Q: “Microphone” feels incredible self-aware, as though you’re examining the gap between what we say out loud and what we keep to ourselves. Where did the idea for this first song begin?
A: I usually go into songs with an idea of what the title will be, or at least the central concept, but this one was way more stream-of-consciousness, saying everything that’d been on my mind vibe. The chorus/mircrophone idea came pretty late in the game. Which, normally, I’m pretty against, I like songs to feel really tight and to the point. But it was the first song I’d written alone in a long time, and I wrote like 3 or 4 additional verses that didn’t make it onto the recording. I thought that a microphone/feedback loop was a cool way to talk about the vibe I was in, just spiraling in my head, every thought going back to itself again and again until it was this distorted fucked up thing.

Q: A microphone is usually associated with being heard, but this song feels like it’s wrestling with vulnerability. Was it more about finding your voice, or deciding what was worth saying.

A: I think it was about hearing myself more than anything, trying to sift through all the noise to find some true frequency. For a while at the beginning of the year, I couldn’t really tell what I wanted or how I really felt about anything. Everything was confusing and I wanted to get that vibe in the song.

Q: Looking back now that “Microphone” is released, has the song taken on a different meaning than it had while you were writing it?
A: I still feel and relate to it a lot. Again, I wrote a lot of verses for it, and it feels like the kind of song that I could theoretically just add a verse to every 6 months with the little refrain in between.

Q: How do you know when a song is emotionally finished versus technically finished?
A: Hmmm, that’s interesting, I’ve never really thought of it that way. I think those two things go hand-in-hand, like where a song lands technically is really influenced by my emotional relationship to it. For Microphone, I knew I wanted it to feel a little grungier and more lo-fi to match the lyrical themes, so I kind of used that emotional direction all the way through the production and mix/mastering process.

Q: Your songs rarely hand listeners all the answers. How important to you is it that people find their own meaning in your music?
A: Lately, I’ve been trying to give the listeners more of the answers haha. Again, Microphone is kind of the exception to that, it’s for sure more of a vibe-based song, but I am a believer that songs should be about things, and it took me a long time to realize that. I literally thought everyone was just like telling random stories. I think Microphone is cool, though, because there is a lot of room for the listener to project on it.

Q: When someone tells you that one of your songs helped them through something difficult, how do you process that kind of responsibility as a songwriter?
A: Obviously, it’s super flattering to hear that a song has touched somebody in that way. I never think about that during the creation process, though. I think my responsibility as a songwriter is just to write songs that are cool and emotionally resonant to me personally; anyone agreeing is just a bonus. And also, I think you’re most likely to write a song that will impact people like that if you are just writing in a way that’s truthful to you, rather than trying to make something that you know people will be able to find themselves in.

Q: Does “Microphone” hint at the direction of what’s coming next from you, or is it intentionally its own standalone moment?
A: For sure, I wrote and produced it while I was making Explosives, so it feels like it’s in that world. It’s on the deluxe version of that project, which will be out later this summer with a few other songs that feel like they fit nicely with it.

Q: Are there any artists that recently influenced how you’re thinking about music?
A: There’s this electronic rapper guy called TwentyThree, who I’m really into, and he just puts out a ton of music, which is pretty common in that scene, way more than in folk or pop spaces. That’s a spirit I’m trying to lean into, just dropping music I think is cool and not being too precious about it.

Q: If a fan were making a playlist to introduce someone to your music, what songs do you think they should include?
A: I think if I were going to give someone three songs to listen to, I’d choose Illicit, High Dive, and Do you believe in magic?

Q: If you could leave a message for someone who’s about to hear your music for the very first time, what would you say?
A: Hi jsyk in real life I’m normal and don’t talk or act like this xoxo