joji Don Toliver Lifehouse SAINt JHN Doja Cat Peach Tree Rascals

Do You Think We'll Last Forever?

Caroline Rose

Life Is Good

Future, Drake

Confidant 114

BabyJake

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issue 03 playlist In the End RULES

Annika Rose AViVA

Redemption

Besomorph

Bittersweet

Carter Reeves

Cold War

Cautious Clay

Grenada

Dream Kid

EVITA!

DeVita

Torremoto

Chemical Surf

i'm in love

Elliot Jones

It's Complicated DIAL TONE Phantom Girl

Garren Grant Knoche Guard Jess Kent

Patience

Joel

Devotion

Liza Anne

Za Za Fresh Air Wrong Friends Half of You I KNOW WHAT U LIKE Dice Out

LOURDIZ Maasho Maty Noyes Nathy Peluso Rachel Bochner Sizzy Rocket Chris LaRocca 115