Juliet Ivy, Indie-Pop Singer-Songwriter Behind Viral Song “We’re Eating Each Other,” on Finding Connection and Healing Through Music and the Mundane

Written By: Camila Molina | Interview By: Camila Molina | Photos By: Camila Molina, Kai Ortiz, & Galib Rahman

After the COVID-19 pandemic, a long-standing issue has become more apparent, especially among Generation Z: the struggle to stay present. We are losing our ability to stay grounded in the world around us. While technology often gets the blame for this, for many youth, the real issue lies in the fear, anxiety and pressure that young people face today. 

Many have turned to a nihilistic outlook or a "floating rock" mindset, helping them through this disconnected feeling. Rising indie pop artist, Juliet Ivy, expressed this widely shared sentiment in her hit song, “we’re all eating each other.” She sat down with HAZZE Magazine to discuss how her home and philosophy has contributed to the world she’s building through music as well as what’s next for her rising career.

Growing up in New York City, Ivy was exposed to many opportunities to watch and feel connected to her community. As a Queens native and former student at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, she says she has spent countless hours sitting on the seats of the city’s public transit system. For Ivy, this seemingly ordinary daily task is actually the source of inspiration for a lot of her personal revelations and lyrics. Being around so many people and watching them come and go, she realized she was part of something much greater.  

“A lot of my lyrics are inspired by the human experience and what it means to be a human, feeling like a small part of a bigger thing,” said Ivy. “Being in a city like New York really makes you feel like that.”

Due to TikTok, artists have more of an opportunity to share their craft online doing their own marketing, and that’s exactly what Ivy does to share her message. The song “we're all eating each other” from her 2023 EP “playpen” rapidly started gaining attention on the platform. Several videos of Ivy promoting the song — with her signature butterfly guitar in hand — have amassed over 250 thousand views to date. 

To her surprise, not only did viewers enjoy her dreamy musical style and aesthetic, but they related with her personal feelings about the world shared throughout the songs — even the philosophical aspects pulled from existentialism and nihilism that she was unsure would resonate with so many other people. The chorus of “we’re all eating each other” goes: “but we're all gonna die, decompose into daffodils and dandelions/ The bees will use our flowers for whatever they like/ Make the honey that our grandkids will put inside their morning tea/ It's the thing of life.”

“I really love how that's how the music is perceived, because that's also how I feel about it. And  it's also just what my personality is. I've always had those kind of deep thoughts and questions about what it means to exist and be a human and be alive and what all of this means,” says Ivy. “And I feel like a lot of people [or] everyone can relate to it, but maybe it's just not explored in music as much as [love songs are]. Um, but I'm so happy that people have really connected to [it] because I was not sure if people would. Um, and the whole summer-y and light thing is also kind of [like] my personality.”

Ivy is also proud to share how not only her NYC experience has shaped her as a musician, but her Columbian-Chinese heritage — having her loved ones embrace both of those aspects of her identity encouraged Ivy to allow her authenticity to thrive. “Growing up in that super diverse household with the two sides of my family that are so different and really identifying with both sides has just helped me have that attitude to kind of, like, embrace all that makes me, me," said Ivy. 

Moving forward, Ivy continues to write music exploring her feelings about herself and the world with her recent EP, “tiny but scary,” regarding the complicated relationship with herself and “girlhood.” On her Instagram, she shares her hopes for the lyrics to resonate with other women, revealing parts of the song's lyrics such as, “my best friend is my intuition/ she’s always right and I love to listen. They say weakness is falling to pieces, but I find strength in getting up…” 

“I feel really grateful and excited that there are people who are excited to hear the new music, and that's all I could ever ask for. It feels so special to release music knowing that there are now people I can give it to once it's out," said Ivy. Now more than ever, she is diving into what she knows best — examining her relationship with the world in profound ways. “I started realizing that what inspires me most are these deeper or  weirder kinds of thoughts that I just have.” Ivy embraces her inner turmoil, even in the face of audiences across the country, expressing the importance of human connection both on the stage and through her recorded music.