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NO ‘LUNATIC’
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
T
aylor Upsahl is living her best life. She lent her pen to a variety of future hits like Dua Lipa’s Grammy Award-winning “Good in Bed,” and “Happy Endings” by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Iann Dior, which went Top 10 at alt radio. In addition, Upsahl covered Dominic Fike’s “3 Nights” for Amazon’s “Original” series that’s featured on Amazon Music. Now, she’s preparing to release her full-length debut album, “Lady Jesus,” on October 8. She and Olivia O’Brien will kick off their tour at the Marquee
in Tempe on November 2. Tickets start at $22. “I’m so excited,” says Upsahl, a Phoenix native who now lives in LA. “I’ve only played it one other time. It was where I went to be a fan when I was younger. Getting to be on the other side is really, really exciting. “It’s cool that this hometown show kicks off the entire tour. It’s always very surreal, full circle for me to play in Phoenix. We were playing shows (early in my career) every weekend at Valley Bar, Crescent Ballroom, the Van Buren — all the venues. I get to hang out with people and fans who have been coming to my shows since I was 16.” Her latest single is “Lunatic,” a pop-
Upsahl explores breakup on new album
driven anthem that channels her anger about an ex. “I try to always write from personal experience,” she says. “The day we wrote ‘Lunatic,’ I saw something online. I didn’t want to see it. I almost canceled the session. I wanted to lie in bed and be angry at the world. “Instead, I stormed into the studio with tears running down my face. I said, ‘We’re writing a banger today. I want to scream in the vocal booth.’ We finished writing the song in an hour. My whole day was turned around. The day started with me crying in the car to the session. It’s the perfect example how music or writing a song can fully turn the day around.” The song is a reaction to seeing her
ex, whom she did not identify, on social media. They broke up in the beginning of the quarantine. “Lady Jesus” travels with Upsahl on her journey from the breakup (“Douchebag”) to her personal rebirth (“Lady Jesus”). “‘Lunatic’ is very early on in the healing process for me,” she says. The writing of “Lady Jesus” was cathartic to Upsahl. “I would have no other way to get my feelings out otherwise,” Upsahl says. “It’s very much autobiographical. Whatever I was going through I would write about in a song. “I think I just got over being sad. It was way too long. ‘Lady Jesus’ was a clarity moment. It was such a therapeutic, vulnerable process.”
